FishingFool34

So I have always wondered about this... Anytime I raise/lower my riggers I always have to adjust the rod/reel to match. How does being able to raise/lower from your seat benefit you, if you have to go back and adjust the rod/reel to match? Do you keep the drag loose on your reels or not keep a lot of tension on the rod when you set it? Always thought it was a cool feature but never seemed very practical to me?

I bet you had a kink in the wire you didn't notice and the added friction of the line coming off opposite of the level-wind was likely enough additional resistance to break it. That issue was most likely due to you cutting off the previous tangle and throwing off the "timing" of the level wind further down the spool. Most ppl are using wire on a 30 size reel which filled with 1000ft of wire requires very minimal backing just to fill the spool completely and keep your linecounter accurate. Some don't even use backing as the counter is fairly close with just the 1000ft of wire on the reel. I would remove the remaining wire and put a new 1000ft spool on the reel and whatever backing you need to fill the reel. You shouldn't ever have a fish get out past 1000ft and into the backing IMO.

You're trying to combine two things that don't need to be combined... the whole point of dipseys and weighted steel are to get a lure down to a certain depth. Weighted steel sinks on its own at a known rate, and dispeys dive to certain depths with a known amount of line out. No need to combine the two when they can each do the job on their own. Wire is used on dipseys because it doesn't sink on its own and its narrow diameter will cut thru the water better than say braid or mono which allows the dipsey to get deeper with less line out (with added benefit of collecting less fleas and easier flea removal). Braid is used on dipsey diver by some and I've heard of mono being used but not usually for salmon due to the line stretch and depths we are trying to reach. Stick with wire or braid on dipseys for salmon.

If they come on the spoon I use them, if they don't come on the spoon I use them without it. If they came on the spoon I just assume the manufacturer saw a need for it so I use them and vice versa. I've caught lots of fish on Dreamweaver spoons with split rings and lots of fish on Michigan Stinger spoons without split rings.

Gonna be combat fishing that time of year in Mexico area, if you're fine with that head to mouth of SR and jump in the pack. Otherwise you could head about an hour north to the Henderson Harbor area and fish the trench. Less traffic and fish that are still biting.

Yeah, 45-48 is a good starting point. I'll find that temp and start spreading lines around from there, have had goodluck with a meat rig well below temp. Once I start seeing marks I usually adjust to the marks even if they are out of those temps.

2.2-3.0 down speed for salmon, I usually start at 2.5 and adjust from there. Some days they like it faster other days slower. Spring time trout 2.0-2.5, lakers 1.5-2.0. Personally my downriggers are usually my deepest lines as they can get there with much less line out than anything else. I start out with a pretty wide depth spread and adjust it as the day goes on. Marks on the sonar and bites will help you narrow down the most productive depths on that day. Hard to give exact numbers as it depends on what depth your fishing and the water temps at those depths. Something to tell you down speed and temp will really increase your catch rate imo. Down speed is the most crucial I think, finding the thermocline is a good place to start but not as important as knowing if your trolling speed is correct. I set my spread initially according to temp but I adjust based on where I'm seeing fish on the sonar. Lots of good reports from just about any port on here, which should give you an idea of where to start but things change fast. Where ppl found fish yesterday, isn't necessarily where you will find them today. Cover ground, change things up until you find what's working. Goodluck!

I use Star Brite gel hull cleaner. I'm bottom painted but since installing the kicker and bracket one side of the boat sits lower in the water now and I get a scum line like 2-3" above where the bottom paint ends on the kicker side. Gel is easy to control and doesn't run as much (that stuff will remove bottom paint just and instantly rust a galvanized trailer just fyi). Wear gloves when applying and have a hose handy.

That's a solid list right there! I had pretty much the same list when I was considering going aluminum (Lund Tyee and Sport Angler were on my list also). Those are all hard to find models but goodluck!

I do something similar but clip my dipsey onto the braid and then remove it as I'm reeling the fish in just like you would do with an in-line planer board. Seems to work well, tried slide divers but the lack of an accurate depth chart and the issues I had with the divers not sliding down the braid led me to my current setup. Also makes rod storage a lot easier.