Dipsey divers

[Bo dan den]

Can someone help i am having trouble with my divers releasing they are a bear to reel in when they dont release.The adjustment screw is almost out now is there a trick to this.Please help.

[NickR]

You're using mono line?

[Bo dan den]

Yes mono with snubber

[RYE]

You almost need to acquire a feel for the correct tension, although, I have not run mono divers in years, only wire. If the divers are new I'd work them by hand tripping them multiple times to wear the catches a bit. They should ease as you continue to trip them by hand. You will need to set them relatively light due to stretch of mono and snubber combined.  Set screw by feel and they should fire when hit. I have only had experience with Luhr Jensen divers though. Their a great addition to the spread when the rigger bite slows...

[Egoody]

What makes the dipsey work as opposed to riggers when the riggers go slow? Do they have some kind of action that will attract fish?

Sent from my XT881 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Bo dan den]

Thank you so much i will try that.

[BrokeOff]

mono is awful with dipsys.  get wire and you will love it

[King Slammin]

mono is awful with dipsys. get wire and you will love it

For sure. I was new to wire two yrs ago and bought the torpedo 19 strand. It's about $50 for 1000' but its very forgiving and it fills a 45 size reel perfectly. Just trim it when it pigtails real bad. You will be able to reach 100+' deep where mono would never take you.

[John E Powell]

Just a thought since you are running snubbers. Snubbers go between the diver and lure, not in front of the diver.

[Hooked on Kings]

I would tell you to take off the snubber if your using all mono it has plenty of stretch, to much stretch you will have trouble tripping them. You should follow others instruction and buy some 30lb wire it has no stretch and your hook up rate compared mono is so much better especially when you need to get deep. Like King Slammin said you will never get as deep with mono as you can with wire.  

[Tim Bromund]

and the stretch with mono is why you are having such a bear of a time tripping the diver, especially if you have more than say, 150' of line out.

 

Tim

[Adk1]

I am going to run one mono and one wire

[Xxx]

Where can you purchase the 19 strand wire and the from what I read you will need a twilly tip where can you purchase those also. Next can you use a line counter reel? and what size reel do you recommend, thanks PAP I think that's all I'll need to complete my arsenal. I purchased 30# sea flea from blood run for my rigger rods and I have 2 28# lead cores ready to go so that will give me 6 rods in the water, most of the time I only have 1 guy with me, if I add a slider or 2 I'll have my hands full, I've been out of the link for 2 years for various reasons mainly motor issues which are resolved now. Cant wait to hit the water!! PAP.

[Adk1]

I purchased by DD rod and reed from Bretts Place on the Bay. I have a shimano DD rod and Okuma 30 class reel. Line counter a must. I am goign to back the wire with 30lb mono, probably 30 yards of it..then put on as much wire as it will hold. I purchased 1000; of wire. Twili tip same place and yeah, you need one unless you buy a rod with the roller guides

[King Slammin]

No need for twilly tip. I have shimano tdr rods in 8'6" and 9'6". Tekota reels are great for wire and copper because of their high retrieve and smooth drag, but they are expensive. Therefore I have okuma Magda pro 45dx line counter reels and loading the whole 1000' on the reel fills it perfect. Just tape the wire around the spool with electric tape so it doesn't slip, fill the spool keeping the wire as tight as possible, then attach swivel directly to wire using wire knot on fish doctors website. Next time u go fishing in deeper water, hook up your dipsey and let out most of your spool, then reel it back in to get it really tight.

[King Slammin]

Slippery sinker in olcott has everything you need.

[RYE]

With wire, Twilley tips for sure, line counters when running divers a must for precise zone repeats. Some days 221' will key strikes, but 229' won't, that's where the lc's come into play. Here's a tip for wire divers some of you are probably already using but some may not know, buy yourself a bag of #3 or #4 rubber bands, after your wire is out the footage you desire, set your drag very light (just enough tension to keep wire from playing out with forward motion of boat)  and wrap a rubber band around the wire just above the spool and attach it to the reel knob. With wire there is no stretch, when a big fish takes your offering the initial strike will be violent. If the drag is set to tight, the fish can and sometimes will rip itself free (no stretch in wire). The rubber band will break, the drag will run with the fish, grab the rod, adjusting the drag tension by slowly increasing the drags' tension and hold on. Many more fish landed successfully since I began using this simple trick which was shown to me by an Oak captain years ago....

