Question on wire Dipseys

[JBoock]

How do you fight fish on wire dipsey divers? I've heard so many differnt opinions I'm just confused now. Do you point the rod at the fish? Do you sit down to fight them? Do you fight them like a mono downrigger rod? I'm currently using 10 foot Eagle claw rod with Daiwa reel and 1000 feet of wire. Yesterday was the first day I used them on the finger lakes, lost nice fish. Can you horse them in by pumping the rod or should you just be gentle like your walleye fishing. Many questions no answers. Thanks for your help.

[kremer01]

no horsing - only make you look like ass instead.

no one likes a pointer!

stand tall!

seriously, there will be more weight and more drag with dipseys, especially wire dipseys, so the reel drag should be set so that it holds while running, but a fighting fish might take it out. Just let the fish take drag when it wants to. How you bring it in depends on how the fish is fighting (and how big it is) people will have different opinions about that - for me if it is a bigger fish I will pump it in, gently. smaller fish I might just reel. $.02

[fishman08]

Like kremer said. Don't point the rod at the fish. Just make sure u always have tension on the fish. I don't recommend horsing in a fish on wire. There is very little stretch in the line even with a snubber so unless its hooked real well there's a good chance to pull the hook.

[FLXTroutman]

Are you using flashers and flies as Mongo mentioned a couple days ago? Do you use tournament tie on the flies?

This can insure better hook set and landing percentage. I sometimes have my dipsies out 300' on Canandaigua Lake and it can take awhile to reel in the fish especially if you hooked a big one, set drag tight but loose enough to let a big fish run.

As far as reeling them in, here is my nephew reeling a wire dipsy rod

I think standing at the back of the boat in a corner gives you the opportunity to pump ( and I use that term "lightly" not literally) the rod as far back over your head as you can without hitting your hardtop or canvas, then reeling down keeping a good bend in the rod like the photo. Good luck.

[K Gonefishin]

If you do have a little walking room in the boat one thing my buddy showed me on his boat (27 sporty) when hooked up to a good one is stand in the back of the boat and walk back slowly, then walk forward and reel up the slack WITH keeping rod tip high and tight tention, easier than trying to reel in a 20 plus fish while trolling, this works great for captains that like to keep the speed rolling. This helps BIG TIME

On my boat with little step back room I have a kicker motor and slow down after the initial run (hopeing for a double) then back off to around 2.0 or 2.2 then when it's net time 1.6 or so just to keep everything moving.

Wire doesn't stretch so it's a fine balance of muscleling the fish in but without horsing it so you don't pull the hooks, but always keep the rod up, after the initial run take the clicker off so the drag goes out easier when they make a mid fight run(s). I do try and pump a little bit but never take the rod down past my eye level.

[JBoock]

Flxtroutman

Most of the flies I use on the finger lakes are from Big Weenie and A-tom-ic. I'm always trying new things to try to get some kind of advantage The other day I was using an Bechhold & Son big Kahunas and fishcattcher trolling fly down 240 ft down on wire. The fish hit and just stayed down. We could not gain anything on it for what seemed like an eternity. We started to gain on the fish after Mongo started encouraging the fish to come to the boat (before we lost it). I guess I'll just use my a-tom-ic flies and have some patience. It was encouraging to catch fish on Canandaigua with flasher/flies. Most of our success had been with suttons and meat. Thanks

Jay

[chowder]

I lose very, very few wire dipsy fish, here's a couple thoughts; Use tournament style hook rigs on the fly.Use a high quality snubber behind the dipsy. Set the drag on wire dipsy reels fairly light (they should click out a wee bit of line from time to time as you troll). DO NOT HORSE THE FISH!.You can tighten the drag up a bit after you get the rod out of the holder. Pump back gently and reel down quickly with a good bend in the rod at the high point- don't bring the rod to a stop w/ no tension on it like you are popping a whip. Resist the temptation to tighten the drag a lot and really gain on that sucker, it's rarely a good idea- just keep pumping and reeling, once you have a feel for this action you can really gain on a fish fairly quickly.I don't reel or pump when the fish is running or head shaking but good tension and a drag that gives is critical. A laker out on 200' of wire is pretty much out of tricks when you get it to the boat but don't let a King that looks out of gas fool you- don't tighten the drag way down at the boat.

[JBoock]

Chowder

I set the tension on the drag so that it is the same as when I was letting it out. What I've been doing is using an off shore release on the wire so that when it releases it allowes the fish to have as much as he needs before I start to bring it back in. (I thought I saw that on this Forum earlier this year). I do use a snubber on my Dipseys and I use the 124/107 divers from Walker. This is only my third year fishing for salmon/trout. I used to be a walleye guy before Mongo introduced me to my first King salmon. Twenty-five thousand dollars later(or more) here I am. I appreciate your help Thanks.

Jay