Newbie - Buying Rods/Reels/Line for Dispsy

[smalltauk]

Folks,

I'm going to give Salmon fishing on Lake Ontario a shot this coming spring and I'm starting to shop around for rods and reels. I grew up salt water fishing for blue's and stripers. I've got zero experience on Lake O for Kings. Well except for my few trials late last summer with a lead core striper set up.

Here is a set up that I'm considering to use with a Dipsey. I'm not planning on buying downriggers, at least not this year.

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0018647117265a.shtml

Reel Model DM-DD-106M on the 10' 6" rod.

What type of line, weight and amount should be on a configuration similar to the above?

Thanks in advance.

Smalltauk

[spoonfed-1]

When you say for a dipsy I'm going to assume , and suggest, you want to run wire off it.

If thats the case you want to get 1000 feet of a good quality 30 lb test 7 strand wire.

I personally like Malin but there are other brands that I guess work equally well.

Others will chime in about the different brands I'm sure.

The Diawa 47 reel is a good choice for mid range price.

You will also want a good quality line for the 8 foot leader off your dipsy.

I like 20 lb Fluorocarbon for spoons and plugs and 30 or 40 lb test mono for flashers and flys.

For the flourocarbon I like 20lb Stren and for the mono I like Ande. Again the brands are just what consistently works for me but I'm sure there are others that will work just fine. Good quality snap swivels are a must. These fish are mean and the gear takes abuse. To scrimp on quality will result in lost fish and gear.

Hope that answeres some of your questions.

Glen

[smalltauk]

Glen,

Thanks for the response. I was thinking of running braided line. I'm not sure I'm up to dealing with wire at this point.

Regards,

Smalltauk.

[spoonfed-1]

What part of the lake do you plan to fish?

[on the lam]

Glen,

Thanks for the response. I was thinking of running braided line. I'm not sure I'm up to dealing with wire at this point.

Regards,

Smalltauk.

you will have a problem with fleas when summer sets in. go with the wire you will be better off.

[kingslamon22]

braid is fine. fleas are worse on downrigger mono than dipsey braid. not a big deal when your cleanin riggers anyways.

[kingslamon22]

65 lb power pro works well

[Silver Fox]

Braid will be a nightmare when July hits. Do yourself a favor and get the wire. It will get you deeper and you will still have no problems catching fish up high near the boat.

[chowder]

Don't be too scared by the wire idea! It does have a learning curve but it's over pretty quick and you will be happy w/ the results. Take a month to mull this stuff over- you have the time and you will be well served by using it. You might want to at least consider going w/ a much shorter dipsy rod. I use 7' dipsy rods (Talora down rigger rod w/ twili tip) and they have some real advantages to consider especially if you have a smaller boat. The simple fact is that an angry King is easier to control at the boat w/ a short rod, especially if the net man is green too! The hitch is that it's tough to make a real cheap short rod w/ the right action/speed needed for running dipsy divers, especially the mag size.

Also you might want to consider looking at the Slide Divers. (Remember you have time)

The reason I mention this is because the SD allows you to have a much longer lead behind the diver. By using one of these rigged up w/ a long lead and a spoon you will have a presentation similar to a downrigger, maybe even better under some conditions. With both rods rigged up w/ Slide Divers you could run short leads w/ flasher& flies when that's what the fish want or run much longer leads w/ spoons if the bite is more that way, or one of each and see what the fish want. Just keep Googling and asking questions-it's a great way to beat back the winter blues and by spring you will have a lot of stuff under you're belt.

[Gill-T]

Tips with wire and Dipsy not yet explained.

1). While mounting wire on the reel, MAKE SURE IT GOES ON TIGHT. It helps to put a little electrical tape on the arbor so the wire bites on the first few wraps. Get a helper. Place a pencil/pen in the spool hole of the wire to make a spindle. Next, have someone with ovenmits on hold the edges of the wire spool and apply enough pressure to keep good tension on the wire as it is being layed down on the reel.

2). Always keep the wire tight to the reel to avoid coils. When deploying dipsy, do it slowly with contant tension out. When not in use, reel the wire tight up to the top eye. Some will just hook the swivel to the top eye or add a plastic bead above the swivel as a stop.

3). DON"T SET THE HOOK. You will snap wire with jerky movements. When a fish hits the dipsy/wire, there is no stretch so the fish will hook itself. When releasing the dipsy, just give the rod a little smooth 2' sweep and the dipsy will trip.....if not then the dipsy is too tight.

4). Make smooth movements when fighting the fish....no jerkin, dippin the rod and crankin in back up. With no stretch you will tear out the hooks with too much pressure.

5). Take high blood pressure meds in morning, because the first time you see a mature King take a dipsy rip, you will swear the rod holder is going to come out of the transom!!!!

6). A twilli tip or a roller tip rod help with snap offs

7). Use the wire line knot as depicted on LOTSA's web page

[For Fun]

I also agree with the wire first recommendation, 1,000' fits nicely on the 47's ... i'd also get a 65lb pp setup, the heavy pp will help with flees ... some days our wire dipsy's take most fish and other days it's the braid doing the trick ...

if not broke yet you may want to get two additional set ups for lead core ... imo the 47's will not hold a full core (10 color) with proper backing but 7 color should be fine with pp backing ... you can make the other one 4 or 5 color set ups ...

still have a balance on that gift card ??? ... a couple more set ups for flat lining with weights or even a slide diver as suggested before will be needed at some point in time ...

the above will cover the water column fairly well and you can make adjustments to target specific depths ...

if you think this is getting rather expensive now ... just wait !!!

[kingslamon22]

gillt said it. these are the problems with actual wire. i like it better but my first setups were braid and they worked just fine.

[Broadhorizons]

To help spooling reels, you could use a screwdriver through the spool of line then pushed through a tennis ball and locked in a bench vise. Squeezing the tennis ball will be your tension. This is easier for me than recruiting help to hold the line, especially if I have a couple reels to spool.

[K Gonefishin]

These guys are right on with the advice, the size 47 LCA holds 1000 ft of 30 pound wire perfect (I would go with wire), Malin, Opti Tackle, AFW will all work well, even though you will get it on the spool tight before fishing with it take something with some weight and let out almost all of it while on the lake (with nobody behind you) and crank it in tight one last time so it's laying on the spool right just to be sure...we're making it sound difficult but it's really not. After setting your dispey and your rod and reel is in the rod holder set your drad just to the point where the line will not creep on a big swell or boat wake you don't want to crank it down you just might get cleaned off when a big king hits. I don't use crimps at the ball swivel just the knot on the lotsa website works great and easy to do. 10 ft rods are to long and not needed I borrowed a 10ft wire set up and it was way to long I used an 8 fter and it was nice. I say no longer than 9 would be may advice. For leader line I like 40 or 50 pound seaguar leader material for flasher/fly combo's and Sampo's in the 60 pound grade range. Visit the A Tom Mik website and see what gear is available this is the stuff that is used all over lake O and will give you a good indication on what alot of guys are running.

[waterlogged]

Second what Spoonfed-1 said regarding the wire and what Chowder said about the 7' rods. We run the 10'6" Daiwa Heartlands with Daiwa 47LC reels and like them but I hear those 7' rods make short work of the salmon on wire.

[Big Dave]

I love my 7' roller rods. Zero problems!!!!