TyeeTanic

You can get cheap vinyl letters from home depot or some hardware store, but it won't look as good as a design in vinyl which will run you $90 - $120. You get these at sign and print shops.

It doesn't auto shut off after 45 seconds while you are dropping it. When I go down 160 feet it takes at least 3 mins to get it up and down. I think it will only shut off if it hasn't detected a change for 45 seconds, and if you drop it in the water then I think it automatically changes the mode and retains the data. You then have to view the info before it shuts off again. Mark

I agree with all the above. I use a lighter leader around 30#. Haven't had any break offs. So just to repeat in confermantion: - yes to wire, no to mono - mono has way too much stretch and sucks on a dipsey - wire directly to dipsey using a quick connect swivel. Tie wire line to swivel like this http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm - 10 feet of floro leader to flasher - I use 30# test. - flasher or Spin Doctor - 20 to 30" of lead to fly/spoon depending on length of flasher (3 times). I use 8" SD so I go with 24" lengths. - speed!!!! Troll at 2.5 to 3.0 mph and alter this by zig zaging your course. Mark

Or you could use a fishhawk TD. This will tell you exactly what depth you reached with your dipsey and the temperature at that depth.

If you can wait for it, then absolutely look around. I bought it for $140+tax last year, then the replacement cost me $170+tax. The problem is many people sell it, but very few actually have it in stock, so if you find a good price and they have stock, you'll need to act quickly. I had no choice, I needed it for this weekend and only 1 guy within 50 miles of my house had it.

Yes, it will be good to figure out all that stuff, but after your testing phase, you will want to put it on a rod, so you can get temp while you are trolling, and adjust your riggers accordingly to keep you in the right temp zone. As for the weight once it is on a rod, 5 to 6 lbs is weigh too heavy. It will be difficult to reel in as there is no boyancie, like a fish. It will be almost impossible to get it out of the water and onto the boat. 1 to 1.5 lbs is good enough. You will drop it 150 feet in about 20 to 30 seconds. It doesn't need to be straight down, as the TD measures depth by water pressure.

I'm here! So, yes if you can't afford (or don't have riggers to install) the down temp and speed (because this is actually the best setup), then the TD gives you some important information that can transform your fishing day. Firstly, I don't work for Fishhawk. I bought one last year and can vouch that it is a good product. So good that half of Ontario was sold out of them and there was a 4 week backlog at the supplier - when I bought last year. I managed to travel about 80 km's and found one at a Radio shop (Radio World). Anyhow - the TD gives you temperature every five feet. You'll need a rod to drop it into the water and retrieve it. It should be a spare rod so you don't have to pull your trolling rods to do a temperature test. I basically attached 1 lb of weights to my line and then clamp on the TD and drop it to the bottom. It is really easy to use. With the temp profile, I can set my lines in the 45 - 50F range, and I'm quickly into fish. Now, here's a funny story - last week I put on the TD quickly using the spring connection it comes with. I drop it down and retrieve my line. Guess what was missing??? AGhhhghhgghhh! Gone. I didn't secure the frigging spring connector and it came off the line. So, I went and bought a new one $180 with tax!! That was an expensive fishing trip! So don't feel to bad about your wire. By the way, why is your wire costing so much? $60 is too expensive. You can get 30# 7 strand torpedo wire for like $35 for 1000 ft. I just picked up 2 spools three weeks ago. Anyhow, if you need more info, let me know.

Oukuma convectors size 30 - spooled with 1000ft of 7 strand wire (Torpedo). $70 reel, $25 wire Rapala RSC - 10 foot roller guide rods. $100 rod. These are awsome products that will last a long time. $200 per rod, wired and ready to go. Mark

There's days when something has a bit of a preference over something else. but on most days, I have fish hitting on greens, blues, purples, etc. Last time I went out, over a 1.5 hour period - 5 hits. 2 on green crinkle fly 1 on bloody death fly (purple and red) 1 on NGK lure (green and silver) 1 on purple thunder lure (purple and black) Try and work that one out.

Nice gift. Bet you won't forget that Father's day present! There's lots of help here. Also if you are on the Canadian side of Lake O, visit Spoonpullers.com - which is more focused on the north shore. This site has a lot of experienced anglers as well, so make sure you keep tabs here too!

If you can throw a few more bucks in. I have this unit, it is really good. Marks fish awsomely, and it is really easy to use: http://www.gpscity.ca/lowrance-elite-5- ... otter.html 500W RMS Has switching between 83kHz and 200 kHz, which helps you change the cone angle and see things differently.

I just bought some walker tripz divers. This should help me a bit, particularly in the top 40 feet of water. I'm thinking of running 3 dipseys with 2 settings apart (2L, 0, 2R) and then the tripz diver in the center running over the center dipsey. Maybe will set the center to 0.5L or something so it's not right under the tripz. Have a look. What's nice is it floats as you release your line and then when you pull back it starts diving. With wire even the size 20 can get to 36 feet deep according to the Precision Trolling book.

