Braid and dipsy divers

[jennings]

Exactly what Tim said. It maybe easier to use (a little, a braid bird nest is impossible to fix), but who cares if it can't catch fish

 

You can say you prefer wire over braid all day long but you can't say it doesn't catch fish. I don't mean at some given point in the season either; we use it all season pulling spoons, boards, and meat rigs and catch hundreds of fish each year with it. I even won $20,000 once---- fish caught on diver being pulled by 30# braid.

[Sk8man]

In reading this thread it is interesting that it resembles the "Ford vs. Chevy" argument despite the two line versions being composed of entirely different substances and maybe an "apples vs. oranges" issue   Each of these lines catch fish and most of it depends on the skills and "habits" of the fishermen more than the line itself and each has its place in the arsenal. I've fished wire of various types: monel, single strand stainless, copper single strand and braided, and 7 strand stainless long before it became "popular" (1975?), dacron,  and and the current type of braid (e.g. Powerpro etc) for the past 10 years or so along with wire. Each of these types of wire have their strengths and weaknesses (kinking being a major one and the occasional "tangle" requiring wire cutters during an accidental "free spool") and the advent of fleas and floating grass pods have aggravated the weakness part of the equation for both types of line. Braid has its issues as well (color fading, vulnerability to weakening by UV sunlight, tendency to tangle on itself without being able to sort out (e.g.backlash) and tendency to "float". Some of the issue revolves around specifically how you intend to run the dipseys...if from boards braid may be the easiest and least problematic to use but for straight down situations wire is (side rigs or chute situations) my "go to" for sure. It is really mainly a "preference" issue though like many other things we discuss on here

Edited March 10, 2015 by Sk8man

[Tim Bromund]

I somewhat agree Tim but a lot depends on the time of year the early spring the braids tend to get bit better the summer and fall the wire seems to work better for me anyways.

Sorry I was specifically referring to my boat.  I usually run both until flea season makes the braids problematic, and the wires just fire a lot more for me. 30 Lb Malin wire vs 50 Lb Power Pro. 

 

The Braids DO catch fish, just not nearly as many for me as the wires and for whatever reason, I seem to get a lot more hit and runs on the braid divers, seldom ever get a wire bite that doesn't hook up solid.

 

Tim

[Has Been]

 I fish Oak mostly.

 

 

My dipseys catch most of my Kings from  late July to Labor day.  I like Spinny & Fly or 11" Hotspots & Meat rigs on them .

 

 But I'm switching to wire now , Can't wait to turn a 12 fish day into a 36 fish day. Thanks Tim!!

 

I NEVER have Flea problems with  my braid,NEVER. 

[on the lam]

I fish Oak mostly.

My dipseys catch most of my Kings from late July to Labor day. I like Spinny & Fly or 11" Hotspots & Meat rigs on them .

But I'm switching to wire now , Can't wait to turn a 12 fish day into a 36 fish day. Thanks Tim!!

I NEVER have Flea problems with my braid,NEVER.

So I guess I have two questions, what do you do to reach kings down 120, 140 or more with braid, and what brand do you use that repels fleas? I have 150# PP on my riggers and it's a flea disaster by mid summer. Edited March 10, 2015 by on the lam

[TyeeTanic]

You can say you prefer wire over braid all day long but you can't say it doesn't catch fish. I don't mean at some given point in the season either; we use it all season pulling spoons, boards, and meat rigs and catch hundreds of fish each year with it. I even won $20,000 once---- fish caught on diver being pulled by 30# braid.

OK, maybe I was too harsh.

I just like to put rods in the water that typically produce more fish. There's a limited window of opportunity when you go out, and I like to stick with what I know produces consistently (at least what I hope will work).

[Tim Bromund]

Your welcome, glad to help. Your mileage may vary.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[jennings]

On the Lam

 

Q1- I can think of a weekend in particular last summer when we were marking fish down 130'-150' and nothing was going so we started lowering rigs and started pulling kings with our riggers 150-170 feet on the counter ( at 170' on rigger Fish Hawk was showing about 20' difference using 15# sharks) 107mm divers were quiet so we put on 124mm divers pulling big boards and meet rigs and we started pulling fish on them out 350' on a #1 setting

 

Q2- As we all know when fleas get real bad nothing is immune; When this happens we try to bring them in at set intervals such as every 20 minutes.

 

Grayden Outdoors put out a dive chart and in the test they used 30# power-pro and the fish hawk TD - very helpful in our program

 

I'm not trying to persuade what any one uses. I was just stating we catch hundreds of fish each season with this method. My personal experiences have led me to using Power-Pro over wire.

