Spring Brown Trout on Chinook Divers 1/13

[Yankee Troller]

Who would have thought that 8-12' divers could save the day while Spring Brown Trout fishing in skinny water? For years it was all about "stealth" when fishing these fish. Well, here's the proof that these divers work. This is a technique that was started by a couple of Rochester captains, and since then it's been tested all over the South shore of Lake Ontario. If you don't have these in the water you're missing bites. Bites that come from right under your boat!

 

We like the #2 size Chinook Diver with about a 6' 15lb leader off the back of the diver. We set the diver to the setting that brings it away from the boat. On that setting you can match the line out on your counter to the depth of water you're in. In 10' of water let the diver out 10'.

 

 

 

[whaler1]

Love that!!

[Earl28]

Thank you for sharing. My outbound boat is parked in the back of the barn. I guess it time to get it out. 

[RD9]

About 5 to 6 years ago fishing out Olcott in April I was trying to catch coho with a mini red spiny and fly with a small dipsey off the side and I watched two fish swim up and miss the fly. Switched to a spoon and you could see both the diver and spoon while trolling. We took a handful of our biggest brown trout that weekend on small dipsey on three out 12 ft with a 10 ft leader running about 3 ft down. That night while visiting local establishments we were discussing catching browns like that in fairly clear water and how cool it was. Several fisherman in the same establishment basically told us we were full of it. Ever since we always had two divers out while trout fishing in tight. Last year we ran bigger jointed rapalas instead off spoons and caught some big browns on that setup.  I also have shorten my rigger leads and haven’t noticed a difference. 

[wishinfishin]

Been doing it. It works .
And it was a tip from yankee either at the salmon school couple years ago or on here cant remember.

Thanks

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[horsehunter]

4 hours ago, Yankee Troller said:

Who would have thought that 8-12' divers could save the day while Spring Brown Trout fishing in skinny water? For years it was all about "stealth" when fishing these fish. Well, here's the proof that these divers work. This is a technique that was started by a couple of Rochester captains, and since then it's been tested all over the South shore of Lake Ontario. If you don't have these in the water you're missing bites. Bites that come from right under your boat!

 

We like the #2 size Chinook Diver with about a 6' 15lb leader off the back of the diver. We set the diver to the setting that brings it away from the boat. On that setting you can match the line out on your counter to the depth of water you're in. In 10' of water let the diver out 10'.

 

 

 

 

I went to the Chinook Diver Site and didn't see sizing of the various divers what is the diameter and weight of a #2 . Also what setting were you running these on on this particular trip?

Thanks in advance

[shawn393]

I find this technique works well in boat traffic on pressured fish too

[Yankee Troller]

58 minutes ago, horsehunter said:

 

I went to the Chinook Diver Site and didn't see sizing of the various divers what is the diameter and weight of a #2 . Also what setting were you running these on on this particular trip?

Thanks in advance

 

https://chinookdiver.com/shop?olsPage=products

 

For this technique we like size 2, but I know guys running size 1.

[Legacy]

This setup is money!
For me I'm running braid setups. I'm using #1 divers with approx 12' leaders.
Prior to running Chinook divers I ran slide divers. This setup out performs slide divers 10 to 1.

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[RD9]

2 hours ago, Legacy said:

This setup is money!
For me I'm running braid setups. I'm using #1 divers with approx 12' leaders.
Prior to running Chinook divers I ran slide divers. This setup out performs slide divers 10 to 1.

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Is it me but I have tried slide divers for years and believe a regular diver has always out preformed the slide diver.  I no longer own a single slide diver. 

[whaler1]

For me, completely the opposite.


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[Fat Trout]

17 minutes ago, RD9 said:

Is it me but I have tried slide divers for years and believe a regular diver has always out preformed the slide diver.  I no longer own a single slide diver. 

If I understand the chinook diver setup described on this thread (and others) its a different animal. But for slide diver vs regular its all about lead length and each will have its advantage.  Where there is no contest is in not having a sufficient crew (especially solo).  Running a regular diver solo with a long lead is problematic.  Running solo a lot slide divers make divers a reality for me.  I get bit plenty on slide divers.  Originally when in a multi person boat before I realized lead length mattered I learned the difference between a 6 ft lead (and no or minimal bites) and a 12' lead.   With a slide diver I can go out to 25+ which I prefer.  

Back to the Chinook diver which I understand to be a really short lead behind the boat, I have to believe that is water clarity dependent.  I fish east and clear water is the norm or at least frequent.  However I like the idea of a choked up short presentation when I know I have color to work with.  

Edited January 17, 2020 by Fat Trout

[GAMBLER]

34 minutes ago, RD9 said:

Is it me but I have tried slide divers for years and believe a regular diver has always out preformed the slide diver.  I no longer own a single slide diver. 

Slide divers have their days but this video proves people run too long of leads on slide divers!

