Never was good with math!!

[Sleepswithdafishes]

I hope this question is not to stupid!!! If I have a stick bait that dives 6 to 8 feet ,When I set my downrigger ball at 25 feet and the stick bait 20 feet behind the ball will it dive another 6 to 8 feet below 25 feet the downrigger ball is set at?? I guess it will but maybe someone knows for sure!!! Sleeps

[fishingmachine]

yes

[Gecha (Gerry)]

You are correct. the bait will dive whatever depth it is designed for, starting at its launch position, as long as you give it enough line.

[raz]

I think a lot more comes into play.
Most manufactures of diving baits base the dive data on a particular diameter of line. I used to have a book put out by Rapala that showed all their baits dive data and if I remember right, it was all based on "nominal" 10# test diameter line.
The thicker the line, the more drag and the less depth the bait will dive to.
Also what comes into play is the amount of line let out. I would think for your bait to reach it's max depth behind a rigger ball, it would need much more line out than 20 feet.

Here's some interesting/educational reading material: http://www.fishing411.net/precision-tro ... ience.html

Hope it helps.

[Sleepswithdafishes]

Thanks fellas!!! It occurred to me that when using diving stick baits my success is low when also using it off of downriggers!!! I was explaining this to my wife and we both came to the same conclusion that I was probably fishing below the fish!!! Raz I will read the article you posted thanks!!! Sleeps

[fishingmachine]

I like the idea of doing that though to avoid hanging up a cannonball when going deep for lakers, you could fish in 100' of water with the ball 10' off the bottom and still have your lure kicking up mud on the bottom

[Lavman]

Seems to me that a diving lure off a downrigger is a bad idea if you want to have really good control of bait depth. Can you remove the diving bill from the lure and still get the same wobble effect?