Dipsy infromation needed

[ALLEN WOOD]

I would like to try running dipsy's on my next trip to Lake O and I have a few questions. I would like to run two riggers and two dipsy rods. Why is wire used instead of mono? Will they work with mono OK? How heavy must the rod be to use them? Is a 8 or 9 foot medium action rod stiff enough? How far behind the dipsy do you run your lure etc. and do you need heavier line in order to run them. Do you run your leader directly from the dipsy to the lure? Any answers or suggestions regarding these questions would be appreciated.

[GAMBLER]

Wire is way better than mono. Wire can be fished 100'+ down. Mono not even close. I run Diawa sg47lca reels on Diawa Heartland 9'6" Medium Heavy diver rods with 30lb Malin Stainless Steel wire. Run 30lb. Florocarbon leaders around 6'-8' long.

[C.F. STUPID]

You might want to think about adding a snubber also.

[motoman]

the reason you can't run mono deep is the stetch it has , it will not trip the release , how ever you can run a super line like power pro they work very well , i run mag dipsy's on my wirer rods on the inside and run two power pro dipsy's on the out side of them good set up when the dipsys are hot , eather way you can pick up some 65lb power pro and do what you want to do.

[skipper19]

Water Fleas this time of year are a real problem with the super braids. Stainless wire cuts them off as you reel in. The fleas will jam your guides and lock the line down so you can't reel it in. Save the braid for the early and very late seasons. Braid will do as well as wire in depth and ease of tripping the dipsy, but remember the flea thing when the water temps reach about 65 degrees and more.

You can run 30 lb mono like Ande brand which is very durable for towing the dipsy, but you will not achieve the depth of wire or braid. As mentioned above the stretch will make the tripping difficult, but once you get the set of the pinch right, with a little practice you can have it work fairly well. No need to run snubbers with the mono. If you run a nice dipsy rod of 8.5 to 10 feet length you will have the necessary shock absorbing action from the rod to keep the pinch set lite enough to trip easily.

I like to run a small adjustable dipsy stacked off the downrigger cable as a "down and out". For this you can use 30 lb mono and achieve the depth you are looking for without going to the wire setup. The ball and cable will carry the mono down below the surface and you won't collect fleas. I start a minimum height above the ball of 25 feet on a Scotty pinch pad stacker release set tight. and go anywhere up to 50 feet above the ball for the stacker. As a rule I let the small dipsey out three times farther than the stacker is above the ball on a 2.5 to 3 setting. 75 feet out stacked 25 above the ball.....150 feet out stacked 50 above the ball which the ball would be down 70 feet or more. The dipsy will be down near the same depth as the ball and trailing back and out for that second chance hit from a looker. You can run two more dipseys higher and wider off the boat for more spread, but I would suggest using the wire setup to keep fleas off if you want them to run deep too.

As for leader to your lure, do not let it be to much longer than your rod. A little bit is ok but if it is too long you won't be able to get the fish close enough to net. and remember if you use a flasher fly combo there is added length there too.

Snubbers are not needed if you have good rods meant to run a dipsey and you keep the drag set so there is a slight amount of creep or a few clicks going out every so often when you are at your determined troll speed. This will keep a heavy hitter from ripping your rod holder off the boat or breaking you off.

Mark

[ALLEN WOOD]

Thanks guys for the info! There are so many techniques and different ideas. What a great site this is. If there are any ideas out there, feel free to chew my ear with them.

Allen