cabellas black box?

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JIGGIT

JIGGIT

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
64
Location
UTAH
so how many of you are using 1 of these things? who is a beleiver and who is a non? i realy am trying to figure out what and why im strugling some day on these fish. how many of you guys have attatched a under water cam to your riggers before? what was your exreireance? thanx ken.thumbsup
 
I will admit that I have been wondering about that very thing myself. I've looked and read about the infamous Black Box, but never heard anyone else say anything either.movie movie
 
I bought one a few years ago, but have never installed it. I check my downrigger lines for current a couple of times a year and seem to be in the range they recommend not to repel the fish. I have been tempted to install it so that I could monitor it more closely and keep it consistent. However, I do not know anyone who has one either.
 
I think the key is making sure your boat is not running hot and repelling the fish. The other factor is how far are your setbacks. It's probably more important to make sure you are not repelling when running short setback as opposed to long ones where that voltage is dissipated. I have and run the black box but have the time I forget to turn it on and I still catch fish. My natural voltage on my lines is near the ideal range .650. The guys that consistently win or place on the derby circuit here in Ca all run black boxes... so when in Rome... :)
 
I will admit that I have wondered if having a black box would be worth the expense or not. I always check to see if my boat is "hot" on the first trip of the year. Then I will check it a few times during the season. I use a simple volt meter to check voltage. So far so good ,as I haven't had a high voltage reading yet. I know having a aluminum boat,and having riggers with wire,the chances are really increased in having a "hot "boat.
 
i get to get a meter on it for starters. never done it. i could be running alot hotter than before i installed the sterio and some other toys. and i am in alluminum. thinking about it friday i did set back farther when i dropped the differnt lures. i also painted and installed some peices of hard rubber to ground ball hooks from line voltage. got to check it out. ken
 
Well.................... I have never ever put any thought to it. I have two scotty electrics, a vhf radio, Caught fish last trip out with both riggers in the water and radio on. Hell I dont know. Guess I might have to look into it. Where do you even begin to look? How?
 
Black Box

I have a Black Box and I've run it on and off for three years. A friend of mine has one also. We both agree that we can't see any difference in the catching when the box is on or off. We check the rigging with voltmeters and follow all of the directions.
 
Kokaholic said:
Well.................... I have never ever put any thought to it. I have two scotty electrics, a vhf radio, Caught fish last trip out with both riggers in the water and radio on. Hell I dont know. Guess I might have to look into it. Where do you even begin to look? How?
Click to expand...


Mark,here is how I do a check to see if my boat is "hot". When on the water I will put both of my riggers down about ten feet.Then I will turn on every electrical device I have on the boat. Then I will slowly let the trolling motor push the boat through the water.I will then hook the positive side of my voltmeter to one of the downrigger wires.

Then connect the neg side of the meter to the neg on the battery.Then I will check the voltage. Now be sure that you have a meter that will read 0-1.0 volts..If memory serves me,I think the ideal zone is around 0.65-0.75 volts.If you have a higher voltage,you could have a "hot boat" The book says that if it is hot to turn off each electrical system (vhf,stereo,bilge pump,etc) one at a time,til the voltage drops into the required zone.

When you have identified the system that is causing the boat to be "hot" then start checking for loose grounds,bare wires.etc. If the boat checks out good on one downrigger,then I will hook up the other one ,and preform the same test.If you have a chance to get a copy of the book,"downrigger fishing techniques",from pro-troll they have some great info when dealing with a "hot "boat.I think that it is important for those of us that have electric downriggers,with stainless steel line,and aluminum boats to a least make a voltage check every once in awhile.
 
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i read that all gorund wires should be run to main motor battery. i also read that .056 to .065 is best. crap ther is to mutch crap out there to read.
 
Black Box


I've always wondered if my boat was "hot" or not...

I finaly bought one and hooked it up. I was surprised to find that I was way off the range that is desirable for attracting fish (.650)

There are so many variables with grounded equipment and just having a trolling motor in the water without grounding makes a difference.

I know that there are a lot of you out there that say "so what" because you are trolling 100' or more behind your weight. Obviously it doesn't make much difference back there, but I like to troll closer so I can make sharper turns.

Besides, if it helps, why not attract fish??

I've heard stories back and forth on the subject, and don't really know if they work or not, but I'm glad I got mine and I know instantly what I'm putting out and can adjust it accordingly.
 
Where do I find the black box?

Does anyone have a link to the Cabela's page for the "black box"? I looked all over their online catalog and can't find it. Thanks!
 

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