Dipsy divers

[porkpiehat]

Small dipseys work will with spoons, worm harnesses, and thin body baits.
Lures that aren't too erratic and will track somewhat straight.

Good luck.
Mac

Great info, thanks! I got to say I'm self taught fishing and boating, with little chance to learn from going out with others. These forums are very useful in helping me to be an effective angler before I'm too old to get in and out of a boat.

[fishegg]

OK, phase two, going to pick up a second down rigger. Looking for opinions on brands. Sticking with manual and looking at the Cannon Unitroll 10 right now. Any Big Jon users out there? Down to those two.

Anyone have experience with Chamberlain releases? Don't mind conventional releases but was looking at those as an option to setting up for lighter settings on smaller fish.

Thank you

[Seahunt]

You won't find a better, easy to use terminal release than the Chamberlains for "our" kind of fish.
Roemer's are excellent releases also after you learn how to set them up.

I've never used a BJ manual, so I'm reserving comment on the riggers.   

[dickbaker]

I have two Big Jon  "big water" manual riggers.  They have large spools which actually gives them a faster retrieve than an electric?
I have so many Roemer releases that its too late to consider a new brand?  I've never considered to hard to use, but I was trained by a Lake Ontario Charter Captn?
Dick

[Seahunt]

I have two Big Jon  "big water" manual riggers.  They have large spools which actually gives them a faster retrieve than an electric?

That's not how it works!  
At least some of us on here are still learning, so some clarification is in order.
Large spools that have large arbors and equal amounts of same sized cable are an advantage, but it takes a lot of manual RPM's to keep up with a decent electric rigger motor.
Regardless of where that story came from and how many frosted donuts you eat, You won't catch up to an electric rigger on the retrieve, especially when you're down deep.
If you have one of the high speed Cannons or a Scotty, you can bring it up, change the spoon and have it back down while the other guy with the manual is catching his breath during the initial retrieve.

Hate to think of it but one month would be just about the right amount of time to loosen lugs that hadn't been correctly tightened at time of purchase.

That's not how any of this works???

How many trips and how many miles per trip, per week or month led you to this assumption???  

[Mac Attack]

Regardless of where that story came from and how many frosted donuts you eat, You won't catch up to an electric rigger on the retrieve, especially when you're down deep.
If you have one of the high speed electric Cannons or a Scotty, you can bring it up, change the spoon and have it back down while the other guy with the manual is catching his breath during the initial retrieve.

I agree 100%

I have used downriggers since back in the late 70's.
All kinds.
Prefer electrics..........STRONGLY!
But now have manuals on my boat.
(Wish they were electric)
We fish Erie for eyes and I rarely lower them past 100' and most of the time they go down somewhere between 50-80'.
Still, crank them up from from any depth greater than 50' and you get tired.
Those last 20-30' you slow the hello down.
And at the end of the day, if you did it a few dozen times, you gutz a sore arm.
If you have 2 riggers, it's twice the pain.
Forget about 4 or 6 riggers.

I'm selling the boat in 3-4 yrs when I retire and move to Florida.
So I'll suffer and not upgrade to electrics.

Unless someone out there wants to swap me even for a pair of Cannons with 4-6' booms.
 


Mac

[porkpiehat]

I'd like to know if they make chamberlain releases that tether away from the cable. Attaching to the cable was causing snags, so I switched to the Scotty releases that have a length of wire or mono for some distance

[Seahunt]

I'd like to know if they make chamberlain releases that tether away from the cable. Attaching to the cable was causing snags, so I switched to the Scotty releases that have a length of wire or mono for some distance

No.
Chamberlains attach directly to the cable. If you tried to tether them, I'm pretty sure your main line would not set in the release angle as needed. They need to be attached at both ends to something to work properly.

Attaching the chamberlain to the cable was not the cause of your snags.
Where it was attached may have been if you were using blades?
If you could give specifics on how you tried the chamberlain, where your line was snagged or wrapped etc. maybe we could help.

[fishegg]

Seahunt, I would be interested in hearing how you set up a vertical or horizontal flasher. My plan right now is to attach the chamberlain as intended, right to ball from cable.

How would you run flashers in that set up with out getting a tangle?

Thanks

[Mac Attack]

Seahunt, I would be interested in hearing how you set up a vertical or horizontal flasher. My plan right now is to attach the chamberlain as intended, right to ball from cable.

How would you run flashers in that set up with out getting a tangle?

Thanks

One way is to attach the flasher onto the tail of your cannonball.
(ours have an eye bolt on the tail)
Then attach your release above the ball about 6-12".
This will provide enough separation between the flasher and the release.

[fishegg]

But the chamberlains appear to attach directly to the ball, so that wouldnt be that far above the ball??

[zwiggles]

Get a chamberlain stacker release, and then run it above the flasher.

[Mac Attack]

Get a chamberlain stacker release, and then run it above the flasher.

Yup!

Or, add a short 6-12" cable (with a heavy duty snap swivel and each end) below your chamberlain and then to the ball.

[fishlessman]

ive never run the release that close to the ball, more like 3 feet. do you find it makes that much difference. would be a nightmare on my boat trying to get it setup that close

[zwiggles]

ive never run the release that close to the ball, more like 3 feet. do you find it makes that much difference. would be a nightmare on my boat trying to get it setup that close

I usually run mine about the same with flashers on. I started running them right on the ball, and did notice a big uptick when I ran them about 3' above th flasher. This is probably attributable to the fact that I was seeing more tangles than fish when they are set up right next to each other. I have always felt like the salmon see the flasher as a school of fish, and when the lure/fly is running just behind and above the flasher that the fish would see it as walking and an easy meal.