John E Powell

The last time I was out, I had a nice catch in front of Wilson. Others people had decent catches from a few miles east of Wilson through to half way between Olcott and the Somerset power plant. As long as winds haven't changed things, you can just go straight out and find fish.

I always liked this quote from a notable Oak Orchard captain, "at this time of the year, fish the marks and you'll cord the sharks".

Tim is referring to the middle two numbers of Latitude on the North GPS number. As you head North out of Olcott, approx 43 20 000 N, the North Latitude # will increase. So Tim is recommending you travel well offshore (about 6-7 miles) until you reach the waters of 43 25 000 N, and set up there and begin trolling North until you find fish. Fishing has been great lately from the 25-29 lines. If you don't have a GPS, you might consider the Navionics mapping app for smart phones.

Check out: http://rodbuilding.org/list.php?2 Down the left column of this page are many resources where you can find rodbuilding blanks and resources. This site is probably the best place on the internet to ask specific rodbuilding questions.

I believe two smaller to mid size bags offer more flexibility to control your boat in varied conditions than 1 large bag. Put the bag out on the upwind side, and when you turn around switch bags instead of re-rigging it on the other side. Drop the second bag in to slow down on a big fish at netting time. Or, if you troll with a trolling engine mounted off center, put the bag on the same side as the engine.

Returning to Maryland... can you tell us how you want to use these? Freshwater or saltwater?I would probably not use a level wind reel in saltwater. Are your 320s line counter reels or the regular reels? The 320 size frame would be fine in freshwater. A line counter is not an absolute necessity, but it helps you to both target and return to productive fishing depths. Without a line counter, you would have to mark the line at regular intervals or measure out line and count level wind passes across the reel ( or some other method). If it were me, I would only use line counter reels for wire diver fishing, like the GT320LC (if you prefer Penn reels)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Okuma-Titus-T-50L-Lever-Drag-Fishing-Reel-T50L-Trolling-/370023535378

You may want to just give Airmar a call and talk to one of their technicians, I've found them to be quite helpful discussing the pros and cons of various transducers. For some boats, there are a lot of factors to consider that may limit your choices. What works well for one person or many people may not work well for your particular installation. I had a challenging installation and the often recommended 66 series and 260 series just wouldn't work for me. With the help of one of their techs, they determined the TM270W would be best for me. It was pricey, but it works incredibly well and I am very happy with the quality of my image.

Went out fishing on a friends boat who has not run snubbers for years. So he shows up and announces to the crew that he want's to give snubbers a try cause he thinks "they've come a long way from the soft tube snubbers with the braid inside that we used years ago." A hush fills the deck of the boat as the crew, stunned by this revelation, attempts to digest this bit of news; I think I managed to give a Spock-like quizzical raised single eyebrow and muttered something like ... but ... but ... Test conditions checklist: Two identical rigs consisting of Shimano Talora 7' roller diver rods, and Tekota 600LC reels, 19 strand torpedo wire, and mag size dipsy divers. One rigged with a snubber, one without. Both rigged with equal total leader length behind the diver. 8" Spin Doctors rigged with identical 23" fly leader lengths. Drags set just tight enough to prevent slipping, plus 1 arm of the star drag lever (to prevent slipping in turns). Hooks of tournament-rigged fly checked and all 4 hook points deemed "sticky sharp" on each fly (hooks recehecked and sharpened/replaced as necessary throughout test period) Water conditions were near calm at time of test. Also, it was noted that water conditions had been stable for a number of days preceding test and there was little to no significant current observed during the testing period. Target fish: Salmon. Linecounter readings between reels: held within 25 feet of eachother during time test was performed, but varied from 165-225 feet from the boat. Test results: Fish one, day one, snubber rig: Fish lost - approximate time from hookup to losing fish <= 2 seconds. Analysis: failure to set hook deeply in jaw of fish. Likely cause - crew agreed snubber, captain felt not enough info to determine cause at that time. Fish two, day one, clean rig: Fish landed. Fish three, day one, clean rig: Fish landed. Fish four, day two, snubber rig: Fish lost - approximate time from hookup to losing fish <= 1.5 seconds. Analysis: failure to set hook deeply in jaw of fish. Likely cause - crew agreed snubber, captain in a reluctant tone, agreed snubber. Fish five, day two, clean rig: Fish landed. Fish six, day two, snubber rig: Fish lost - approximate time from hookup to losing fish <= 4 seconds. Analysis: failure to set hook deeply in jaw of fish. Likely cause - captain and crew agreed snubber.No further data is available as testing called to a halt by the captain. The captain directed crew to "get rid of it" - "it" clearly being understood by the crew to be the snubber. Are snubbers worth running? You be the judge.