As IRISH56 says, you need some backing to get bite! I use duct tape, basically tie the wire around the spool and then tape a 1" to 2" wide section of duct tape over the wire and wrap around, overlapping at least once. Then start reeling in the wire nice and tight - do this correctly and you will be happy - not too fast, until you get the hang of it. 1000 ft of wire is all you need with the duct tape backing. Wire goes straigth to the dipsey and I support the above - hooked in via a good quality quick connect swivel. I use 30# fluorocarbon as my leads - it is more invisible in water than mono. If you are going from a dispey to lure - put 10 ft of it on. If you are going to a flasher put around 5 or 6 feet of it on, then whatever you need to the fly or artificial bait - as per instructions.

Are those Babelfish translators available on ebay?

I take about a 2" length of copper pipe insulation (grey foam). I wrap my lead around this and store with the dipsey. Leader never gets kinks this way and stays neat and compact for storage.

Watermelon (purple, white and silver with black dots). Monkey puke (yes this a a lure's name) - it is orange and green Hawg Wild (it is orange and yellow) Purple Thunder (Purple and Black) NBK spoon (green and silver with a chrismas tree pattern on it) Go for the 4" lures, and if you can, maybe some 3" (but 4" is the preference). Also as stated above, get some Atomik flies: - bloody death - crinkle glow - hawg wild

Yup, and with 40 lb test mono line, you need a really big reel to fit 1000 ft of it. Agree with all the above - fleas, stretch issues. Also wire gets deeper than mono as there is less drag due to higher density of line and thinner line for same strength.

The main reasons: (1) hooks not sharp enough (2) drags set too tight (3) dipsey doesn't pop open and allows slack in the lead line. Mark

I would go at least 9 ft, 10 ft if you can. It helps getting the fish a lot closer to net when you have more length as you can wind up more line. It also helps to get the rods over the rigger rods if you want them to sit over one another. I have Rapala RSC's 10 ft with roller guides - very nice. You will get 100 opinions here, so you'll need to go to a good shop and look at the options. If you go the roller guide way rather than twillie tip, then get a rod with good roller guides or the wire will end up getting stuck between the roller and roller mount and you will be swearing a lot. A good roller guide is an amazing rod to work with.

I don't use downriggers on my boat. I fish with 2 or 3 dipsey's and one or two lines using a heavy bass weights. Don't use snap weights, they are useless. Go with wire lines if you can - it is way better, trust me. If you buy anything else you will likely end up buying wire and spending the money twice, so do it right the first time. Wire is not difficult to use if you follow a few basics. Get 7 strand torpedo wire, and spool 1000 ft of it onto your reel. Keep it tight, apply it on slowly and then you won't have any major issues. So let me explain my setup: Two outer rods are always on wire dipseys, number 1 dipseys on 3 setting away from the boat. If generally put these deep in the water 50 - 90 feet deep. Two inner rods (center) I normally put on heavy drop weights a 4 oz and a 6 oz. This allows me to put these lines far out (180 feet or more) out and away from the dipseys. At these distances I get around 30 ft deep. The 4 oz weight is always 20 or 30 feet farther out then the 6 oz weight. This keeps these lines away from each other as well. To attach the bass weights, they will come with a ring on the weight. Connect your main line to this ring using a snap swivel. Connect your leader to the same ring using another snap swivel. Your leader then needs to be at least 10 feet long, florocarbon 20 to 30# to lure. Sometimes I'll use a number 0 dipsy on one of the center rods if I need to get to 40 feet or so. The setup up is very productive. I hooked into 7 fish this weekend, and landed 4 over the space of 3 hours fishing. Mark

To be honest, I keep the one on the SD only. I've tried it with two, where the fly comes with a swivel as well, and haven't noticed any issues. When you say what is the lenght of the cheater line, do you mean the lenght of the leader line (from SD to bait)? It depends: 24 - 28" if you are using a fly. 36 - 40" if you are using cut herring bait or artificials (MC Rockets). Reason for longer lead is you don't want the swing action of the SD to affect the rotating action of the herring bait.

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So based on this, the best you're going to get is 120 to 130ft down?

I would rather put a flasher ahead of a fly than a spoon. I like my spoons clean after a 6 oz drop weight, or a No 0 dipsey. And use at least 8 to 10 ft of lead line (floro).

Mag dispey with ring, the chart only goes to 100 feet for 30# wire. 100ft on 0 setting needs 210 feet line back. Same 210 feet line back on 2 or 3 setting only gets you about 90ft down. The angle of the curve suggest after 210 feet you go down 0.3 feet for every foot of line out. So to get 10 feet you need 33 feet of more line out. So this is my guess on 2 or 3 setting: 100 ft down - 240 feet out. 110 ft down - 270 feet out. 120 ft down - 300 feet out. 130 ft down - 340 feet out. 140 ft down - 380 feet out. 150 ft down - 430 feet out. I think past 120ft down it actually becomes impractical. Will take forever to reel in a king from that distance.