Set Back and Gravity

[Bovine]

Learned something new on the lake last weekend. DR set to 80' with 50' of set back and I snagged bottom at 100'(a hump snuck up on me). For some reason I never put together the physics of gravity on my gear. I was using a 000 dodger in front of a wedding ring. It starts to make sense though. Since I can track my DR on the electronics, I sometime raise or lower my gear to get into the fish that I see on the electronics. This has not produced any fish yet and I am thinking, it is due to my bait being below my target.

 

[SuperD]

Unless you were dead in the water, it is very unlikely that you had 20' of drop with that set up and 50' set back. Think phantom pilar or tree.

 

[Flyguy55]

I think an easy way to check . On the way out at trolling speed let out your dodger and wedding ring as far out as you can still see it . Estimate how deep its running. I've had the same thoughts . Tomorrow I'm going to check it myself .

Dick

 

[SuperD]

Beyond the math and physics, 50' set back at 80' depth is a heck of a lot of set back. 10' at 80' would be more than adequate and you'd know more precisely exactly where your lure is at.

 

[SilverBullets]

In to the book "Trolling Truths" by Sep Henderson he mentions that you need to allow for the natural drop of the terminal rig. The book states... "Trolling flashers or dodgers 100 feet behind the boat at one mph can cause the teminal rig to drop as much as 10 percent... from 5 to 10 feet depending upon trolling speed and size of the flashers and lures being used".
Trolling a dodger/wedding ring with a 50' set-back your drop should have been only a few feet.

 

[Bovine]

I reckon SuperD may be on to something. Back in the day, they swam logs down the lake. I just never thought of one hanging out in the middle of the lake. This just may be the straw that "forces" me to by electronics with Structure Scan, I am itching to upgrade my Garmin 500 anyway.

 

[rkcarguy]

Bovine, there is some wierd stuff in lake whatcom. A couple times I've seen big solid suspended masses that could only be logs or something.
Have you had any luck with the Kok's? This is the 3rd year of the kok plants and they should be getting decent sized by now. Last year they were small in the 8-10" range.
I had about a 6# cutt eat my kokanee last year and put up quite a fight before it won when the lure came out of the kokanee...saw it roll and it was a beast. Wish they'd open those up....

 

[Bovine]

Cutties over Kokes

rkcarguy,
I have been working hard this year on the kokanee but I have not had any consistant results. The Cutties are definately doing well and need to be opened up. I am hoping to update my electronics this year and get a better idea of what is going on under my boat and this shouldhelp me target the Kokes better.

 

[RalphL]

Hate to throw water on a perfectly good theory but I got into some very clear water this past week and had a good look near the boat. With about 20 ft of drop back( as far as I could go and still see) at 1.5 mph,it looked to me like the 0000 dodger was planing up and actually raising my wedding ring a ft or two ABOVE the DR weight. Makes sense,, point them tip up and they have to rise. What am I missing here???

 

[SuperD]

The ultimate variable to this in making turns. On any turn, the inside line will sink and the outside line will rise due to speed change. If one was to take a long, slow turn, there is really no telling how much the inside line will drop. We just know it will.