TyeeTanic

I fish Lake O. I can't comment on the rating of your downrigger, I have used Scotty and Walker. As for the weight, I would use minimum 12 lbs, and if you can 15 lbs. The torpedo is known to have the lowest drag profile in the water, and therefore the least blowback. As for dipseys, well let's start with the rod. I like to use a rod that is longer than the rigger rods, to help get me over and far away from the rigger line. It helps when you have set the rigger and you need to release the dipsey line. So typically my rigger rods are 8 ft and my dipsey rods are 9 to 10 ft. What kinds, there's a lot of nice rods out there, but if you use wire, you should get a roller rod. Talora makes a nice one (that's what I use), but they are big $$. Anyhow, if you can find a rod with similar rollers to what the Talora uses, then it should be good. Note, not all rollers are the same, some designs are bad and the wire gets stuck between the roller and the guide. In terms of line, you have 2 choices, braid and wire. Mono has too much stretch and at lengths of more than 100 ft, it's almost impossible to pop the dipsey. Once the fleas are out, the braid will be a disaster/unusable. My advice is go to wire, you can use it year round. I use 7 strand, torpedo wire, smoked, 30 lb. Get a 7 strand or 19 strand. I don't think the 19 strand is worth the extra money, I have 7 strand that is 4 years old and still in great shape. If you take care of it, it lasts long. Do not go for single strand wire (yes, you can by this), it is terrible. You want to get 1000 ft of it, or 300 yards is close enough. So, if you get wire, what reel do you use? A size 30 reel will fit some braid backing (about 100 to 200 ft) and 1000 ft of wire. You want one with a line counter, so you know how much line is out, and how deep your dipsey is (more or less). I use Oukuma Convector 30D reels, they are in my opinion the best value for money out there. Others will chime in, and there are better reels out there, but I think you need to spend $100 more per reel to get any market improvement.

A torpedo 12 lb weight is the min I would go for (it's what I use). There is still considerable blowback, but not bad. If your downrigger and mounting can take it, I would go with a 15 lb weight.

You can request a radio quality check with the coast gaurd. They will give you two numbers that go up to 5, with 5 being the best. First is how clear when he heard you, and second is how continuous (are you breaking up). You can hail them on 16 and they will tell you to live to another channel. Last I heard you cannot make a distress test on DSC, so I'm not sure you can test it, unless you communicate with other boaters via a DSC call.

The weight should always point towards the center of your boat. So think about which side you want to put it out on. The turn the weight towards the boat (so if you are on the starboard, you will have to turn it clockwise). You want to put the setting anywhere from 0.5 to 3.0. If you only have 1 on each side of your boat, #1 is a good setting. If you have 2 on each side a #1 on the inside and a #2.5 on the outside. The higher the number the less it will dive because the water is hitting the dipsey to create horizontal drag rather than all vertical drag.

What kind of a rod do you have? Roller guides won't let a small swivel through, and not sure about the crimps.

I use a snubber between the main cable and DR weight, for that exact reason and to take a load off the gunwale in bouncy seas.

If I couldn't use a micro-swivel to tie those two lines together (and the problem would be getting the swivel through the roller guides if you have a wireline rod), then I wouldn't bother taking the risk.

I'm not sure what is being asked. If it is the Fishawk X4 or X4D, you wouldn't ever attach this to a lure. If you are talking about the Fishhawk TD unit, I still wouldn't attach it to a lure, as you need to retrieve it to get the tempth/depth data. When I had a TD, I would attach it securely to a wireline rod, and put about 10 oz of drop weights on the end of the line to get it down as I was trolling. Once I felt it touch bottom, I quickly reeled in to get it off bottom (to avoid snags) and then retrieved normally. This would tell me the water temperature profile, and I could drop it down as frequent as I wanted to. I had a dedicated rod for it as well.

Yes, no problem, that's what I have on all 4 of my wireline rods with the convector 30D reel. Plus you can get about 100 feet of braid backing. Just make sure you reel the wire in nice and slow and tight.

Convector 30D, reliable and best value for money.

Owner or the new torpedo treble.

I would support the restriction of trout egg use. But I am in Canada, so I can't vote. lol.

Yankee, how do you keep the divers from floppy everywhere and damaging the pole when you're underway? I'm just afraid to have all that weight hanging off the end of my rod.

I use torpedo 7 strand 30 lbs or 45 lb test. Smokey color. Works fine - I have reels over 4 years old with them. Sometimes I have to cut off the last 2 or 3 ft, if I see some frays, but not much. If you treat it nice, it lasts a long time.

Seaguar flouro leader is good.

Sounds dangerous. I know if you have experience, you are good enough to avoid tangles, but it just takes a simple mistake, or strong currents, and then you are untangling line for 30 minutes. Is that loss of fishing time really worth it? I say that sometimes less is more.

Don, I got this advice when I started and never acted on it. It cost me thousands of dollars on wasted equipment, gas and time. Go on a local fishing charter. They will show you what equipment works and how to use it. You will also start figuring out how to find fish. It seems illogical to own your own boat and go on a charter, but trust me, you could save a lot of money and get so much more out of fishing with this initial boost. I have changed every major piece of tackle and fishing equipment at least once, if not twice, since I started. I finally think I have all the right stuff. I also own a tonne of crap I will never use and have my go to baits, which make up about 20% of what I own. If I had known at the start what to get, I would have saved thousands.

Go to port credit. Fishing is great there in July and early August. Bronte can be good on certain days if weather conditions bring the fish here.