The fish have been really biting well the past couple days. Run out to the 25.500 N line and set up there on a North troll. Yesterday, out of Wilson, we caught mature kings all through the 26-29 N line. Some good bait pods and active fish working them. Our last trip out we had fish on every rod in the boat. 300,400,500 coppers, 150-250 wire divers, 60-100 ft riggers. The stud of the day was 85' rigger with SD and A-Tom-Mik fly taking 3 matures and a teenager. Many other rods took 2-3 hits in 4 1/2 hours of fishing. At the same time, a friend started his N troll in 100 fow out of Olcott. He was fishless until he hit the 25.5 N line. By that time we were on our 9th or 10th. We heard similar reports from a couple charter captains who fished Monday and/or Tuesday. Big weather came through last night at my house, but I don't know if it went over the lake and changed the conditions or not.

Thank you, much appreciated.

Another excellent hook, besides the ones already mentioned above, are the Mustad Ultra Point KVD series treble hooks; right out of the box, they will stick into your thumb nail instead of sliding off. When I sharpen factory hooks I find I get the sharpest points with the least effort using a Luhr Jensen Hook File, but, I think it's just a matter of learning how to use whichever tool you choose. I keep one with the fixed handle in my tackle box at home, and one with the rubber tubing and snap on my pant's belt loop when fishing so it's always at hand; I can check and touch up every hook before it goes out.

Church TX-44 Super Planer http://www.churchtackle.com/product%20pages/planer_boards/tx-44_super.html If you are only going to run one, set it up to run off the opposite side of the boat you steer from so it is easy to see from the driver seat. (For most people with right-side steering, this will be set up as a port side board) You can also use a large 4-5" foam bobber with a pad style release to affix the bobber to the line (with a center pin that prevents a release). For either of these, I rig the reel as follows. A layer of mono on the spool (to keep backing from slipping on the spool), spliced to power pro backing with Albright knot, #8 Spro Power Swivel, 10' of 40lb Big Game (where board or bobber attach to the line), another Spro, then copper, another Spro, then Fluorocarbon leader. To rig for fishing, let it out and attach either the TX-44 or the float to the section of big game. The TX-44 comes with a reversed release that does not release, it acts as a hold in place clamp. With the bobber, place your main line in past the center pin of the pad release so it won't release. If you don't have a pad release with a pin, then affix the float with a clip to hold to the line and a pad release to hold it in place on the line. Let both straight out the back. With the TX-44, apply just enough tension to keep the float upright but not so much to cause it to start pulling off to the side. Let the float back about 150-200' down the chute. With the TX-44, at about 100' stop letting line out and the planer will go off to the side. For the float, you can manage fish caught on other rods by hitting the freespool on the chute copper until the float is 3-400 foot behind the boat, then re-engage it. This will be sufficient to land most fish on other rods. For a really big king fall king, just reel it in and get it out of the way. Either way the planer board or float act to keep the lines separated from each other, the planer off to the side, or the bobber behind the boat. The TX-44 are good until whitecaps begin to show up, after that, just stick with a float bobber down the chute as it will fish in any water.

Go with a Spro Power Swivel, size 8. Tiny and more than strong enough, and will go right up through your guides.

A good place to start is with an 8" rotating flasher with 23" of leader from the front of the fly to the loop that attaches to the flasher. The three basic flasher blade colors are white, green, chrome/silver. Basic fly combinations will have mixtures of white/pearl, chrome/silver, chartreuse, green, blue, and glow. Picking a flasher with tape and then matching it to a fly or vise versa is a good way to begin building your stock. Tournament rigged (one each treble and octopus hook) is the most popular rigging. Better fly will be rigged this way with premium quality hooks. For what it's worth, looking through my box and the boxes of people I fish with, about 3/4 of the flashers we use are Spin Doctors and maybe 90% of the fly are A-Tom-Mik.