[on the lam]

On the Lam

Q1- I can think of a weekend in particular last summer when we were marking fish down 130'-150' and nothing was going so we started lowering rigs and started pulling kings with our riggers 150-170 feet on the counter ( at 170' on rigger Fish Hawk was showing about 20' difference using 15# sharks) 107mm divers were quiet so we put on 124mm divers pulling big boards and meet rigs and we started pulling fish on them out 350' on a #1 setting

Q2- As we all know when fleas get real bad nothing is immune; When this happens we try to bring them in at set intervals such as every 20 minutes.

Grayden Outdoors put out a dive chart and in the test they used 30# power-pro and the fish hawk TD - very helpful in our program

I'm not trying to persuade what any one uses. I was just stating we catch hundreds of fish each season with this method. My personal experiences have led me to using Power-Pro over wire.

thanks for the info,,,, but I know how to get deep kings, my question was how did he accomplish that with braid, wire yes but I dont think it can be done with braid. And yes I clean fleas constantly like everyone else, but the statement was he "never" gets fleas on braid? Another has scratcher?

[fish-on]

Guess I started an interesting post, A lot of goods n no goods. I'm gonna rig one pole up with braid run it this fall in loc, just to see what happens, Mexico Bay test.

[skipper19]

I will attest to the effectiveness of FIRELINE FUSED ORIGINAL in 30 lb test. Do not use the crystal brand ONLY fused original in 30. It is gray black in color. It WILL do as good as wire at repelling fleas. It will do almost as well in depth as wire. I like it cause you can do different things with it that you could never do with wire and a dipsey like run it as a slider down a rigger cable and Scotty release with a small diver as an out and down close to the boat and your rigger sets. I have outriggers and the braid is easy to run on them in the releases with out damage. If you want more depth run a dive bomb 1/4 to 1/3 up from the dipsy directly on the braid no damage.

I run both equal time during fleas and the braid mostly only gets walnut sized gobs of fleas that rip off when aggressively pulled laterally in the water tension.

The wire almost always collect more fleas in a finger thickness from the diver up to about 2 to 3 feet of wire from the diver.

Mark

[Has Been]

Yes, it gets on the line but it has never once been a problem landing a fish. I bang bottom once in a while in 100' of water .That is about the max I figure on a .5 setting & A reg size dipsey w/ a ring &  some creative S- turning. All I know is how good I do on them w/ like no  problems. See no reason to switch . Sounds like  they will be jumping in the boat if I do.

 

Since I invented the "Splice in a 150' section of 40# mono method"  of  keeping the fleas off back when these thing first showed up  , I never once had a problem landing a fish w/ fleas.

 

 Maybe I never have been in them as bad a some of you guys have.

 

I too also check and change every 45 min MAX as w/ my rigger rods also. You should that often at least anyhow.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Has Been

[Captain Carl Bish]

I run 2 wires and 2 PP. The braid picks up its share of fleas, I find that globbing them up then giving a quick twist and a pull the braid cuts the fleas right off. Honestly can't attest to one being better than the other where fleas are concerned......I can say I HATE FLEAS!!!

Pick your poison and perfect it!

[Sk8man]

No matter what you run for line or cable etc. if you are out there long enough with weather that is hospitable to flea breeding and cover a lot of water during the summer months you will at some time encounter a flea infestation that will accrue on your line. At one point I thought wire and line diameter were the answers but after last season on Keuka Lake when we couldn't get the downriggers up without cleaning the fleas off them I revised my thinking. If they are thick enough in concentration they will adhere to anything and then it becomes a question of what is the best way to get them off without screwing up your equipment and there are a million suggestions on here about how to do it but I have yet to discover a remedy for the frustration and swearing that occurs on my boat at least

Edited March 15, 2015 by Sk8man

[Tunaman1]

Braid should be fine , but like most said it's very close to wire in the stretch factor.

I would & do use colored coded braid every ten yards sans core it changes color . U can monitor line out easily .

[baitrigger]

Does anyone use dacron? Works great, cheep.

[Sk8man]

We used to use it in the old days in various ways but it has a much larger diameter than say Power Pro so there is much more resistance in the water meaning it doesn't get down to depth nearly as well.  Some salt water applications use it mostly for backing.

[baitrigger]

We use it as a backer on riggers.

[JC heir]

so, how many rods can a guy run comfortably off 1 side of the boat when running 7 strand wire dipseys? my original intent was to run wire braid on a 1 setting, and 30 lb braid on a 3 setting for lakers in erie this spring.

[TyeeTanic]

We often fish with 2 dipsies off either side of the boat, 4 in total.

[Chas0218]

We often fish with 2 dipsies off either side of the boat, 4 in total.

Us too, only had 1 tangle with a juvenile.