King Salmon Rigging Tips?

[MarkNY]

hey guys, id like to try dipseys for salmon this year. mainly to relatively shallow fish(up to 150'). i plan on running 3 dipseys and maybe one line on a board with a dive bomb for a chance fish. what do you recommend for a spread like this as far as lures and rigging? ex. flies and dodgers, spoons... can i run j-plugs and kwikfish on dipseys? what colors are a must? how about leader? i have 20# mono on my reels and was thinking about running 15# flouro or maybe something just shy of 20. id appreciate any suggestions you might have. best, mark

[bluewater]

My normal dipsy set-up is a 20 lb flouro leader and for length use the length of the rod you are using that way it is easier to net your fish. Good colors now for me are spindoctors in white/green dot, white/mnt. dew, white/wonderbread, green/chrome, greasy chicken and a-tom-mik flies in hammer, glo hammer, white crinkle, mirage, goby live to name a few. Use a 22 inch leader for flies and you should do very well with this. Good luck.

[Billy V]

Mark,

The first thing you're going to want to do is get rid of that 20# mono on your reels and replace it with 30# 7-strand wire. That mono wont allow you to reach the depths that you want due to drag, it'll stretch beyond belief and you'll never be able to release the diver, and finally 20# test will just get destroyed by a 30lb King. After you've spooled your reel with wire, tie a snap-swivel directly to the wire line and snap that to the diver. We attach a snubber to the back of the diver to absorb the shock of a strike and when fighting a fish at the back of the boat, but some guys forego the snubber and just use a leader behind the diver. For leader on the diver, I'd recommend 6-8' of 30# mono (we use Big Game). Stay away from light weight fluoro as a leader on your diver as it has no stretch and most likely won't last for too long before a King breaks it off. Attach your flasher/fly combo to that leader. Be sure to use quality ball bearing swivels or your gear will get all twisted up. This should get you going in the right direction. Good luck!

[kremer01]

Do what Billy said and even then some guys are having the kings this year snap 30 lb line so be careful of your drag - just tight enough so it doesn't pull out when running. You can adjust after the strike to tighten if you need to, its cheaper than losing your rig right off the bat.

[MarkNY]

thanks alot guys. i managed to hook 3 fish the last 2 days and landed a 41"x26" king yesterday. not bad fishing by myself with only two rods out and in a small boat surrounded by big charters! did break a fish off today at the fly leader. billy, i know first hand your point now about mono. had a tough time tripping the release which made for some work. best, mark