[steelydan]

you can also try running braid instead of wire. wire is better but braid is much better than mono. i run my high dipsys on braid, it works well.

[Xxx]

Thanks for all the info. I will be coming up in a week or two, I will purchase every thing I need locally, (NY). down here all that stuff is a deer in the headlight look.

[Adk1]

No need for twilly tip. I have shimano tdr rods in 8'6" and 9'6". Tekota reels are great for wire and copper because of their high retrieve and smooth drag, but they are expensive. Therefore I have okuma Magda pro 45dx line counter reels and loading the whole 1000' on the reel fills it perfect. Just tape the wire around the spool with electric tape so it doesn't slip, fill the spool keeping the wire as tight as possible, then attach swivel directly to wire using wire knot on fish doctors website. Next time u go fishing in deeper water, hook up your dipsey and let out most of your spool, then reel it back in to get it really tight.

So you don't back up the wire with mono or braid first?

[Tim Bromund]

So you don't back up the wire with mono or braid first?

Nope, just put a wrap of electrical tape or duct tape over the loop and knot to keep the line feom slipping on the spool.

[TyeeTanic]

Yes mono with snubber

There's too much stretch with mono line especially if you let out more than 100 ft. It stretches and won't pop the dipsey. Rather use wire line.

[Adk1]

Dang, and here I was gonna run one mono dipsey and one wire....

[TyeeTanic]

What makes the dipsey work as opposed to riggers when the riggers go slow? Do they have some kind of action that will attract fish?Sent from my XT881 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Wire dipsey - the wire hums in the water which attracts fish, as well as the turbulence from the dipsey.

[John E Powell]

There have been many questions about diver fishing dealing with rods and reels, and wire, braid and mono lines, and many methods of how to rig them. Every week or so, it seems some aspect is rehashed in popular fishing forums. Many new or inexperienced people are just starting out with running wire line on their diver reels and there’s been lots of advice, some good and some not as how best to do this. I thought I would offer a detailed explanation of how I spool 19 strand braided wire onto reels. My recommendations are based on well over 3 decades of fishing for trout and salmon at both a recreational and professional level. Here is what I feel to be the best way to fill a wire diver reel.

 

*Note* At the end of this, I’ll offer some general suggestions as well as some rigging variations for slide divers and how to rig a Dipsy diver or Walker diver to slide on wire line rods.

 

Some people recommend using electrical or duct tape wrapped over wire (or braid) to keep it from slipping on the reel’s spool (making the reel unusable). While the electrical or duct tape over the knot works, I don't like it for two reasons. The first reason is because it adds a layer of messy glue to your reel spool and later on down the road when it comes time for a changeover you will have messy residue to deal with, and the second reason is if you actually get down that far, the tape will be lifted off the line and you will lose spool adhesion. This could lead to a variety of problems including fouling the tape between the levelwind gear and carrier jamming the reel.

 

A better way is to use a method that avoids these potential pitfalls. It requires a little more effort and planning but is a much more elegant way of filling the reel that “Bubba’s duct tape approachâ€. This method uses just enough mono to tightly grip the spool and prevent slippage. I call this a monofilament “under wrapâ€. To this under wrap I tie just enough super braid backing so the wire will fill the reel completely (I use power-pro). How do I know how much backing is just enough? There is a trick to it and I’ll explain it in detail below. Finally the wire goes over the top of the backing and then you tie on your snap swivel.

 

Basically, to get the correct amount of backing on the reel under the wire, it is necessary to fill the reel in reverse so the backing is the last thing to go on the reel. Then, the reversed backing and wire is unwound and wound on in the correct order (backing first followed by the wire).

 

Here's my step by step method explained for preparing two identical line counter reels so the wire completely fills the reels. Based on how wire is sold, either from bulk spools or 1000’ spools, there are three likely scenarios you might choose from. I’ll explain each scenario in a bit, but first, you will need to do some preparatory work to each reel.

 

1)  First, mount both reels on the rear half of a rod that has at least one guide on it (to help keep your line centered as it enters the reel’s levelwind) and to give you an easy-to-hold-onto rod grip as you work with the reels to fill them.

 

2) Next, you need to get just enough mono onto the spool (one complete levelwind pass) to cover it completely. If your reel has a spool post to tie the line to, start with the levelwind lined up right in front of the post; turn the handle as necessary until the levelwind is located correctly. If the reel spool doesn't have a post, start the levelwind all the way to either side of the spool.

