ErieBuck

This is really cool, thanks for sharing! I'm going to have to get one of these. I've been towing fish behind the boat with a rapala lip grabber tied to a paracord for a couple seasons and it has worked quite well. Here is a video from this morning, releasing a Lake Trout caught near the bottom, 95 ft. of water. I've found this works well with Lakers and Kings. I don't have a lot of success with steelhead. If anyone has any suggestions for those, I'd appreciate it.

58 Big Indian Smoke Shop, 597 Milestrip Rd, Irving, NY 14081

I ended up filling up at the Big Indian. $5.15 for premium which they said was ethanol free. And with a $20 purchase they offered a free joint at their dispensary next door. lol

Awesome spread!! What do you do to reset when high, outside board fires?

Yes great point. Realized this before trying luckily… didn’t want to risk a mess with limited opportunities on weather shortened trip.

My intuition was to do like you said above but it seems like the "pros" hook it near the leader knot... Russell Gahagan, Pete Alex etc.

That's a good call using it on leadcore... do you have a feel for how deep you get when using it on leadcore? For example, if I clip a 4 oz weight to the leader at the end of a 10 color setup, would I theoretically achieve 90-100 ft (10 color = ~40ft +50ft from the torpedo weight) ? Snapper 5 1/2 in. 2 oz. 200 ft. 40 ft. Shark 6 3/4 in. 4 oz. 200 ft. 54 ft. Musky 8 1/4 in. 8 oz. 200 ft. 77 ft. Cuda 9 1/2 in. 12 oz. 200 ft. 90 ft.

you guys mess around with torpedo divers at all before? i.e. clipping a torpedo to say a 300 copper to make it get deeper as an alternative to carrying all the different lengths.

Interesting, that 80ft range isn’t as productive as 60 or 100

Im tempted to add a 400 copper for my trip…. Have 200/300. Mid summer will need to get deep for the big boys I think. Riggers and wire divers will reach but will nice to have some long lines get deep. Worth it you think or too much hassle with that much line?

Got it thanks much, I’ll try to 8 inch this trip with the meat

@GAMBLER do you run meat off your divers? If so what size rotator and leader length?

Thanks Pappy, I’m always up for learning….There’s so much knowledge out there. I learn something from everybody I meet, especially the senior captains out there. Experience is everything. So many tough guys out there who want to act like they know everything and are afraid to ask questions that make them seem vulnerable. I have absolutely crushed salmon up there, but realize I’m only an amateur trying to have good time a few times a year… I could easily get humiliated on my next trip… but it won’t be due lack of effort and ignorance!

Thanks @AnglingAddict good advice! Good call on the Stingray's... thinner metal, more speed tolerant. 36" is for a 10" spin doc; I use 50"+ for the big 12" paddles. I shortened them down for this season after not getting bit much on the divers last year running 10" spin doc w/ meat. BUT Maybe the 36" recommendation I've read about for 10" spin doc is more for flys than meat; however. Maybe my leader length from dispey to flasher is culprit, I think I ran it about 6-8 ft from dipsey to flasher... I usually don't have a crew experienced with hand lining. My weighted steel setups can be run at 200 (~40ft) or 300 (~60ft) so I'll clip the board on the appropriate segment depending on the time of day and bite trend -- the 300WS setup was by far the biggest producer of mature kings last year for me in late July running moonshine mags.

Each trip to Lake O I try to learn and get better. Last summer, late July, mag spoons were consistently getting bit, particularly on the long lines (300 Weighted steel). Deep divers were probably second best with spoons but I couldn't get the flasher/fly rigs to fire very much. My deep rigger with large spin doc and meat rig caught a few nice 20lb+ fish, but I feel I can do better to optimize the overall program. My rigger w/ spoon caught a lot of dinks. I don't want to give up on flasher flys because I want to catch larger fish, and I feel my meat rigs should be catching more than they do. In optimizing a mixed program like this, what are some of the details you guys pay attention to? - Will you stay away from the 12" Kingfisher or Pro-Troll paddles for your deep meat rigs given the speed necessary to make the spoons sing? What is the top speed you feel these are effective? Perhaps I should stick with only 10" Spin Docs instead, which tend to be more speed tolerant I've read? - Will lengthening fly leaders behind the rotator help account for the higher speed and provide a less aggressive, more attractive whip of the fly? I typically run ~22in behind the 8 inch spin doc. My typical program is: - Deep Rigger: Large Paddle -- 12" pro-troll e chip or KingFisher II with Diabolical or Atomic twinkie meat rig, ~50 inches behind paddle. I usually run this opposite probe rigger, not sure why lol. - Rigger w/ probe: Spoon w/ cheater - Wire Deep Diver #1, Mag Dipsey with 10 inch spin Doc and twinkie meat rig, ~36 inch behind. - Wire Deep Diver #2, Mag Dipsey with 8 inch Flasher Fly, 22" behind. - 300 Weighted Steel with inline board, Mag Spoon - 300 Weighted Steel with inline board, Mag Spoon This year depending on lake conditions, I may try to run a high braid diver as well. Probably safest to run a spoon instead of FF to avoid tangles? Anyhow, I'm curious what you guys think... Thanks!

Nice work!! What leader length on dipsey do you prefer?

you are correct, 8lbs a gallon, that's a lot of weight.