Braided Downrigger Line

[rgarbar]

The steel cable on one of my downriggers is reaching the end of it's useful life. I was thinking of replacing the steel cable with braided line. Do any of the members have experience with the braided line. Any pros or cons would be most appreciated.

 

[dragonfly]

to me and how I fish, steel is the only way to go. to me braid is like dating a French model, she looks great but is high maintenance. first is the knot it has to be good or it comes loose, doesn't take heat at all and most important any abrasion or frays (which it gets a lot easier than steel ) you better be pealing off and re tying if you don't tomahawk or intentionally tap/drag bottom when fishing for macks then braid would be ok. one example is I was fishing on my buddies boat that was set up with braid one of the guys was smoking and had his hand on the railing by the downrigger and the cheery touched the braid well braid doesn't like heat and every thing went to the bottom 2 chamberlains,1 snubber, I cannon ball and the terminal gear just under $100 worth of stuff. he still uses braid but if you have to smoke you do it in the bow just my 2 cents worth. dfly

 

[Mharri333]

I fished Chelan last year and needed the depth so I switched one to braided and kept one steel. I think I like the braided better. It is smoother and easier to work with. I can also fix any issues with a knife... If I have to replace the other down rigger I would most likely go to braid.

 

[fishslayer13]

I like the braid as it makes no noise in the water. It also gives you less drag or blow back. I fish open water mostly and never drag bottom or hit stumps etc. That being said, I run steel again in all my riggers on my boat (4 of them) . I dont like that my counter is off by---- well on my scottys anyway, is about 18 feet per hundred, Im out. So I have to use my fish finder for actual depth Im at. I tried to calibrate it so as to be more accurate but ended up beating myself senseless in the process. Even with 2 riggers out its a pain and if you have someone in your boat trying to put down they will never get the depth with the finder thing figured out. I also fish in the ocean at Port Hardy and the braid will drag in more crap like sea weed The cable has more of a tendency to cut it. Then it gets a stink to it until you drag the braid in fresh water to clean it. We couldnt figure out what the stench in the boat was for a while -----it was the line.