Most spring gear failures are not dramatic. They are small, cheap, and easy to miss in the garage: line with a nick you can feel but not see, a release pad that has gone hard, a track screw that never…

A downrigger is a simple machine: a spool of cable on a boom, a heavy weight on the end of the cable, and a release clip that carries your line down with it. The buying decision is also simple on pape…