Forgot to mention, don't start with wire directly on the spool as it will slip if you get down real low. Make sure you get at least 1 complete layer of monofilament down first. Use an Arbor knot to tie the mono onto the spool. http://www.animatedknots.com/arbor/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com Wind on enough mono to completely cover the bottom of the spool. Then splice the wire to the mono using an Albright knot http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com In the animation the wire should be the white rope and your monofilament should be the blue rope. Also when working with wire, at step #3 in the animation, bend the wire around a small diameter nail or similar round item to put a small tight radius loop in the wire to help prevent kinking the wire when you cinch down the mono onto the wire as you tighten the knot.

When I read your post two things came to mind. First, when you fill a trolling reel with any line, place something round through the center of the spool to act as an axle and make sure line comes off the top of the spool as it rotates. If you are filling the reel indoors, mount it in the back half of a rod, if outdoors you can put it on either the back half or a whole rod. Run the wire through your guides and levelwind and spool it on.Now, for the part I think you missed. The problem you are experiencing happens because you let out, for example, 200 ft of wire then you catch a fish and the 200 ft of wire gets reeled back on under a lot more tension than you originally put it on. The tight wire slips between the looser spooled wire beneath it and you end up with the mess you described. With wire, it's important to let out all the wire out on the water and reel it all back in under heavy tension. This will prevent the loops of wire from forming on your reel. Get yourself a 1lb drop weight sinker and the next time you go to the lake, head out to deep water (200 ft plus is good). Set your boat speed to about 4-5 mph. Zero your linecounter, attach the weight to the wire, and let all the wire out. As you begin to reel the wire back on, make sure to increase your boat speed to apply at least as much tension as a large salmon. You should have to tighten down the drag and really winch the weight back in. When ou get the weight back in, check your line counter. I usually find 30-50 ft discrepancy. The reading on your line counter will be how much slack line was on your reel from spooling it. Do this with any non-stretch wire or braided line. It doesn't matter if the line was machine-filled and hand-filled. Once reloaded under the proper tension, any looseness from handling in the back of the boat or loosened drags in storage won't be a factor because the looseness wont extend down into the tightly wound wire any appreciable distance.

