Dipsey diver depth confusion

[Chinook Chaser]

How deep are my dipseys! I am using wire and running a size 1. I have been told not to follow the chart that comes with it because it's wrong. Friend told me that it's a 3 to 1 ratio if I set it at 2.5. I hit bottom in 108ft with 150 feet of line and almost lost the entire set up. Using 3 to 1 I should have been at 50 feet. Using the chart I should have been at around 55 or 60. What should I do I need to know how deep I am running.

[Landshark]

There is no way at salmon trolling speeds you should have hit bottom even on a 1 setting. Perhaps your counter on your reel was off?

Edited July 15, 2015 by Landshark

[Landshark]

The only other thing I can think of is maybe it was the inside rod on a turn that you possibly took too sharp?

[DJ 17]

How fast were you going? If you were going too slow they will sink faster but hitting 104 with 150 out sounds like a possible line counter issue as mentioned above.

[Chinook Chaser]

Thanks to you both. May have come around to fast and thats the reason or yes my line counter. I will have to test it. Is there a better chart or method available though to get a better idea of where it should be?

[slow rollin]

I agree. No way yo were that deep. I have always followed the charts and I have never had any problems.

[slow rollin]

I think you may have had a fish on and maybe you don't realize how a wire rod looks with a fish on it?

[Chinook Chaser]

Took another 450ft of line until found a kink on the spool and it stopped. Before that line was just screeming off and would not let up. After a few seconds of this it came free. When I reeled it in the hook had straightened out. Was bottom for sure.

[ray koziatek]

unless you have very weak hooks ya aint gonna straighten a hook on bottom with 30 lb wire ..but if you hook a fish in the bone where the 1 in a hundred hookups occure a fish can straighten a hook easy even at a mild drag setting ...think you lost a big salmon on the run  ..seens to happen more with flys than lures..one more reason to check yer hooks after EVERY hit..

[Big Dave]

unless you have very weak hooks ya aint gonna straighten a hook on bottom with 30 lb wire ..but if you hook a fish in the bone where the 1 in a hundred hookups occure a fish can straighten a hook easy even at a mild drag setting ...think you lost a big salmon on the run  ..seens to happen more with flys than lures..one more reason to check yer hooks after EVERY hit..

X2 180' of wire on a #3 setting puts you at 60' If the wire was going out faster than the boat was going , fish. Edited July 15, 2015 by Big Dave

[Chinook Chaser]

The hook was not completely straight. Was a new stinger spoon. My question was not if I was hitting bottom or not it was bottom guaranteed. We were in a turn and going over something on the bottom depth went from 118 up to 108 then back down. I will check my line counter chances are that it is incorrect. They are 20 years old.

[slow rollin]

The boat has to be moving when your using dipsy divers! Hajust joking

[GAMBLER]

If the counter did not get reset before deploying the diver, you could have had a lot more line out than the counter was showing. Sharp turns will also cause inside divers to sink fast.

[momay4000]

Here's my theories and my experiences with all three scenarios:

 

1.) Fish on Dipsy - wire rod pulsates like crazy from fish trying to shake off. It does not simply peel off wire line at a constant rate

 

2.) Dipsy hitting bottom - the Dipsy releases, line peels out at a steady pace at the speed of the boat similar to letting out line. Usually some zebras on the hook. You just sit there with the drag releasing and feel helpless......

 

3.) Dipsy tripped from hitting sub-surface debris like a log (this scenario seems most likely to me) - same as #1, but when I've hit logs and subsurface debris it always seems to straighten out my hooks for some reason

 

Sounds like you may have hit a log which rode down the line and tripped it.

 

Good luck - we'll probably never know what really happened,

 

Chris

[Chinook Chaser]

I checked my line counters and they are spot on. What proprobably happened is I just lost track of something. Either we turned to sharp, or I had more line out then I thought. I will have to watch it more carefully.

[TyeeTanic]

Someone must have reset the line counter. I agree you will never hit 100 ft depth with only 150 ft of line out at 2.5 mph. You would be lucky to be 50 ft deep on a 2.5 setting.

 

If it was a big fish there should have been some variability in the line coming off the rod.

If it was bottom it would have come out steady at boat speed. Feels like a fish at first and then you realize the reel is peeling out line at a very, very steady rate.

 

It could have also been a tangle on underwater debris, slightly suspended, like an old buoy line.

[sleepy111]

Try aptoide app. Called accudipsey. Punch in your speed, line type in and depth desired and it will tell you how much line to let out.

[sleepy111]

Try aptoide app. Called accudipsey. Punch in your speed, line type in and depth desired and it will tell you how much line to let out.

[starcraftloaded]

I had my dipsy fire this past Sunday, it was on a #2 setting with a Spin Doctor/atomic 225' of line out in 140' of water and I got a screamer like I only witnessed once before, and I'm no rooky, I've caught my share of kings over the past 20 years. It screamed out to 785' of line at it seamed like 20 mph. Drag was set perfectly, and this fish broke off my wire about 25' up from the diver. About $40 in tackle lost,

1 hour later I had a king hit my outside rigger set at 95' and this fish tore out to 535 feet. I was dumbfounded....we are very proud of a high percentage of hooked kings to boating kings and we went 2 for 5 on kings that morning. I've had many screamers over the years, and caught many huge kings but never had them just pull drag that fast with no let ups.

Anyone else have this happen this year?

[Richard]

Not this year, but two years ago. Had my daughter and boyfriend up. They both had never been. Hooked up and handed the rod to the boyfriend (his turn). I thought I felt a fish, but constant drag came off so I figured we were stuck on bottom. Had my daughter turn the boat around and I cleared rods. My spools have about 1000 feet of line on them and it was almost gone. Was able to accomplish the turn and gain line. Turns out it was a fish and after several more minutes we boated a thirty pound king.

The year before that we had a similar story with my dad on the reel for a fish of the same size.

I have seen this kind of line pull three times. All fish have been right at that thirty pound weight class.

[Chinook Chaser]

Thanks for the info and the stories. I wish that had been a fish. Would have been huge. It was constant speed non stop line coming off no shakes no direction change. When I tightened the drag I felt no give at all and loosened the drag again. As was said the line counter may have got reset. It's still a small posability that it was a huge fish. I will try that app. More kings around now good luck!

[Chinook Chaser]

What is the max depth of a size one dipsy at setting zero. Most charts and apps etc have it maxing out at around 80. I thought they would go deeper as I hear of guys putting out 300 feet of line. They could be running mags or just want more distance from the boat?

[Richard]

I have hit bottom with the standard dipsy in 110 feet of water trolling strait with 300 feet of wire out.

[TyeeTanic]

I think 300 ft will get you between 90 and 100 ft at the speeds we travel 2.6 to 2.7 mph. Of course speed is important. If you go 2 mph or less, you could easily hit +100ft with that much line out.

[reeldilemma33]

Lol idk but I've followed my line down on my fish finder. It depends what line your running. I have 4 dipsy rods my one kind has 30 lbs and my other has 40 lbs. the 40 lbs is almost 1-1 ratio and levels out at 100 ft my other 30 lbs is about 3-1 on a 3 setting.

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