Serious novice seeking advice!

[genEus]

Fished Canadice on Sunday from around 7:30am to 12pm. Had rigged up my brand spanking new Daiwa Heartland 8'6" with the Magda Pro DX30, dipsy and a blue/silver Stinger Magnum spoon. Took 10-15 minutes to figure out how the dipsy works for the first time ever. Man oh man, that thing pulls hard!! Stayed close to shore, above about 45 fow. Had absolutely no idea whether anything was gonna work out, but set the dipsy to dive to about 20 feet. 5 minutes into trolling, the rod starts playing! Woot! I couldn't believe it but I just caught something, first time in years! Apparently it really IS possible, despite my worst fears. It was a beautiful laker about 16-17" long. We quickly let him go after a photo op.

Trolled to the southernmost point of the lake while rigging up another rod flatlining a "dives-to-20" plug. Turned around at the end and went back up north. Set up the 3rd rod with a 3-way swivel, a small spoon and a 3oz weight and let it out about 80 feet, trying to reach close to the bottom where we were (still quite a bit from an exact science, but we figured why not try). Once we made it back up, I am thinking we pause at the northern end and I change out the spoon for something else. As soon as I say that out loud, the dipsy rod starts thrashing again, in the same exact spot as the first time. I let my dad reel it in this time - this was a beauty we had decided to keep! We measured it at home - it was a 25" long and 7lb in weight laker! Amazing!!

I'm not changing out the spoon! I decided to stick to the same spot, and we trolled in huge circles on the northern end for about 40 minutes, but no more hits. Decided to go back down south again, just for a change.As we almost hit the southern end, another strike on the dipsy. By the way my dad reels it in, I can tell it's a small one - turned out to be about a 13-14" brown. What a beautiful fish! We let him out quickly and decided to call it a day, as the sun was getting high and hot and we felt accopmlished "enough" for the day.

Late at night ordered another Heartland rod and a Convector reel from Amazon, and more braid. Wow you guys weren't joking - this really IS possible!!!

In the pic, my dad with his catch of the day (year? 10 years? hmm)

[Mortigan]

Nice job

My friend's nephew landed a 20lb laker off Irondequoit Bay yesterday evening caught on a dipsy with a flasher & fly. I might be wrong but I think that's the first dipsy fish caught on the boat - we just started using a pair of wire rods.

[crumcake1223]

yes the map books are great to have i have the one for western ny aters and its a great tool to have. the more you know about the places you intend to fish just saves you gas and time

[genEus]

I know you want to keep things on the least expensive route, but would seriously recommend 30 lb braid on your reels for divers. If you are just fishing Hemlock or most any lake besides lake O. You will be able to achieve much greater depth and be able to trip the dipsy much easier for retrieval. Mono is a pain for dipsy. Also, with the heartlands you got, don't use snubbers the rods are very flexible and take the hit no problem. You get better hookup.

You will know the hit when it comes. Pole thrashes and if drag is set right...it sings FISH ON with the clicker on..

Mark

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I followed your advice and put 30lb braid on, and used 15lb mono leaders... First time ever using braided line - it's SO easy to tie knots with. Incredible. Would you ever use braided leaders, or does mono make more sense because of the elasticity?

[skipper19]

I use seguar flourocarbon leader material from the dipsy to lure and a good snap swivel on lure...virtually invisible...15 lb is plenty for Hemlock, but it does need to be tough to handle the shock of hit on a dipsey....you keep this up and your gonna need a new credit card...this is a sickness you know right?

PS..use good knots recommended for the braid because the material is very slippery and knots can slip. The package usually illustrates the recommended ones to use . What brand of braid did you get?

Mark

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[genEus]

I use seguar flourocarbon leader material from the dipsy to lure and a good snap swivel on lure...virtually invisible...15 lb is plenty for Hemlock, but it does need to be tough to handle the shock of hit on a dipsey....you keep this up and your gonna need a new credit card...this is a sickness you know right?

PS..use good knots recommended for the braid because the material is very slippery and knots can slip. The package usually illustrates the recommended ones to use . What brand of braid did you get?

Mark

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I used Spiderwire Stealth and tied a palomar knot for the dipsy... then a lock snap swivel, and 6ft of 15lb mono tied to the spoon. I didn't have any rings and the Stinger spoons don't come with them, so I was a bit worried that the metal would nick the mono, but had no choice. I'll get some rings and retie for the next time.

I spooled 125yds and it looked like there was hardly any line on the reel. based on my calculations the reel could take 1000 yards of 30lb braid. Eek.

For the second setup I just bought a spool of Sea Hunter brand 30lb cause it was only $20 for 325 yards

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TN ... 00_s01_i00

A question on tying your rigs... Do you retie them every time you go out on the water, or how often do you retie them?

[Mortigan]

You're going to need a lot more line.

If you're running a dipsy at 70', you've got approximately 210' feet out to begin with. If a decent king hits your spoon, it could run hundreds of feet before slowing down. You're looking at 200 yards of line out before you even start reeling.

I'll let someone that runs braid address the specifics for you. Dick's has 300 yards of Power Pro on sale right now for $19.95 (assuming they're not sold out)...

[Mortigan]

You're going to need a lot more line.

If you're running a dipsy at 70', you've got approximately 210' feet out to begin with. If a decent king hits your spoon, it could run hundreds of feet before slowing down. You're looking at 200 yards of line out before you even start reeling.

I'll let someone that runs braid address the specifics for you. Dick's has 300 yards of Power Pro on sale right now for $19.95 (assuming they're not sold out)...

Regarding retying - I was taught to closely inspect the line after each fish and replace if nicked or stretched. You can retie on the boat as needed or do a batch ahead of time for quick replacement. We have a bunch stored on pool noodle sections at the moment but I'm going to try the Plano 1950-36 Snell Rig Holder shortly.

[skipper19]

Braid seldom needs retieing. The flouro is tough but prone to nicks and can break there. I test my knots by pulling them and actually try to break the knot up to a good hard pull and Sharp tug.

You can use 30 lb mono for backing on your braid so you don't need to fill the spool all the way up with braid. I use an albright knot for the connection of braid to mono.

As long as you are fishing Hemlock and similar lakes and not trying to catch 30 lb kings on lake O then you will be fine with about 500 FEET of braid on top of mono backing. In most cases you will never see the backing going out on a fish from Hemlock, and the knot will stay on the reel. Lake O however is a whole lot different.

Mark

Also, if tieing braid to a ring on a swivel be sure you use good ONE PIECE rings not spiral type. The braid can work out of the spirals.

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