spin doctors and flies keep ending up in a twisted mess..

[jstrong625]

I am still trying to learn the art of trolling with downriggers. I am having trouble with my flies getting twisted up with my spin doctors. I have been running with about 22"-24" leader that comes prerigged on the atomik flies. My trolling speeds are between 2 - 2.8 mph. Any tips you guys might have would be great. Also my sons and I fish out of Sandy Pond and are still looking for our first fish trolling. We have been out fiver or six times to about 300ft with no luck at all. So any tips you may have would be very much appreciated. Thanks again, Joe

[K Gonefishin]

How are you connecting the flies to the spin docs?

Run them 5-10 from the ball in 45-55 degree water.

Speeds 2.2-3.2

Leader length sounds good.

[rshubuck]

Ball bearing swivels will help! I'm currently having the same problem but I'm not using the ball bearing swivels. Here is what was recommended to me and what I read on another post on this site.

http://www.dreamweaverlures.com/product ... es/swivels

I'm using barrel swivels now and the trolling fleas keep binding them up.

[ray koziatek]

the pointy end goes towards the front of the boat...............ant never had that happen make shure flasher swivel is in proper allignment,,,sometimes if you just drop it in it will sorta catch but not every time in fact its rare that it happens....with moderate care in deploying... are ya dropping riggers fast by releasing clutch? actual down speed anal fast??? or supergluing swivels are all i can think of ...Like mentioned long leads off ball could cause major problems with spinnies....hey yer not deploying your spread in 50 fow and running to 200 fow at 20 mph are ya??

[LongLine]

are ya dropping riggers fast by releasing clutch?

This will make a mess the great majority of the time.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[dreamcatcher]

what marina do you go out of? we fish out of the north end, brennans bay will be up this weekend and hopefully on the water, have definate plans of fishing the loc from the 20th on, we monitor channel 69, boat name dreamcatcher, if we are doing any fish we share info.

not sure why you are tangling, we run spin drs a lot and rarely tangle like u describe.

[Schools Out]

If your still looking for that first fish, try the humps in 80-100 fow off of port ontario. load up with stinger spoons and set your riggers from 57 F to 20 feet up. good luck.

This should get you some browns

[jstrong625]

I have been just been using the swivels that come with the spin doctors. I have not been releasing the clutch, so that should not be it. I have been setting them around 20'-40' behind the ball. I will shorten up there. We go out of reiters marina on Sandy Pond. I will try off of Port Ontario. Thanks again!!

[Big Dave]

With leads that long you have to be careful on the turns!!!! If you turn to short they will run into each other if they are at the same depth. The currents out by 9mi will make a mess of them too. I have a smaller boat and have two riggers. We run the flashers on the dipsie rods most of the time , Maybe off the riggers on one side and spoons on the other. For the most part that keeps us out of trouble. Although I am good at the untangle and rerigging thing

[excavr]

Is there a reason why the Spin Doctors come with a ball bearing swivel at the front and a barrel swivel at the rear?

I don't know if it is coincidental, but we accidentally reversed the swivels so the barrel was on the front and found the line between the dipsy and the spinny was twisted.

[Big Dave]

It dosen't matter if the fly spins, but it does matter if the line to the dipsie or the rigger does. Thats why the ball bearing is at the front. They will wind up the line so tight that it twists off with out you knowing. And your trolling an empty line