TORPEDO DIVER VS DROP WEIGHT

[Rich L]

Is there an advantage using a 12oz torpedo diver over a 12oz drop weight?

[scobar]

IMO the torpedo cuts the water better so you get your depth with less line, however the difference is minimal. I would use what you have

[John E Powell]

The tail fin of the torpedo can be bent a little to give you a weight with the ability to plane to the side slightly. If you're deploying off a side planer, there's no real advantage to having a weight that planes to the side as the planer can place either the Torpedo or a round weight anywhere off to the side of the boat. 

 

The round weight is the weight of choice for thumper rigs or bottom bouncers as they are more durable and less snag prone. So in my mind making a case for the torpedo (over a round weight you probably already have) comes down to whether or not you can find a spot in your rigging on a particular day to use the torpedo’s capability to plane to the side slightly.

 

The only scenario that comes to mind (for my boat, crew, and rigging anyway) is when fish are on an aggressive bite. Other people may have a different creative use, but at times I've pulled one of my two inside divers and replaced it with a torpedo rig set to run just outside and behind my outdown. Weighted lines have a very active signature as the boat interacts with wind, waves, and current. The aggressive action transmitted to lures by the rapid vertical jigging of weighted lines can sometimes be more appealing to aggressively feeding fish than the comparatively more neutral action of a lure trailing behind a magnum diver’s turbulent but more stable signature under the same conditions. Of course, like most things fishing, some days it works and some days it doesn’t. But it’s nice when you can present a rig with a different signature and it helps to turn an otherwise slow two fish day into a five fish day. Also, sometimes the jigging motion of the lure on the weighted line might draw a fish in for a look at your set, and the fish then chomps on the adjacent rigger line that has gone untouched all morning with a diver running near it.

 

If you don’t have any weights and are considering purchasing one or more, then by all means give a torpedo a try, the 12 ounce size is pretty popular. You can always use weights (round or torpedo) in front of something like a 3 color lead core with braid backing and deploy it to the side using an inline planer to create a super stealthy rig that can reach depths of 120-150 feet. The Torpedo (or round weight) can take the seductive hypnotic lead core way below the 40 feet or so that is the normal depth limit of longer cores. Just make sure to place the weight on the backing in front of the core. If you attach the weight behind the lead, it will prevent the core from dancing its dance. It's not a good idea to attach any weight to lead core itself.

 

For guys on a budget without a plethora of pre-rigged rods, you might find it makes more sense to have just a couple 3 color lead cores and a few weights of various sizes to compliment your rigger and diver rods. With little to no weight, the 3 color cores can cover the full depth range of short to long lead cores, and with heavier weights and longer lead sets the 3 color cores can fish the same depths of water as the entire range of copper lines from 200-600 ft. You won't have the same exact action or trolling signature, but you can sure reach and catch salmon for a fraction of the cost of a bunch of copper rigs. You can even run the same 3 color core off your deepest rigger to present a lure to fish well behind the boat in water that the ball hasn't disturbed - the lure will trail behind on the core about 10-15' deeper than the ball. 

Edited January 29, 2015 by John E Powell

[scobar]

Very well said John

[Rich L]

Thanks for the input guys and thank you John for your in depth input. It is very informative.

RichL

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