TyeeTanic

You shouldn't connect the wire directly to the mono. The wire will eventually cut the mono under strain. I use a micro-swivel, as Mick says it is around 30lb test. I join the wire to the micro swivel using this knot: http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm I then use a uni knot to connect the swivel to the mono. If you use 20 lb mono lead, the knot should be small enough to get through your reel guides. The rod roller guides won't be a problem - what the normal issue is when you are releasing the line in the water, if your mono knot is too large it gets stuck in the back of the guide and if you are not careful, leads to a birds nest in the reel. So when releasing be extra careful until the knot is out of the final roller in the rod. If you have hoop guides on your rod, same issue - it is the release that causes most of the problems. But, it does work nicely though. Keep in mind another thing - and this has been a major issue for me, enough for me to get rid of my mono lead connection on the wire. Fleas will accumulate on the knot/swivel, etc. whatever you use to connect the wire to the mono. This means you will not be able to reel in past this knot or connection, which means you will have 30+ feet of line still out if you need to land a fish. It won't be any fun, trust me. So I do not recommend this setup during flea season. Mark

Thanks for this daker. It will help me with another problem I am having lately. Last weekend I found my snubber chord wrapped around my mag dipsy on 3 out of 4 casts. Try pulling a mag out of the water if it doesn't unclip! Try pulling it out of the water with a screamer on as well!!! That would be like pulling in a 100 lb salmon! Haha. I couldn't understand how it was happening - but now I do! This is especially an issue with mag dipsey's as the drag force could easily push it farther ahead than the flasher. I didn't find it happening too much to the #1 and #0 dipseys but that is because there is a lot less drag force. Hopefully now I can get things to set in the water properly. Thanks again!!!

Yes, they are 8.5 ft Starfire's with wire guides. Like I said the top wire guide is not that great - the wire keeps getting stuck in between the roller and the guide frame.

Not enough choices. I use a hearing gel that I pour onto the spoons and fly hooks. I'm not sure how much it helps, but I think it does a bit. I caught 16 fish in 3 hours the first time I started using scent gel. The previous fishing trip was only 6 fish. It certainly doesn't hurt to use scent - it can only add to the numbers.

This talks about bass fishing and river fishing - which is generally shallow water. Do you think the voltage makes any difference if we are fishing down 40 - 80 feet? The current should be well dispersed by then right?

Hey Bazooka, I bought the Rapala RSC 10.5' dipsy wire rods at Le Baron in Mississauga. On special - was $160 per rod, now $99. Mark

Adam2000, yes they are Eagle Claw Starfires 8.5 ft, 2 piece, rated for 30 lbs. They are breaking on the top half section, where it slides into the bottom half section. See pic below. The first one broke when I was reeling in a 20lb lake trout. Was going gentle on my pulls - yes there was alot of pressure but steady, no sudden jolts and then CRACK - rod breaks in two. This happened 4 weeks ago. Got the top section replaced. Second was even more pathetic - no fish. I was simply reeling in a line to change the fly - it had a Mag dipsy on it. The snubber got wrapped around the dipsy, so it wouldn't pop open. I was pulling it up and CRACK - second rod gone. This was on my other Starfire, and happened this past weekend. So two different rods, break at same point - at the joint on the top half. Also I find the wire gets stuck in the side of the top roller FREQUENTLY. I would not recommend this rod, given my current experience.

By the way, wouldn't it be nice if they just chaned the design of the bottom roller guide on the top half of the rod and the top wire guide on the bottom half of the rod so it has a smooth curved turnback which the wire can snuggly fit in. When taking the two pieces of the rod apart you could then simply run the wire over the turnbacks to prevent it from kinking. Maybe I need to invent something ...

Hey Bazooka. I caught this Hawg on 6 lb test in the river last October. Was 35 lbs. Took around 25 mins. So, it is possible ...

Nice fish Paul. Congrats. I know it wasn't easy and there were no guarantees getting that fish in. So good on you and the crew for landing it. I am sure your client is telling all his friends how he managed to lose $4000 by scrooging $10 for a ticket. You can probably sell the derby tickets for $20 each now - just keep a picture of that fish onboard.

Last night I tried my rapalas RSC dipsy wire rods. WOW, WOW - much better than the Eagle Claws. The rollers are tight and the wire does not get stuck in the guides. The rod has a beautiful action and makes it easier to reel in fish. Awsome rods - I am one happy customer.

I don't have exactly your setup, but I think I can shed some light here. I don't have downriggers on the boat, so I have wire dipseys on the outside of my boat running mags on #3 setting. I assume your copper is going right over the riggers on your sides, right? Well, I then have two rods in the between (in the center of the boat) running either #0 or #1 dipseys. I set them to 0.5 or 1.0 position maximum. The trick is the center dipseys - these will be the closest together and the highest risk of tangling together. What I do is put 1 rod on a #0 dipsey, and run it out about 250 feet - this gest me down aroudn 40 feet. I then run a #1 dipsey on the other rod out about 170 feet - which gets me around 60 feet down. What this does is staggers the lines away from each other in the water, so when you are turning, the line of the #0 basically goes over the line of the #1 dipsey. If you try running two dipsys at the same setting in the center you will need to be VERY careful on your turns or they will clash.

Holy smokes! 50+ fish. And your arms didn't fall off???