 

Using your monofilament (I suggest 20-25lb test), tie an arbor knot around your spool: http://www.animatedknots.com/arbor/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com If your spool has a post, carefully place the first overhand knot over the post before you begin to snug the arbor knot down.

 

*NOTE* At this point it is important to reset your levelwind counter if you will be using a method that requires backing, it is not necessary to do this if working from a bulk spool and not using backing.

 

Wind on enough mono to completely cover the bottom of the spool. Cut the line from the spool. Repeat these steps on the second reel making sure you have the same amount of mono on each reel.

 

At this point, you have three approaches to decide from. You can (3a) fill your reel with wire and no backing from a bulk spool, (3b) split your 1000' spool into two 500' sections of wire and use backing – the wire "top shot" method, or (3c) fill each reel with a 1000' spool and use backing.

 

 

3a) If you are working from a bulk spool and are going to fill the reel with all wire and not use any backing, then splice your wire to your mono using an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com When you follow the animation in the link, your wire will be the white rope and your mono will be the blue rope. At step three in the animation, you want to bend the wire over a small nail first to create a nice tight loop where the knot will snug up - this will prevent the wire from kinking. Making sure you hold the wire spool under tension, wind your wire onto the reel until the reel is filled. Go to step 4.

 

3b) This method helps to keep the cost down by using only one 1000' spool of wire, divided in half, to fill two diver reels. The first step is to split the wire in half. Run the wire through the guide(s) and levelwind of the first rod/reel and place the wire temporarily over the end of the mono and tape it in place with some masking tape there is no need to permanently splice this as you will be removing it later on.. If your line counters on each reel are within a few feet of each other after loading on the mono under wrap, then ignore this small difference and wind on all the wire keeping the spool of wire under consistent tension. If the line counters are not within a few feet of each other, reset them before winding on the line.

 

*NOTE* You will notice that the line counter is counting in reverse and may go past the "000" mark and begin counting down again as you transfer all the wire to the first reel.

 

When all the wire has been transferred to the reel, feed the back end of the wire through the guide(s) and levelwind of the second rod/reel temporarily taping it down in place over the mono just like before. Wind a few turns of wire on the second reel making sure it doesn't slip; if it does slip, you lose your line counter reading accuracy. Once you have a few turns on covering the tape so the wire line can't slip, begin winding the wire onto the second reel from the first reel. Adjust the first reel’s drag so the line is pulled off the first reel under tension.

 

Now, you need to remember that you may have gone around the first reel's counter once and you have to account for this. If the first reel went around once and stopped at, for example "600" and the second reel started at "980" you will notice that as you wind line on your second reel from the first, the first reel's counter will be going up and the second reel’s counter will be going down. At some point, the line counters on each reel will have the same reading (in my example at about “790â€). This is not the middle of your wire line because the counter on the first reel went around once, do not cut your wire line here. Continue to transfer line from reel one to reel two. After a little bit, you will see that the counter on reel one will go past "000" and start to count up again. Somewhere around 300 feet or so, both reel’s line counters will match each other for a second time; this is the middle of your wire and you will need to cut the wire here. Now, you have two partially filled reels; one needs to have the wire removed to temporary storage, either onto a third reel or onto the original spool.

 

A this point, you need to top off the one reel that still has wire line with backing, so run the backing through the guide(s) and splice your backing to the wire using an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com When you follow the animation in the link, your wire will be the white rope and your braid backing will be the blue rope. At step three in the animation, you want to bend the wire over a small nail first to create a nice curved tight loop where the knot will snug up - this will prevent the wire from kinking. Unwind any loose wire and, keeping the wire and braid line under tension, fill the reel completely (without overfilling) according to the directions that came with your reel. Cut the backing once the reel is filled. This will generally be about 1/8" below the rim of the spool.

 

Now you have a reel filled with the wire and backing on in reverse. You will transfer this line to your second reel. Splice the backing from your first reel to the mono of your second reel using the same Albright knot making sure the mono is the "white rope" and the braid backing is the "Blue rope" in the animation.

 

*Note* If you previously forgot to reset your line counter after tying the arbor knot and winding your mono on, you will need to unwind the mono on the second reel, reset the counter, and then rewind the mono back on the reel.

 

Transfer all the backing onto your reel and write down the line counter reading at the point of the splice between your braid and wire. This will tell you how much backing to put on your next reel. I recommend keeping a written reel fill log in a notebook someplace safe for future reference so you can avoid repeating these steps.

