TyeeTanic

I agree you don't need a flag to tell you a fish is on. I wouldn't be too concerned about that. What is your backing, braid?

Well that sucks. I can still get NK in some shops. Like Sail in Ontario ... they still have a big selection.

You don't need all that stuff. Either your wire kinked or your knot is no good. Use this knot, I've had this knot on some of my wires for 4 years, and no problems. I've never snapped my wire. Make sure you keep your wire under tension always, and avoid pigtail kinks. Inspect your knot and retie if necessary. http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm On the above, I tie the overhand knot first before I connect the snap swivel. And use a good snap swivel, with ball bearings like spro.

You will learn a lot as an observer at tournaments. The pressure is on for guys to catch fish, so they will use every trick under their sleeve. Back to specifics - how long were your leads? How deep (water depth) were you? How deep were your spoons? What color spoons? What leader are you using on your rods?

A spin doctor/fly setup will be the leading setup for taking fish in late June to mid-August. I would not exclude this setup from my arsenal.

Yes, 15 lb's is enough if fleas aren't a problem. I've landed 25 lb kings on 8 lb lines (center pin rod). It takes forever to bring them in, but it's possible. I wouldn't use 15 lbs on the lake for 2 reasons - (1) fleas are a problem and they will grab onto that line size. (2) It takes longer to get the fish in, and that puts the fish in greater distress - so unless you plan on keeping it, you have to think of the mortality rate if fish is put under stress for longer periods.

Where do you fish if you are North of Toronto? Lake O has an awesome salmon fishery. In about 1 month it's going to be on fire across the north shore.

30 lb is good. 20 lb leader for rigger rods though.

With all that snow I would have thought the levels would have been up. There is a major screw up somewhere.

Also how long are your rods?

45 degrees isn't bad, put definitely if you put it higher it will help. I assume you have deployed it correctly, and that it tracks to the side of the boat you expect?

Yes go to blood run, they have a lot of good advice on the TX44 board. One thing when you put the board in the water make sure you keep your rods high, and even when you have them in position, keep the rod tips up. When they dive it's normally when the tip is close to the water.

A lot of guys (including myself) use 30 lb big game. Works well to keep the fleas off. We then use 20 lb fluoro leader, about 15 ft. I use a double uni knot to tie the leader.

TX 44 boards are fine with 400' of copper. We use them all the time. I wouldn't want to put more than 2 copper lines out though, one on either side. It's hard enough keeping lines from tangling when a fish hits and crosses over at those lengths out.

Weight should be all the way forward, helps the board dig in and counter balances pull at back from line drag. If those boards are still a problem, consider the TX-44 boards. They are much bigger, track better and can handle a lot more heavier line like copper, lead core or torpedoes on braid or mono.

Darrel,Oh, I know you are aware speed is important. I wasn't contesting that. I also know what you are trying to say ... all things being the same, if depth is the same, speed has to be consistent. That is the theory. But, what I'm saying is in reality it could be hard to get everything duplicated, exactly the same, everytime you throw a line out. The line counter on a different rod may be wrong/or reading different. The dipsey weight may not be put to the exact same position. You want to try a new flasher or dodger. Etc. Having the speed takes out the need to ensure everything is exactly the same when you set up your lines. Now, if a line is in the water and a fish hits at 40 ft down, then you probably don't need speed if you have that same line out again and keep it at 40 ft down. But that is jumping the gun. That's after the fact, after you've caught that first fish. What my focus is on is using time in the morning as effectively as possible, so you optimize those first crucial 2 or 3 hours of daylight. If you have speed, you don't have to guess to get everything the same, just so you can repeat speed indirectly. Yes you can use the same rod and tackle as yesterday, but what if the conditions change and you don't want to use that rod again? OK, so you have another favorite rod. How many setups do you need to memorize and at each different target depth? You can make a notebook full of data that says for that rod, with that tackle, at that depth, at 2.5 mph, you have to have 185 ft of line out (and it will be several pages long). Or you can have a speed probe and put the line in the water and you're good in 1 minute, no matter what.

Darrel, you are essentially correct. But here's the thing. There's more variables that impact the depth of a line than speed. Here's a few issues: - your line counter may be incorrect. So you think you have 150 ft of line out, and should be 30 ft, or 60 ft down, but you actually have 120 ft of line out because you've just cut off a bunch of wire that got tangled and the reel is not fully loaded. The wire in the bottom of the spool is over-counted by the line counter by 200% (it's 3x less than what the line counter measures). - you have a dipsey diver out, set to 1.5, but actually it's more like 1.6 or 1.7, because you didn't take extra care, or the weight slips a little. That little bit of a difference can throw your depth off a lot. - you use a large 12" paddle vs. an 8" paddle vs. a dodger vs. etc, etc. Essentially every tackle arrangement impacts drag, and drag impacts depth. You could learn each setup, but that is a lot of info to retain. OK, so why is it important to know either SPEED or the depth you should maintain (target) at a certain length of line out. It's because SPEED does impact a lures action. Each lure is designed to work within a certain speed range. Also each species I believe has a preferred speed - the speed at which it is used to a baitfish its about to strike travels at. They are animals, and they act on instinct. The point is to repeat those elements that triggers the instinct. A speed probe allows me to know if I'm in a good range, and yes, it's not about the absolute, but about repeatability. I don't care if the probe is wrong and says I am going 1 mph, when I'm actually going 2 mph, as long as I know that 1 mph is the target. The speed probe takes all the guess work out, what if my line counter is wrong? how does drag impact the speed/depth? Etc, etc. By taking the guess work out, you save time, crucial time. Everyone knows the best bite is in the first few hours of dawn. We spend enough time trying to figure out where the fish are. You don't want to spend more time trying to figure out what a good line depth/speed is. This is especially relevant in tournaments, where normally people get ahead of the game and position themselves for the podium in the first 2 to 3 hours (not always, but most of the time). Now, we can both believe what we want, but this I am 100% certain we will agree on. Having speed does not hurt your fishing. In the least it's another parameter you can watch that you might not need. Potentially it can provide crucial data to help you zero in quickly into a program that works.

There is a lot more blow back on a 10 lb than on a 12 lb. I've measured it. The extra 2 lbs makes a huge difference. As for dipsey go with black, size 1 with mag ring, as others have pointed out. Get at least 2, and if you can spare the cash get 4. We fish with 4 almost all the time.