I have seen it stated here on several occasions that it is actually beneficial to bounce the downrigger ball off the bottom - that the sound attracts fish.

I was wondering about the validity of this contention when I saw Tom Nelson's presentation at the Sno-King PSA meeting. Tom said basically the same thing about the occasional bounce (BTW he also likes the cast iron "pear" shaped balls). This caused me to think some more.

I know (from Charlie White) that lots of fish will follow trolled bait without biting and I also know that a hooked, fighting fish will inspire others to bite - that's why double-headers are so common. So now I'm thinking that this makes some sense. Since the bottom is almost always mud, I don't how much sound a ball would make (maybe fish could hear it), but there would have to be a nice cloud of mud kicked up. Maybe this kind of action simulates a fellow chinook feeding on candlefish and triggers a bite reflex. Nobody wants to be left out of the feeding frenzy, right?

Anyway, I'm going to try ringing the bell and see what happens.