 

*Note* The line counter reading is not how much line you actually put on your reel as it becomes less and less accurate as line is removed from the reel, it's just a reference number that you can duplicate when you fill similar reels.

 

Once you have the wire to backing splice point noted, wind on the rest of your wire making sure you keep tension on the wire as you transfer it from the first reel to the second reel.

 

You will now fill your second reel using the line counter data you wrote down from the reel you just filled. Run the end of your backing through the guide(s) and splice the braided backing to the mono as you did before, mono being the "white rope" and braid being the "blue rope" in the animation. If this reel's line counter was not reset, unwind all the way to the arbor knot, reset the line counter and begin reeling in the line keeping the braid under tension. When the counter reading matches the reading from the first reel, cut the backing and splice on the remaining 500' section of wire using the Albright knot. The wire will be the "white rope" and the braid will be the "blue rope" in the animation. Fill the second reel keeping the wire under tension. Go on to Step 4

 

3c) If you are working from a 1000' spool of wire and are putting all 1000' on one reel, string the wire through the guide(s) and levelwind and lay it on top of the end of your mono and place a piece of masking take over the end of the wire to temporarily hold it in place and wind on all your wire keeping the wire line spool under tension. A this point, we want to top off our reel with backing, so run the backing through the guide(s) and splice your backing to the wire using an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com When you follow the animation in the link, your wire will be the white rope and your braid backing will be the blue rope. At step three in the animation, you want to bend the wire over a small nail first to create a nice tight loop where the knot will snug up - this will prevent the wire from kinking. Unwind any loose wire, and keeping the line under tension, fill the reel completely (without overfilling) according to the directions that came with your reel, and then cut the backing from the spool once filled. This will generally be about 1/8" below the rim of the spool.

 

Now transfer this backward wound line to your second reel. Splice the backing of the filled reel to your mono line spooled onto the empty reel using the same Albright knot making sure the mono is the "white rope" and the braid backing is the "Blue rope" in the animation.

 

*Note* If you previously forgot to reset your line counter after tying the arbor knot and winding your mono on, you will need to unwind the mono, reset the counter and then rewind the mono.

 

Transfer all the backing onto your reel and write down the line counter reading at the point of the splice between your braid and wire. This will tell you how much backing to put on your next reel. I recommend keeping a written reel fill log in a notebook someplace safe for future reference so you can avoid repeating these steps.

 

*Note* The line counter reading is not how much line you actually put on your reel as it becomes less and less accurate as line is removed from the reel, it's just a reference number that you can duplicate when you fill similar reels.

 

Once you have the wire to backing splice point noted, wind on the rest of your wire making sure you keep tension on the wire as you transfer it from the first reel to the second reel.

 

You will now fill your second reel using the line counter data you wrote down from the reel you just filled. Run the end of your backing through the guide(s) and splice the braided backing to the mono as you did before, mono being the "white rope" and braid being the "blue rope" in the animation. If this reel's line counter was not reset, unwind all the way to the arbor knot, reset the line counter and begin reeling in the line keeping the braid under tension. When the counter reading matches the reading from the first reel, cut the backing and splice another 1000' spool of wire using the Albright knot. The wire will be the "white rope" and the braid will be the "blue rope" in the animation. Fill the second reel keeping the wire under tension.

 

4) Now you need to attach a quality ball-bearing snap swivel to the wire. I don’t know the name of this knot, but here is a link to the instructions to tie it: http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm If you want to rig a Slide Diver or Dipsy/Walker diver to slide, skip this step and see the rigging variations below.

 

Some general suggestions and variations in rigging:

 

   19 strand wire is softer and less abrasive to guides than 7 strand wire. 19 strand will also tend to fray before failure generally giving you an opportunity to repair or replace it before it breaks off on a big fish losing all your gear and terminal tackle. 7 strand tends to resist failure more as the individual strands are heavier and stronger, but you have little notice when it is about to fail. Your chances of not losing $40 worth of swivels, diver, attractor and fly to a wire line failure are better with 19 strand wire than with 7 strand wire. For these reasons most people are moving to 19 strand wire over the 7 strand wire.

 

   If your rod doesn’t have a roller tip, consider replacing the standard tip with either a Twili Tip or a Torpedo swivel roller tip. The Torpedo is a more expensive, but better solution. The Twili is an effective less expensive tip, but it’s ugly and heavy. You’ll need to use care to make sure the swiveling Torpedo tip hasn’t flipped over and wrapped the wire partially around the tip each time you set the rod if you choose the Torpedo over the Twili.