I ended up going with 10.5 ft Rapala Dipsy Rods with roller guides. They look amazing and tough. Can't wait to try them tomorrow. [ Post made via BlackBerry ]

I don't have downriggers. Can I use a 6ft rod? [ Post made via BlackBerry ]

Just broke my second eagle claw 8.5 ft rod. Not happy with the quality. They can't take the strain of a mag dipsey. Anyhow going to get a pair of new rods in a couple of hours. One shop is saying a shorter 6 ft is better and the other is saying I should get a 9ft rod. What would be better for me. I run 30lb 7 strand wire on #1 or mag dipseys. Thanks. [ Post made via BlackBerry ]

Well, it's not completely my fault. The dealer that sold me the boat said the only thing that was hooked up to the auxillary battery is the trolling motor. I guess he forgot to mention the livewell pump. Thing is when I had it off for several hours, I could switch it back on and it would work for a few seconds before dying down. That was the little bit of juice left in the battery - which also fooled me. Anyhow - it is a better outcome than having to replace my pump!!!

Figured out what the problem is, and I feel like a moron. The livewell pump is hooked to my auxillary battery which is not hooked up to the alternator - it is a deepcycle and also sends juice to the trolling motor. Guess what ran out of power??? I only had to send the mechanic down from the marina to figure that one out - and it cost me $50. Nice!

Huh? Ray, please explain - I don't understand the theory behind this one - are you saying the predators expect the bait to swim backwards?

Hey Paul. I've put in some major hours fishing and remember all those questions??? Well, this forum's help really got me to zero in on the right setup (I hope you weren't being sarcastic about learning so much in the last 6 weeks ). Adam - I would be scared crapless to use my 14 foot Raven in the lake. I know it flexes better than the girls at the Runway Strip club, but it must take forever to bring in a king with a 6 lb line. I find the trout are stronger in the streams and the salmon are stronger in the lake. Salmon seem tired in the river after a burst up the shallows - so I find it more manageable to catch them on my float rod in the river - but on the lake - I believe you, but I wouldn't do it - it's hard enough to reel in a screamer on the 8 ft rigger rods on 30 lb test. Like I said I believe you - but not sure as a beginner on the lake whether it will lead to succesful fishing.

Adam - maybe we're not talking about the same thing here. Are we talking about IM6 to IM8 river fishing rods, that are highly flexible - that we use 6 lb test on??? If so the thrashing of a king will definitely be too much force for that rod.

Oh, and one last but important thing - you want to set your lure 30 - 40 feet deep. So that means you need 150 to 200 feet of line out to get there on a 5 oz weight.

Well, there are a few basics you cannot stray from. I am a converted river fisherman (float) as well, so I know what is done there vs. the open water - and it is very much different. First and foremost is you need to be in the right depth of water, travelling at the right speed. 100 - 200 feet of water is generally good, and you need to be travelling between 2.5 - 3.3 mph. If you cannot keep your speed consistently in this range, forget it, you won't have too much luck. You are better off anchoring somewhere and jigging. If you can do this speed, then you will need at least a medium action 8 foot rod, and recommended is a heavy action 8.5 foot rod, but for limited fishing it's not a must. Your drift rod will snap in half if you use it trolling - trust me. You will need to fit the rod with at least 20 lb mono line or higher (I use 30 lb test) and have at least 800 - 1000 ft of it. Forget about the 6 lb test we use in the rivers - will snap in a second. You will need to know exactly how many feet of line you have out (for reason spelled out below), which defines the type of reel you can use - you obviously want a trolling reel for this reason, and because it is heavy duty. If you don't have this stuff then your best bet is to look out for some good combos - I got a Rapala Magnum II Medium to Heavy Action Trolling Rod and Reel with built in counter and mono line on it (ready to fish) for $80 at Canadian Tire. You can't get it much cheaper than this and it is pretty good stuff. Lastly is the tackle - you can do something simple or a little more complicated but more efficient. There are two components to your tackle - (a) something to get your line down deep enough and (b) the bait you use. For point (a) - A more complicated setup involves using something called a dipsey diver - this gets your line down deep (up to 100 feet). Basically the diver comes with a chart which tells you how much line you need to let out to get it a certain depth (which is why you need the line counter on the reel). I would go for a #1 size dipsey diver, it is the most versatile. If you want the simpler set up for point (a) - then get a drop (bass weight) around 3, 4 or 5 oz's. Put a 1/4" ring onto it and connect it to the snap swivel on the end of your main mono line. You can then join the lead line and bait to the same 1/4" ring. Trolling at the desired speeds - every 10 feet of line out gets you around 2 feet down (20%). For point(b) - I would just use lures. Good ones to get are 4" size and Northern King - Black/Purple &Water Melon, Williams - Blue/Silver, or Nasty Boy - Blue Silver. Put a 10' leader of 30lb floro carbon on this. Something more complicated would be an attractor/fly combo. Here you attach an attractor like a spin doctor to the dipsey using a 6 to 10 foot floro lead, and then a fly (made using tinsel) about 20" away from the attractor on a floro lead. Note, most flies come with the leader already installed. You want colors like bloody death or green glow. So to recap - I would recommend the simplest set up: - Rapala Magnum II Rod and Reel combo, with built in line counter and mono line - $80 at Canadian Tire - 40lb test stainless steel ball bearing snap swivels, Size 3 - (need 3 per rod for the simple setup) - $5 per pack, get 2 - Couple of 3 oz and 5 oz weights - $3 each, get 3. - Some 1/4" stainless rings to attach the weights to the main line - $3 per pack - 25 meters of 30 lb test florocarbon line - $15 for a roll - 4" Northern King - Purple/Black lure, Watermelon and Nasty Boy Blue/Silver - $8 each, get 3 or 4 - plastic case to hold spare stuff - $10 - option is some bait scent good for trout or salmon - usually hering works well. $5 for a bottle - ALL In - $165 all in for a decent, but basic setup, per rod. See image below for an illustration of how to connect everything up.

Yup - Hank has the right one - don't use anything else, this knot is easy to tie and as strong as steel!!

I have the Eagle Claw wire rods with the rollers, and my hand doesn't come too close to the wire. I definitely never get touched by it when I'm holding the rod above the reel.