Must Have Gear

[KeithVT]

I am from Vermont and fish Champ a lot for lakers and landlocks. We use okuma magda 20's and 30's rigged with 15 and 25lb trilene, with 10lb leaders or 20 for laker setups. I am interested in making a couple trips a year out to the big lake for kings and the great brown fishing you folks have. So the question is, what are the essential items I must have? Boat is a 20ft aluminum with 4 big jons, slide divers, x4d, trolling motor with ipilot and extended rudder, 4 segmented leadcores, I have planer mast and otter boats, as well as offshore inline board, assorted small stick baits, and small spoons that work well on champ, but my guess is everything needs to be bigger out there. So what is the must have gear to I am looking to do this super infrequent so I don't need tekota's or 300 dollar rods. Just the basic's, what size reel, what size line, how much line per reel, must have baits (green right?).

 

Help is appreciated!

[Crestliner1850]

KeithVT you have all the right gear to start. Just add some mag spoons, flasher-fly and meat rig (A-TOM-MIK). Make a quick search and you'll find recent posts on best spoons and flasher-fly. Good luck.

 

 

[relaxer]

KeithVT - With the gear you have and Crestliner's items above, if I had to add one item on my boat it would be wire set ups.  If you are fishing summer kings, I consider it a must have.  There are times when the wire divers are firing for kings and the downriggers are dead.  A 47LC, diver rod w/ twilli and 1000' 30lb wire can be done for around $175 and worth the expense. 

[Fishnut]

1 hour ago, relaxer said:

KeithVT - With the gear you have and Crestliner's items above, if I had to add one item on my boat it would be wire set ups.  If you are fishing summer kings, I consider it a must have.  There are times when the wire divers are firing for kings and the downriggers are dead.  A 47LC, diver rod w/ twilli and 1000' 30lb wire can be done for around $175 and worth the expense. 

 

X-2

[Brian S]

X3 on the wire divers, they just produce. Your 25lb mono with 20lb leader should suffice for your rigger rods. Just make sure you have 500+ft of line on your rigger rods or backing if you run copper or deep leads. I run 900ft behind my coppers and cores and 1000ft of wire for my divers. You will know why when you get an angry king on and that line starts disappearing fast.

Stinger, moonshines, and dream weaver are popular spoons. I wouldnt run anything under 4" this time of year. As mentioned above, meat rigs and flasher flies also. Good luck!

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[KeithVT]

Is there a benefit that the wire divers will provide over my slide divers? I have dipsy divers but haven’t used them in a few years as I found the slide divers more effective at producing strikes on champ.

would the slide diver running with a shorter lead function pretty much the same as a dipsy, or am I missing something in terms of the use of wire? My slide divers have ultimate dive kits and I can get them down 100ft or more.

[relaxer]

Doesn;t matter if you use a dipsey, slide diver, or Deeper Diver as long as you can dial it in and run consistently at 60-120 feet at 2.5+ speeds.  I run #5 chinook divers which are close to 2-1 on wire.

And if not using wire in summer, then you are checking your chart against 30lb mono (no braid in flea season) and see how much line out you need to stay that deep.

 

Lot of guys with way more experience than me convinced me to run wire and catch rates were all I needed to see.

 

 

[Liberty Call]

Doesn;t matter if you use a dipsey, slide diver, or Deeper Diver as long as you can dial it in and run consistently at 60-120 feet at 2.5+ speeds.  I run #5 chinook divers which are close to 2-1 on wire.
And if not using wire in summer, then you are checking your chart against 30lb mono (no braid in flea season) and see how much line out you need to stay that deep.
 
Lot of guys with way more experience than me convinced me to run wire and catch rates were all I needed to see.
 
 

What does "no braid in flea season" mean?

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[Crestliner1850]

2 hours ago, Liberty Call said:

What does "no braid in flea season" mean?

It means that braid is the worst line to use in summer time when the water is warmer. Fleas are in abundance and they stick to braid badly. It's a must to use at lease 30 lb mono or as said above wire line. 

[Liberty Call]

Damn, I was gonna venture up for my first time in a few weeks, guess I best start changing line!! ....and best look into copper more closely

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[greenboatluke]

Damn, I was gonna venture up for my first time in a few weeks, guess I best start changing line!! ....and best look into copper more closely

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For your rigger rods, you can strip off enough line to put on 200’ or so of 30lbs test... just what you’ll drag through the water column while attached to your rigger. If it’s a diver set up, you’re going to want to go with wire.


- GBL

Puffer II: 1802 Trophy
Green Boat: 1966 Starcraft Mariner-V 14

[whaler1]

Doesn;t matter if you use a dipsey, slide diver, or Deeper Diver as long as you can dial it in and run consistently at 60-120 feet at 2.5+ speeds.  I run #5 chinook divers which are close to 2-1 on wire.
And if not using wire in summer, then you are checking your chart against 30lb mono (no braid in flea season) and see how much line out you need to stay that deep.
 
Lot of guys with way more experience than me convinced me to run wire and catch rates were all I needed to see.
 
 

I run 80lb braid and have no issues with fleas. I greatly prefer it over wire.


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[whaler1]

Mono sucks, crazy stretch. I can pop one off with the flick of the wrist and can run a full spool.



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[Crestliner1850]

18 hours ago, whaler1 said:

I run 80lb braid and have no issues with fleas

I always wondered if big diameter braid like 80lbs (whitch as about the same diameter then 30lbs mono) would have been ok. I should have asked the question and save some money

[dry net]

I run 90 lb braid on my diver rod and have never had a bad problem with fleas. Could be because I'm only there in August?

[KeithVT]

What size dodger/flasher should I be buying? On champ I run 00 luge Jensen metal dodgers but they are only 6 inches. I see 8 and 11 for sale in classifieds a lot, there are also tons of types any specific style I should buy as a first purchase?

[whaler1]

Spin Drs. Very speed forgiving.


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[relaxer]

8” spin doctors in double glow white, white green dot, chrome, two face are a couple to start with... but everyone has their own preferences.  Key is to run what you get comfortable with and find success.  

[nhjim]

ppe in mp6 size is on fire

[whaler1]

What is less than where and how

 

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[hard knox]

My ugly spoons keith lol