Downrigger Bomb & Sounder Theory

[bcooper21003]

Guys,

Does anyone have experience with different bombs on their sonder?

Last weekend i lost my bomb to a 1m shark while it was hanging off the back of the boat. He took an interest in it, and in doing so he clipped the briad, sending the bomb to the bottom pretty swiftly.

So, I have a Lowrance Mark 5x Pro, which has 83 & 200Hz. The bomb i had was relatively spherical, 8lb, with a fin at the back. It was easy to identify on the 83Hz sounder at most speeds, but when the water is dirty its hard.

The bomb i want is the flat pancake style,also in 8lb.

I wonder, will the pancake show up more or less on the sounder. It will have more depth, but be narrower from the sounders perspective.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[jim77]

G'day mate

I run 2 downriggers on my boat. One side has a cannonball bomb the other has a pancake. Whilst the ball has more blowback the sounder does seem to pick it up easier than the pancake one. It will still pick up the pancake but it doesn't seem to do it quite as easy.

Others might say different but those are my observations.

[Guest Aussie007]

i have only used a 4lb ball and 8lb fish both are picked up on the fish finder in shallow water around 20ft or less anymore depth it gets sketchy only showing sometimes

[bcooper21003]

Thanks Jim77 / gazza,

I've ordered the 8 pancake, let's see what happens...

[Guest Aussie007]

Thanks Jim77 / gazza,

I've ordered the 8 pancake, let's see what happens...

let me know if u get less blow back with the pan cake weight i may upgrade

[bcooper21003]

Will do, I have to say though, on my one successful day of downrigger fishing we only caught fish trolling at 1knot, 2 knots being too fast. At 1 knot there was close to zero blowback.

At 5 knots blowback on the old ball was fairly huge, so will run a test with pancake...

[Little Hooker]

Sorry to be a noob but what does a pancake bomber look like?

[framedtrash]

Sorry to be a noob but what does a pancake bomber look like?

they are called pancakes because compared to the traditional bombs these are as flat as a .......

Edited December 9, 2010 by Framedtrash

[Little Hooker]

Hard to tell from a 2D pic but is that circle section flat as well if sphere shaped?? Cause I never seen one of these bombs b4

[framedtrash]

other advantages of the pankcake over the round bombs is these dont roll around on the floor

[Little Hooker]

Thanks Simon for that. Yeah agree with u there! Where could u buy these from??

[prawn*]

other advantages of the pankcake over the round bombs is these dont roll around on the floor

haha nothing worse then a 10lb bomb rolling around in your boat!

[bcooper21003]

Had a shot with the pancake sat night, I reckon less blowback, but not huge difference, doesn't swim a straight at low depth.