 

   Rigging the Slide Diver (or Slide Diver Lite Bite) on wire rods: Instead of attaching the snapswivel to the end of your wire, you will create a mono top shot over the wire with a fluorocarbon leader and two swivels. Start by using a Palomar knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/palomar/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com to tie an appropriately sized snap or snapswivel to one end of a 5’ fluorocarbon leader, and a medium size ball-bearing swivel with welded rings to the other end. Set it aside. Measure out and cut 25-30’ of Trilene 30lb Big Game. Slide a clear plastic bead over one end of the mono, then tie the other end of the ball-bearing swivel (of the fluorocarbon leader) to the end of the mono next to the plastic bead with the Palomar knot.  Next rig the Slide Diver following the instructions on the packaging. Next, use the Palomar knot to tie a size 8 “Spro Power Swivel†to the other end of the mono.  The rigging from lure to rod should now be as follows: Snap/snapswivel, fluorocarbon leader, ball bearing swivel, mono, plastic bead, rigged Slide Diver, and Spro Power Swivel. The Spro gets attached to the end of the wire in a method that will allow you to easily pass through the guides and levelwind. Start by cutting a 3/4" long section of 1/8†diameter clear heat shrink tubing. Slide it over the end of the wire line.  Use the LOTSA knot http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm making sure to work the knots to minimize the knot size so the heat shrink slides over the knots. Also, keep the second knot less than 1/2†from the first. Slide the heat shrink up over the eye of the Spro and shrink it down covering both knots. Alternately, you can eliminate the Spro altogether and splice the mono to the wire with an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com white rope is wire, blue rope is mono in the animation.

 

   To rig a Dipsy or Walker Diver to slide on a wire line rod, you will need the diver, one small snap, one Big Jon Jettison Sinker Release, one small split ring, and one large 1/2-5/8†inside diameter split ring. First, you need to modify the diver. There are three things you need to do. 1) Tighten the diver release so it doesn’t trip, you won’t be using it anymore as a release, just as a tow point. 2) Remove the swivel on the front of the diver and add the large split ring in its place on the release arm. 3) Remove the swivel on the rear of the diver and attach the small split ring to the welded ring of the diver, then the small end of the snap to the split ring. Set the modified diver aside. Using a Palomar knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/palomar/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com  tie an appropriately sized snap or snapswivel to one end of a 5’ fluorocarbon leader, and a medium size ball-bearing swivel with welded rings to the other end. Set it aside. Measure out and cut 25-30’ of Trilene 30lb Big Game. Slide a clear plastic bead over one end of the mono, then tie the other end of the ball-bearing swivel (of the fluorocarbon leader) to the end of the mono next to the plastic bead with the Palomar knot.  Now rig the Jettison release onto the mono line. First slide on the “F†shaped part of the release with the bottom of the “F†facing the rod and the top of the “F†facing the lure.  Now slide the pin onto the mono, then use the Palomar knot to tie a size 8 “Spro Power Swivel†to the other end of the mono. The rigging from lure to rod should now be as follows: Snap/snapswivel, fluorocarbon leader, ball bearing swivel, mono, plastic bead, “F†part of release, pin part of release, and Spro Power Swivel. The Spro gets attached to the end of the wire in a method that will allow you to easily pass through the guides and levelwind. Start by cutting a 3/4" long section of 1/8†diameter clear heat shrink tubing. Slide it over the end of the wire line.  Use the LOTSA knot http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm making sure to work the knots to minimize the knot size so the heat shrink slides over the knots. Also, keep the second knot less than 1/2†from the first. Slide the heat shrink up over the eye of the Spro and shrink it down covering both knots. Alternately, you can eliminate the Spro altogether and splice the mono to the wire with an Albright knot: http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com white rope is wire, blue rope is mono in the animation.

 

To rig the diver, hold the jettison release in your hand as you let the lure out behind the boat. Place the large split ring between the two parallel bars of the “F†section of the release and insert the pin through all three parts. The diver should now be hanging from the release pin. Open the snap on the rear of the diver and hook it over the mono line and close the snap. You will have to experiment with how far to push the pin into the release, the further the pin is pushed in, the more force it will take to release the diver.

 

Hopefully that is not information overload, it shouldn't be too hard to follow if you go slowly.

Edited July 25, 2013 by John E Powell