There have been many questions about diver fishing dealing with rods and reels, and wire, braid and mono lines, and many methods of how to rig them. Every week or so, it seems some aspect is rehashed in popular fishing forums. Many new or inexperienced people are just starting out with running wire line on their diver reels and there’s been lots of advice, some good and some not as how best to do this. I thought I would offer a detailed explanation of how I spool 19 strand braided wire onto reels. My recommendations are based on well over 3 decades of fishing for trout and salmon at both a recreational and professional level. Here is what I feel to be the best way to fill a wire diver reel. *Note* At the end of this, I’ll offer some general suggestions as well as some rigging variations for slide divers and how to rig a Dipsy diver or Walker diver to slide on wire line rods. Some people recommend using electrical or duct tape wrapped over wire (or braid) to keep it from slipping on the reel’s spool (making the reel unusable). While the electrical or duct tape over the knot works, I don't like it for two reasons. The first reason is because it adds a layer of messy glue to your reel spool and later on down the road when it comes time for a changeover you will have messy residue to deal with, and the second reason is if you actually get down that far, the tape will be lifted off the line and you will lose spool adhesion. This could lead to a variety of problems including fouling the tape between the levelwind gear and carrier jamming the reel. A better way is to use a method that avoids these potential pitfalls. It requires a little more effort and planning but is a much more elegant way of filling the reel that “Bubba’s duct tape approachâ€. This method uses just enough mono to tightly grip the spool and prevent slippage. I call this a monofilament “under wrapâ€. To this under wrap I tie just enough super braid backing so the wire will fill the reel completely (I use power-pro). How do I know how much backing is just enough? There is a trick to it and I’ll explain it in detail below. Finally the wire goes over the top of the backing and then you tie on your snap swivel. Basically, to get the correct amount of backing on the reel under the wire, it is necessary to fill the reel in reverse so the backing is the last thing to go on the reel. Then, the reversed backing and wire is unwound and wound on in the correct order (backing first followed by the wire). Here's my step by step method explained for preparing two identical line counter reels so the wire completely fills the reels. Based on how wire is sold, either from bulk spools or 1000’ spools, there are three likely scenarios you might choose from. I’ll explain each scenario in a bit, but first, you will need to do some preparatory work to each reel. 1) First, mount both reels on the rear half of a rod that has at least one guide on it (to help keep your line centered as it enters the reel’s levelwind) and to give you an easy-to-hold-onto rod grip as you work with the reels to fill them. 2) Next, you need to get just enough mono onto the spool (one complete levelwind pass) to cover it completely. If your reel has a spool post to tie the line to, start with the levelwind lined up right in front of the post; turn the handle as necessary until the levelwind is located correctly. If the reel spool doesn't have a post, start the levelwind all the way to either side of the spool. Using your monofilament (I suggest 20-25lb test), tie an arbor knot around your spool: http://www.animatedknots.com/arbor/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com If your spool has a post, carefully place the first overhand knot over the post before you begin to snug the arbor knot down. *NOTE* At this point it is important to reset your levelwind counter if you will be using a method that requires backing, it is not necessary to do this if working from a bulk spool and not using backing. Wind on enough mono to completely cover the bottom of the spool. Cut the line from the spool. Repeat these steps on the second reel making sure you have the same amount of mono on each reel. At this point, you have three approaches to decide from. You can (3a) fill your reel with wire and no backing from a bulk spool, (3b) split your 1000' spool into two 500' sections of wire and use backing – the wire "top shot" method, or (3c) fill each reel with a 1000' spool and use backing. 3a) If you are working from a bulk spool and are going to fill the reel with all wire and not use any backing, then splice your wire to your mono using an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com When you follow the animation in the link, your wire will be the white rope and your mono will be the blue rope. At step three in the animation, you want to bend the wire over a small nail first to create a nice tight loop where the knot will snug up - this will prevent the wire from kinking. Making sure you hold the wire spool under tension, wind your wire onto the reel until the reel is filled. Go to step 4. 3b) This method helps to keep the cost down by using only one 1000' spool of wire, divided in half, to fill two diver reels. The first step is to split the wire in half. Run the wire through the guide(s) and levelwind of the first rod/reel and place the wire temporarily over the end of the mono and tape it in place with some masking tape there is no need to permanently splice this as you will be removing it later on.. If your line counters on each reel are within a few feet of each other after loading on the mono under wrap, then ignore this small difference and wind on all the wire keeping the spool of wire under consistent tension. If the line counters are not within a few feet of each other, reset them before winding on the line. *NOTE* You will notice that the line counter is counting in reverse and may go past the "000" mark and begin counting down again as you transfer all the wire to the first reel. When all the wire has been transferred to the reel, feed the back end of the wire through the guide(s) and levelwind of the second rod/reel temporarily taping it down in place over the mono just like before. Wind a few turns of wire on the second reel making sure it doesn't slip; if it does slip, you lose your line counter reading accuracy. Once you have a few turns on covering the tape so the wire line can't slip, begin winding the wire onto the second reel from the first reel. Adjust the first reel’s drag so the line is pulled off the first reel under tension. Now, you need to remember that you may have gone around the first reel's counter once and you have to account for this. If the first reel went around once and stopped at, for example "600" and the second reel started at "980" you will notice that as you wind line on your second reel from the first, the first reel's counter will be going up and the second reel’s counter will be going down. At some point, the line counters on each reel will have the same reading (in my example at about “790â€). This is not the middle of your wire line because the counter on the first reel went around once, do not cut your wire line here. Continue to transfer line from reel one to reel two. After a little bit, you will see that the counter on reel one will go past "000" and start to count up again. Somewhere around 300 feet or so, both reel’s line counters will match each other for a second time; this is the middle of your wire and you will need to cut the wire here. Now, you have two partially filled reels; one needs to have the wire removed to temporary storage, either onto a third reel or onto the original spool. A this point, you need to top off the one reel that still has wire line with backing, so run the backing through the guide(s) and splice your backing to the wire using an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com When you follow the animation in the link, your wire will be the white rope and your braid backing will be the blue rope. At step three in the animation, you want to bend the wire over a small nail first to create a nice curved tight loop where the knot will snug up - this will prevent the wire from kinking. Unwind any loose wire and, keeping the wire and braid line under tension, fill the reel completely (without overfilling) according to the directions that came with your reel. Cut the backing once the reel is filled. This will generally be about 1/8" below the rim of the spool. Now you have a reel filled with the wire and backing on in reverse. You will transfer this line to your second reel. Splice the backing from your first reel to the mono of your second reel using the same Albright knot making sure the mono is the "white rope" and the braid backing is the "Blue rope" in the animation. *Note* If you previously forgot to reset your line counter after tying the arbor knot and winding your mono on, you will need to unwind the mono on the second reel, reset the counter, and then rewind the mono back on the reel. Transfer all the backing onto your reel and write down the line counter reading at the point of the splice between your braid and wire. This will tell you how much backing to put on your next reel. I recommend keeping a written reel fill log in a notebook someplace safe for future reference so you can avoid repeating these steps. *Note* The line counter reading is not how much line you actually put on your reel as it becomes less and less accurate as line is removed from the reel, it's just a reference number that you can duplicate when you fill similar reels. Once you have the wire to backing splice point noted, wind on the rest of your wire making sure you keep tension on the wire as you transfer it from the first reel to the second reel. You will now fill your second reel using the line counter data you wrote down from the reel you just filled. Run the end of your backing through the guide(s) and splice the braided backing to the mono as you did before, mono being the "white rope" and braid being the "blue rope" in the animation. If this reel's line counter was not reset, unwind all the way to the arbor knot, reset the line counter and begin reeling in the line keeping the braid under tension. When the counter reading matches the reading from the first reel, cut the backing and splice on the remaining 500' section of wire using the Albright knot. The wire will be the "white rope" and the braid will be the "blue rope" in the animation. Fill the second reel keeping the wire under tension. Go on to Step 4 3c) If you are working from a 1000' spool of wire and are putting all 1000' on one reel, string the wire through the guide(s) and levelwind and lay it on top of the end of your mono and place a piece of masking take over the end of the wire to temporarily hold it in place and wind on all your wire keeping the wire line spool under tension. A this point, we want to top off our reel with backing, so run the backing through the guide(s) and splice your backing to the wire using an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com When you follow the animation in the link, your wire will be the white rope and your braid backing will be the blue rope. At step three in the animation, you want to bend the wire over a small nail first to create a nice tight loop where the knot will snug up - this will prevent the wire from kinking. Unwind any loose wire, and keeping the line under tension, fill the reel completely (without overfilling) according to the directions that came with your reel, and then cut the backing from the spool once filled. This will generally be about 1/8" below the rim of the spool. Now transfer this backward wound line to your second reel. Splice the backing of the filled reel to your mono line spooled onto the empty reel using the same Albright knot making sure the mono is the "white rope" and the braid backing is the "Blue rope" in the animation. *Note* If you previously forgot to reset your line counter after tying the arbor knot and winding your mono on, you will need to unwind the mono, reset the counter and then rewind the mono. Transfer all the backing onto your reel and write down the line counter reading at the point of the splice between your braid and wire. This will tell you how much backing to put on your next reel. I recommend keeping a written reel fill log in a notebook someplace safe for future reference so you can avoid repeating these steps. *Note* The line counter reading is not how much line you actually put on your reel as it becomes less and less accurate as line is removed from the reel, it's just a reference number that you can duplicate when you fill similar reels. Once you have the wire to backing splice point noted, wind on the rest of your wire making sure you keep tension on the wire as you transfer it from the first reel to the second reel. You will now fill your second reel using the line counter data you wrote down from the reel you just filled. Run the end of your backing through the guide(s) and splice the braided backing to the mono as you did before, mono being the "white rope" and braid being the "blue rope" in the animation. If this reel's line counter was not reset, unwind all the way to the arbor knot, reset the line counter and begin reeling in the line keeping the braid under tension. When the counter reading matches the reading from the first reel, cut the backing and splice another 1000' spool of wire using the Albright knot. The wire will be the "white rope" and the braid will be the "blue rope" in the animation. Fill the second reel keeping the wire under tension. 