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Cannonballs
We clip them on everyday thousands of times over the years.
How many of us look at them as a integral part of our daily set-up?
Do they attract fish or scare them?
Does it matter the shape, size, colour of our downrigger weights?
They all have their place and limitations.
Charter captains for over a decade have argued the advantages or disadvantages of cannon ball size, design, weight and colour. No definitive answer has been established but there are some interesting observations.
Ball type ... The most common and versatile. Tracks reasonably well but will not tangle with other equipment as readily as some of the other designs.
Disadvantage they need higher weights to consistently fish deep water due to higher water resistance. Hard on downrigger motors when you utilize the heavier weights.
Discus type... With a metal fin are excellent for achieving superior depth as the track well with very low water resistance. Lower overall weight can be used to fish deep water when compared to the ball type. The fins can be slightly bent to achieve a wider spread.
Disadvantage are they tend to track too well, often tracking true while surface winds are pushing the boat sideways. Severe tangles and rigger cables can slip into your prop when fishing deep water of 75 feet plus. Another disadvantage is the metal fin needs to be tuned or straightened as they can easily cross lines if this detail is overlooked.
Herbie The Heavy Weight ... A fish design brought out when discussions revolved around the cannonball scaring fish. Looks like a fish Hydrodynamics ensures it tracks well and achieves reasonable depth Vs weight ratio.
Cumbersome and the lead tail can easily get bent and disaster strikes fast. Sideways tracking is poor and will cause ongoing headaches when fishing deep water.
Colour...
The standard colour when first introduced was red or orange. Black showed up in the early Eighties and is the standard still today. Colour experiments have indicated that white with Kelly green produced the best results and a pure white ball in deeper water has a iridescent green colour. This was confirmed by underwater camera observations.
Black balls with silver prism tape also work well providing a start contrast attracting fish to the ball.
While not as effective in Lake Ontario compared to the white and Kelly green they are effective when different prism tapes are added as a attractant.
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