[Roys Boys]

Fished with Andy last spring 5 outta 8 kings came off chinook divers, only 20-30ft of line out, pretty cool seeing a king smash it 15 ft in back of the boat

[iiwhistlerii]

40 minutes ago, Fat Trout said:

If I understand the chinook diver setup described on this thread (and others) its a different animal. But for slide diver vs regular its all about lead length and each will have its advantage.  Where there is no contest is in not having a sufficient crew (especially solo).  Running a regular diver solo with a long lead is problematic.  Running solo a lot slide divers make divers a reality for me.  I get bit plenty on slide divers.  Originally when in a multi person boat before I realized lead length mattered I learned the difference between a 6 ft lead (and no or minimal bites) and a 12' lead.   With a slide diver I can go out to 25+ which I prefer.  

Back to the Chinook diver which I understand to be a really short lead behind the boat, I have to believe that is water clarity dependent.  I fish east and clear water is the norm or at least frequent.  However I like the idea of a choked up short presentation when I know I have color to work with.  

Clear water, dirty water, I've had them be smoking hot in both situations but it seems they've been best when I have schools of baitfish around.   "The butcher" shower me the chinook diver tactic a few years back after using them on the yankee.  They've been smoking fish for me ever since.  In musky fishing we call it "the cone of disturbance theory"  part of the theory is keeping baits just outside the prop wash disturbance so they keep getting knocked to the side by the wash.  We've proven this to be a trigger over and over again even to the point where the rod on the kicker side will take 4 out of 5 hits at times.  The other part of the theory and it really holds true in shortline musky fishing is that the prop wash is actually what's attracting these fish.  These fish are used to boats and when we blast through schools of baitfish we mix up water and leave stunned and injured baitfish in our wake.  These fish have learned to key in on and actually feed in the wash and pick off the easy prey.  It's amazing how hot those wash rods can be even when you have the exact same baits the same distance back on a board and itll go untouched or have the same spoon on a rigger down 4 feet with a 50 ft lead and never get a sniff but the chinook back 7 is getting chowed non stop.  Theres something to being right in or just outside that prop wash.  For those who havent tried it, try it.

[Sk8man]

The Chinook divers are  nice in the skinny water because of less resistance and easy one hand depth adjustment, but other small sized divers will work well with 6-8 ft leads too. It isn't just on Lake O either. I've used them that way since the late seventies or early eighties on the Finger Lakes and have had the best luck with smaller light flutter spoons on them for lakers, browns, and landlocks (usually the rainbows are more difficult to locate in the early Spring). My dad even caught a money fish in the Seneca Derby with one of my home made spoons way back on them. Although the setup works best in marginally cloudy water they will hit if actively feeding in the clear stuff too. The thing I have found funny is that it is frequently mentioned that browns are line shy and adversely react to motor noise and depth finder pinging yet in the shallows in the Spring you can throw that theory out the window when they are actively feeding. Sometimes we forget that they are "opportunists" and "scavengers" and I have had the best luck lowering the diver til it hits bottom then raising it a couple feet off and the outside diver usually takes the hit on turns.

[horsehunter]

As I have never seen a Chinook Diver how do they differ from dipsey's ,deeper divers, walkers or slide divers that I'm familiar with. I've been looking a bit on line and see some pictures but no real reference to diameters or weights of the various sizes.

[Sk8man]

I think the sizes range from #1-5 with 1 being the smallest.  They differ from the conventional plastic divers (e.g. Luhr Jensen etc. in that they are metal divers and they offer much less resistance in the water yet are capable of excellent depth penetration. They operate much the same in terms of setup as the conventional plastic divers rather than as a slide diver so unless you are into hand lining fish to the net I have found it productive to limit length of lead to a little shorter than rod length especially if fishing solo.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Sk8man

[Yankee Troller]

I think the sizes range from #1-5 with 1 being the smallest.  They differ from the conventional plastic divers (e.g. Luhr Jensen etc. in that they are metal divers and they offer much less resistance in the water yet are capable of excellent depth penetration. They operate much the same in terms of setup as the conventional plastic divers rather than as a slide diver so unless you are into hand lining fish to the net I have found it productive to limit length of lead to a little shorter than rod length especially if fishing solo.

Sk8man is correct. They offer less resistance and seem to dive better. I brought them on a buddy's boat and ran it on one side vs his regular diver on his side. He couldn't compete. Could it have been the day? Sure, but others have seen the same results. I've also noticed when running the larger versions on wire they create a vibration in the tip.

I'd like to mention this side in the video was where my kicker was running. What's even more impressive is that the side exhaust on my Trojan doesn't even scare these fish. My diver is more or less right in that loud exhaust.

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[fishinfreak]

Are these run-on mono or wire for Browns

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[UNREEL]

You probably could run mono, 20-30lb?,  because of the short leads. Trying to release any dipsey with longer leads would be difficult or impossible because of line stretch. Braid or wire is the preferred way to go.

[Yankee Troller]

Typically, I run it on 30 lb braid. On this particular day I ran it on a rod that had 15 lb monofilament. One thing you want to make sure of is that you have a medium light action rod. Eight and a half to nine foot seems to be best.

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[ontherise]

Any shops in town sell those sons a ****es?

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[GAMBLER]

3 minutes ago, ontherise said:

Any shops in town sell those sons a ****es?

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MItchels has them.  Not sure what he has in stock right now. Call him first.  He is usually at the Genesee Charter Association flea market also.  He is also at the Niagara show this weekend. 

[ifishy]

South Bay also carries them in general a decent trollers selection

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