4) Now you need to attach a quality ball-bearing snap swivel to the wire. I don’t know the name of this knot, but here is a link to the instructions to tie it: http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm If you want to rig a Slide Diver or Dipsy/Walker diver to slide, skip this step and see the rigging variations below. Some general suggestions and variations in rigging: 19 strand wire is softer and less abrasive to guides than 7 strand wire. 19 strand will also tend to fray before failure generally giving you an opportunity to repair or replace it before it breaks off on a big fish losing all your gear and terminal tackle. 7 strand tends to resist failure more as the individual strands are heavier and stronger, but you have little notice when it is about to fail. Your chances of not losing $40 worth of swivels, diver, attractor and fly to a wire line failure are better with 19 strand wire than with 7 strand wire. For these reasons most people are moving to 19 strand wire over the 7 strand wire. If your rod doesn’t have a roller tip, consider replacing the standard tip with either a Twili Tip or a Torpedo swivel roller tip. The Torpedo is a more expensive, but better solution. The Twili is an effective less expensive tip, but it’s ugly and heavy. You’ll need to use care to make sure the swiveling Torpedo tip hasn’t flipped over and wrapped the wire partially around the tip each time you set the rod if you choose the Torpedo over the Twili. Rigging the Slide Diver (or Slide Diver Lite Bite) on wire rods: Instead of attaching the snapswivel to the end of your wire, you will create a mono top shot over the wire with a fluorocarbon leader and two swivels. Start by using a Palomar knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/palomar/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com to tie an appropriately sized snap or snapswivel to one end of a 5’ fluorocarbon leader, and a medium size ball-bearing swivel with welded rings to the other end. Set it aside. Measure out and cut 25-30’ of Trilene 30lb Big Game. Slide a clear plastic bead over one end of the mono, then tie the other end of the ball-bearing swivel (of the fluorocarbon leader) to the end of the mono next to the plastic bead with the Palomar knot. Next rig the Slide Diver following the instructions on the packaging. Next, use the Palomar knot to tie a size 8 “Spro Power Swivel†to the other end of the mono. The rigging from lure to rod should now be as follows: Snap/snapswivel, fluorocarbon leader, ball bearing swivel, mono, plastic bead, rigged Slide Diver, and Spro Power Swivel. The Spro gets attached to the end of the wire in a method that will allow you to easily pass through the guides and levelwind. Start by cutting a 3/4" long section of 1/8†diameter clear heat shrink tubing. Slide it over the end of the wire line. Use the LOTSA knot http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm making sure to work the knots to minimize the knot size so the heat shrink slides over the knots. Also, keep the second knot less than 1/2†from the first. Slide the heat shrink up over the eye of the Spro and shrink it down covering both knots. Alternately, you can eliminate the Spro altogether and splice the mono to the wire with an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com white rope is wire, blue rope is mono in the animation. To rig a Dipsy or Walker Diver to slide on a wire line rod, you will need the diver, one small snap, one Big Jon Jettison Sinker Release, one small split ring, and one large 1/2-5/8†inside diameter split ring. First, you need to modify the diver. There are three things you need to do. 1) Tighten the diver release so it doesn’t trip, you won’t be using it anymore as a release, just as a tow point. 2) Remove the swivel on the front of the diver and add the large split ring in its place on the release arm. 3) Remove the swivel on the rear of the diver and attach the small split ring to the welded ring of the diver, then the small end of the snap to the split ring. Set the modified diver aside. Using a Palomar knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/palomar/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com tie an appropriately sized snap or snapswivel to one end of a 5’ fluorocarbon leader, and a medium size ball-bearing swivel with welded rings to the other end. Set it aside. Measure out and cut 25-30’ of Trilene 30lb Big Game. Slide a clear plastic bead over one end of the mono, then tie the other end of the ball-bearing swivel (of the fluorocarbon leader) to the end of the mono next to the plastic bead with the Palomar knot. Now rig the Jettison release onto the mono line. First slide on the “F†shaped part of the release with the bottom of the “F†facing the rod and the top of the “F†facing the lure. Now slide the pin onto the mono, then use the Palomar knot to tie a size 8 “Spro Power Swivel†to the other end of the mono. The rigging from lure to rod should now be as follows: Snap/snapswivel, fluorocarbon leader, ball bearing swivel, mono, plastic bead, “F†part of release, pin part of release, and Spro Power Swivel. The Spro gets attached to the end of the wire in a method that will allow you to easily pass through the guides and levelwind. Start by cutting a 3/4" long section of 1/8†diameter clear heat shrink tubing. Slide it over the end of the wire line. Use the LOTSA knot http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm making sure to work the knots to minimize the knot size so the heat shrink slides over the knots. Also, keep the second knot less than 1/2†from the first. Slide the heat shrink up over the eye of the Spro and shrink it down covering both knots. Alternately, you can eliminate the Spro altogether and splice the mono to the wire with an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com white rope is wire, blue rope is mono in the animation. To rig the diver, hold the jettison release in your hand as you let the lure out behind the boat. Place the large split ring between the two parallel bars of the “F†section of the release and insert the pin through all three parts. The diver should now be hanging from the release pin. Open the snap on the rear of the diver and hook it over the mono line and close the snap. You will have to experiment with how far to push the pin into the release, the further the pin is pushed in, the more force it will take to release the diver. Hopefully that is not information overload, it shouldn't be too hard to follow if you go slowly.

Just a thought since you are running snubbers. Snubbers go between the diver and lure, not in front of the diver.