Billy V

Chaos,

Don't kill yourself to get me the info. I'm gonna head over to Best Buy and take a look at what they have. My boat is all pre-wired for power & has speakers so installing a stereo wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I like that I can run my iPod like this for relatively little outlay!

Great idea! Thanks.

That's a great idea chaos. My new boat doesn't have a radio on it and it's been killing me. Which docking station do you have? That would be a super-easy way to get tunes on board, especially if I can find one that will run off of a cigarette lighter.

I run the standard size 1 dipsys with the standard size rings and run two per side without problems. I know Yankee Troller runs the oversize rings on his deep divers to help him achieve deeper depths with less line out. I've ordered some and will be giving them a try here as soon as they arrive from Dreamweaver. You'll definitely want to run a heavier rod for dipsy applications than you'd need to on a rigger, and the bigger the dipsy you run, the more pull it will exert.

To keep the dipsys from getting in each other's way, I set my deep diver on a .5, and my high diver on a 2.5. We've had a lot of luck with that set-up this year. Just be sure to pay attention to how much line you have out and watch your turns. You don't want them both to have the same amount of line out or you'll be untangling a mess of wire.

Sounds to me like either the drags on your reels are too tight or the release on the rigger or the dipsy is too tight. If they're too tight, and a King hits it hard, the hook will take the brunt of the hit and straighten out before the release or drag has a chance to do its job. That has happened to us in the past, and we've pretty much eliminated it by paying very close attention to the drag and release settings.

We had a hook straighten out on us in the Sodus Pro-Am on day 2 on a wire dipsy and we lost the fish due to it. That one fish would've moved us into a top-ten finish.

When I checked the drag, I found that one of my newer crew members had tightened it down to keep it from creeping. It was pretty tight. We're lucky the fish didn't break the wire.

Try loosening the releases on your riggers & dipsys so that they just hold (without popping on every turn or on every wave), and keep those Dipsy drags loose enough so that they creep on the outside of a turn. You'll have to experiment with the release settings, but too loose is definitely better than too tight. That might help with keeping the fish from bending hooks.

I typically take the week of the 4th off for vacation with my family. Some years I head out of town, and other years we're in town. So some years I won't be able to make it, others it would work out well for me since I'll already be off work...kinda hard to tell until we make vacation plans.

Good question.......maybe Yankee Troller can confirm this, but I think it's on both sides...I honestly can't picture it in my head right now...but what else is new....my brain fails me more and more every day!

Great tip Jeremy...Thanks for sharing!

I have all of 6" or so between the dipsy rod holders on each side. I'm not sure you need any more than that...it seems to work quite well with the way we run it.

Here's a shot of my dipsy rod holder set-up:

Pay no attention to the Bayliner in the background.....

I'm also running 10'6 rods for my high divers and 9'6 rods for my deep divers. Helps with the seperation.

In my opinion, Vanish mostly sucks. I've run P-Line fluoroclear in 30# test for my leaders for the past two years and like it an awful lot.

We do it with no problems. Run the deep diver on a .5, and the high diver on a 2.5. We try and keep at least 2 settings between rods. Works fine with wire and standard size 1 dipsys.

Here you go Erbyjoe!

Stix,

That Dalmatian spinny has been a really good one for us since last year. LOVE it in front of a Blue Dolphin (Hammer) or a White Crinkle fly.

Today dad & I were joined by my sister and her husband for a day of family fun out of Fair Haven. After the blow on Friday, we found the temp break to be a bit deeper than it's been, down at 125 ft. It was a flasher/fly day for us, as the Dalmatian Spin Dr./ Siggs Rigs Blue Dolphin did most of the damage on both the rigger and the wires. We also took hits on a white spinny/white crinkle Siggs fly, and a green spinny/green hypnotist Siggs fly. We had a wicked current to deal with today, and we found it most productive to run just two riggers. Best down speeds for us were 2.4-2.7mph. We had a great day, and it sure was fun to see my brother-in-law hook up with his first-ever King...I think he's hooked!

Here's the few that we kept.

My brother in-law with the biggest fish of the day for us.

There was a ton of bait and lots of marks out over 140-180 FOW, and we took most of our hits down 120-135 on the riggers and with divers out 330-350 on a #2.

Good luck to those of you who get out this week...it should be a great week!!

Fair Haven has been consistently one of the hottest ports on the lake this year....browns, cohos, steelies, and now the Kings. We've had a fantastic year this year. And as far as a nice place to live, FH certainly is a beautiful, peaceful place.

In all fairness, I have agree with CBish....the best port is wherever you are. There really haven't been any bad ports to fish out of this year, have there???

I feel like I get a better "kick" out of my flys when I run it on the quicker action hole. It's been several years since I experimented with two spinnys side-by-side, but I definitely liked the action of the quicker action hole better. Next time you're out, put a out two spinnys side by side, one in each hole and see which one you like....you may very well like the slower action hole...to each his own I guess, right?

I always switch the Spin Dr. over to the "Quick action" hole. That's the first thing I do when it comes out of the package...that and I add a cross lock snap on the rear so I can easily take the fly off for storage. For flys, 18-30" is the range where most guys run them. I'd say that 22-24" is the most common length. I don't run spoons behind my flashers, but I'd guess that somewhere in that 18-30" range would work just fine.

Gotta agree with Tim here...crimps aren't the best way to go with wire....give me that knot any day!

I have the new Mag10 HS, and IMO they're a fantastic downrigger. They're smokin' fast (250fpm with a 20# Shark)and the shortstop feature just can't be beat. The Mag5 HS is basically a Mag 10HS with a fixed boom and no swivel base. I'd highly recommend them to you.

I wouldn't worry about that boat with that engine in it. That's basically a 265 Pro-Hunter, and most of them had 350's in them and have enough power. The Bravo II is a better lower unit than the Alpha one too. Is this one the one in MI? If so, shoot me an email and I can give you some details. It's a great boat.

I'm still recovering from the pro-am! We'll be out again this weekend for a some relaxing fun fishing with my sister & her husband. I'm really looking forward to just taking it easy!

Day two was such a bummer for us. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. Even still, we had a great time and look forward to fishing it again next year.

Great report Tim! Way to go get 'em!!

They make a black one that runs just as straight and true as the chrome or gold ones, but costs a lot less. Check here for prices, etc. http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/store ... eights.htm

I run the 15# during the summer & fall when we have to fish really deep to help cut down on the blowback on my cables. I run the 12# all spring & early summer.

Hey, any time! I'm glad you could squeeze her in there. And that knot really is easy to use. Nice meeting you, and I'm sure we'll run into you out on the lake again this season.

I haven't tried that. I think maybe Yankee Troller does it though.