chowder

Yeah, Lake Michigan Angler has it listed as 8'2", probably because of the model no. Pretty sure it's an 8' rod.

Stan, out here we put the bait in a cooler, why do you guy's keep your bait in a landing net? (sorry, I figured Ray K. was out in his canoe "bare" hunting and I didn't want you to think we were unavailable for comment. actually I love the pix and the fish- I'm starting to look at dairy operations for sale in Northern California (LOL)!

Black Dog, PM sent.

Black Dog, the longer rods will enable you to keep the dipsy lines away from the downrigger lines that you will eventually add + it will actually help you to land fish, because it acts as a longer lever to get the fish closer once the diver is at the rod tip. I think if I was going to fish alone a lot I would go w/ the longer rod unless you are going to use slide divers instead of dipsy divers. Since I am just starting to experiment w/ the SD, I cannot say that's the way to go but I would seriously consider trying one out after you have played w/ the regular dipsy divers. Longer dipsy leaders = more fish but will be tough in the netting department.

Okuma 8'2" Blue Diamond Dipsy rod , economical w/ good action for FLX size fish!

Thanks for the help Rick and Billy, for what it's worth I will just say to anybody who is looking at these aftermarket maps-Buyer beware, Navionics has these products very carefully packaged. I don't think that you get near the bottom detail in the fishing chip for most inland lakes(FLX and others) that you get in the Platinum lake maps( at least that what tech support said) BUT if you go with the Platinum lake maps and you want bottom contours for the western part of Lake O. and the eastern basin you need two different maps!

Rick & Billy, let me see if I have this straight;Billy you got the x 14 Gold chart and it has bottom contour but not in great detail, but all landmarks, and shore side facilities are presented in high detail with names available? Rick, you got the Gold chart + fishing chip too and now you are gonna run that on a handheld because the Gold chart is in the SD port of the boat's main GPS. What portable unit do you have that runs the fishing chip? Will it run the Gold Chart too? It almost seems like I should have gotten the Gold chart and the fishing chip instead of the Navionics platinum Lake Map, but it doesn't sound like I would get the high detailed bottom contours in the FLX w/ the fishing chip, at least that's what they said when I called and talked to them about this last August. Maybe I got a bum steer on this.

Couple questions; 1. what's the difference between a map and a chart? and 2. How do you use the Gold chart and the fishing chip at the same time, load one and then load the other? I checked the navionics site and my units(Lowrance 525cdf, and a global map 5200c) are compatible w/ the x 14, but these units have only one S.D. card port. I am in the process of installing the Navionics Platinum Lake Map in both but I believe it only covers the eastern basin and the flx so I am wondering what is in the "chart" vs. the "map" and if I can run them simultaneously.

Raider, I can't remember if you said you had a wire dipsy setup or not, but if not I would put one or two of those together before investing in copper or lead core- just my uninformed opinion!

I thought that mono can "rot" when used as backing, I have no experience w/ using mono backing, maybe somebody will comment on this? On my super braid diver rods I just spooled on the braid w/ out backing.

Elliot, and the rest of his crew plan to be there, Split, PM me at some point about the grilling program if you want, I would be willing to help with that.- Chowder

I called the guys at Slide diver yesterday & asked them what they thought the lite bite w/ the big ring would do for depth/ ft of wire out and he said he always figured "less than a mag dipsy" because the mag dipsy is 6 oz and the slide diver is 4 oz.I told him it seemed like it dived deeper and he was surprised. I wonder if the reason the slide diver seems to dive deeper is because of the long lead after the diver- maybe that long lead amplifies the divers tendency to wave around and so it rides both higher and lower than you would think? Ray K., which SD are you using when you say you figure you are getting the same depth/ ft of line out w/ your power pro setup as you would with wire & do you use the big ring, small ring, or no ring?

Get the light bite, one size only, in black or clear plus the rings to go w/ it.

I put together the wire slide diver combo for the exact reason Ray states in his post - wire presentations catch fish. At the same time that I put the wire slide diver together I also put together a super braid slide diver setup (which I re spooled this winter using Jeykll's instructions). Both combos allow the SD to be "snapped" onto the line up to 60 yds ahead of the swivel going to the bait leader on a long piece of 30# mono. Ray, couple questions; 1. Which Slide Diver/ ring combo are you using when you figure you are getting the same depth/foot of line out as wire? 2. Do you run flasher/fly or spoons behind the slide diver? After I twisted off a couple flasher fly combos last summer I took Stinger's advice and started using a superbraid leader from the dipsy snubber to the terminal swivel.

Stan,you need to get some lead core in there too !

Leader length behind Dipsy; Longer leaders catch more fish, for most of last year we used 10' leaders on the Blue Diamond 8'6" roller rod in a 16.5" boat because the rod with the 10' leader would catch fish after fish but the rod with the 7' leader would sit around too much of the time. Landing fish w/ 10' leader on 16.5" boat is a real circus! Even in the larger boat we got at the end of the season there were some anxious moments after the fish was sorta in the net but because we needed such a long handle it could be tough to lever the whole mess into the boat. Because of all the issues noted above I did put together a wire slide diver combo at the end of the year. I found out a couple things; 1. The SD lite bite with the big ring on wire dives till hell won't have it! Does any body have any sense what you get for depth/ feet out on this setup? The depth chart that comes w/ the divers is all based on mono. 2. Because it dives hard it was kind of tricky to get the lite bite trip set right. 3. Like Tim said above, these things don't bump bottom but a couple times and they are there permanently. 4. They do catch fish!

I know what J-plugs look like but that's as far as it goes.They seem to be in a category all by themselves, or are there similar baits that I just don't know about? Are they a starting in the middle of the summer bait on Lake O? Somebody give me a basic rundown on these things-thanx

Raider, you are getting copper and lead core mixed up. Copper is a soft wire cable which sinks at the rate of 22'/100' out. Lead core is lead line, sheathed with colored plastic, the color changes every 10 yards, it sinks at roughly 5'/ 10 yards. Both can be run off inline and dual boards and both can be sent down the chute. There is plenty of room to use a diver when either one is "out" on a board.

Are there any basic guidelines for choosing a bait to use with copper on either the Big O or the FLX? Are there seasonal/ temp, or depth factors that come into play in making a choice?

A track system is going to give you a lot of versatility. There has been a number of threads on rod holders, search through them- there is a lot of things to consider if you are starting out from scratch.

Should I just sell my 600', I used it 1 time? If the 300' can truly produce the same results with a snap weight or dive bomb why keep one around? Do most people run spoons with copper or are flasher/flies used a lot too?

Flashers, flies,spoons,stix, can a guy ever have too many? Thanks for the links- just what I am looking for!

Ok, it's not as interesting as which end of the spoon the eyes should be on but I am wondering what favorite ways people have to keep flashers organized. I have seen the unfolding things with the clear plastic, I got one- don't like it. I am thinking about getting a four drawer plastic unit from wally world and delegate a drawer to each basic kind/ size. I have seen some nice hand made units in which the flashers are secured in rows in plastic boxes at an angle so you can see them pretty well but don't take up much space. Is there a commercial product like that?

The manufactured spoons do basically all have the eyes on the other end. I am not saying they are right but it is true you don't often find a bait fish head first when you gut fish.

Do you have online ordering? I really like the 2cd and 3rd from the left! Nice work