its an addiction

I was kinda thinking some of you guys were crazy for having 20+ set ups on the boat, and then I realized you probably fish 9 or 12 lines, while I'm on a 16 footer and only fish six lines.

I have;

2 mono rigger

2 braid dipseys

1-2color

1-3color

1-5color

1-7color

1-10color

1-300' 45 copper

I use dive bombs on the different lengths of leadcore if need be to reach a certain depth.

I put masking tape on the top of the foam and just wrote what number lead it was on with a sharpie. After that I put clear packing tape over it to waterproof it.

I've got 8'6" Daiwa Firewolf M action rod with a Daiwa Accudepth 27LC right now. I plan on updating the 27's to okuma CV30's. I also run 20lb mono at all times.

The light line setups I could see being fun from time to time to fight big fish on light line with light action rods, but to me I want to get that fish in as quick as I can and not have to play him out for 20 minutes because I'm using 12lb test. I always want to be able to crank down on the drag and control that fish if I have to and be able to try to turn his head when he's going the wrong way.

Maybe for early season coho action I could see 12lb test, but not in the later parts of the season.

JMO, but I'm not pro.

Lots of good information guys. I appreciate all that took the time to respond to my inquiry. I think I'll just hold onto the wire divers and pick up some rods for them in a couple months for the deeper summer fishing, which ones I do not know but I like the idea of having a rod with the guides that won't be damaged by the wire instead of messing with a roller rod.

As per my previous thread regarding what's the big deal with wire line, I am ready to make the switch over to wire for my dipseys but I have one thing holding me back. I don't think I want to switch over to wire if i have to buy two new rods, because all of the designated wire rods seem to cost a lot, at least to me and I've been trying to really up my savings.

So, what I want to know is what rod do you use for your wire dipseys, and what is the best copper rod for the money?

I currently run 10'6" Daiwa Heartlands Dipsey Rods.

Not familiar at all, but you could fish the maumee river. I know it can be hectic but if you are close enough to catch it on a weeknight it might not be too crowded.

How in the world would it shut down the downrigger bite? Sometimes I think people over analyze fishing, and don't realize we are fishing after FISH that have a brain the size of a pea.

Anyways, I appreciate all of the replies guys, and I'm nearly certain I'm going to use the PP to replace some mono backing on my leadcore reels.

I'd say if your fishing Salmon you don't need to worry about a release as it's easy to tell when a fish is on. Drag screams or it doesn't. Walleye, different story.

2003 SmokerCraft 161 Stinger. Not as big or nice as I dreamed, but it gets the job done!

I tie cranks and body baits, but spoons i will use a coastlock swivel.

Thanks for the replies guys. One thing I don't understand that I've heard quite often regarding these types of questions is that wire dives deeper and cuts the water better than braid. It seems like the 7strand wire has a diameter of .015" and that 30PP has a diameter of .011".

So how does it dive deeper and cut the water better when it has a larger diameter of 30lb Power Pro? Is it because of it's material make up being wire and made of metal that it is heavier???

I'm starting to think I might change one to wire and leave another to Power Pro and see what happens.

I purchased two Okuma CV30D from an online retailer and when they arrived yesterday they were spooled up with wire. This wasn't what I paid for nor what I wanted since I was upgrading my downrigger reels from small Daiwa Accudepth 27LCs to these CV30's.

Now I don't know what to do, because I have all the other Leadcore and Copper and Dipsey set ups I want. So, I'm debating on selling the CV30's with the wire, or fishing it and stripping off my Power Pro on my dipsey reels and replacing with mono to now use as my downrigger reels.

I wanna know, What's the big deal with wire and should I switch over my Power Pro dipseys to Wire?

Keep in mind I run a 16' boat with one other person 95% of the time, so only 6 rods at a time are used and do not want to run two dipseys on a side.

Generally, for me it seems to be the brighter the color the better for the coho. Orange, Purple, Green, Red, Pink.

There are two launches in St. Joe. One on the Benton Harbor side of the river and one on the St. Joe side. I haven't used the one on the Benton Harbor side, but the one on the St. Joe side takes a credit card and cost $5 a day I believe. Maybe a couple bucks more. It's off of Anchors way and Anchors ct. by Brian's marina.

What a shame. hopefully we can all learn from this as far as small boats going out in freezing cold temperatures. It's a different story when the water is 70 degress but not in the 30's.

Hope the family is also able to cope with such a sudden catastrophe.

Will be getting out as soon as the ice is gone. whether it's an inland lake, lake erie for walleye or new buffalo for coho and browns. can't wait!

Great thread and tutorial. I'm an owner of a handful of Magda's and Convector's. In order to do the upgrade I need the carbonex drag washers, reel oil for the bearings, and cal's drag grease for the drag washers?

Is there anything else that I might be missing before I place an order?

It's not necessary to replace any of the metal washers is it? It didn't look like it but just want to clarify.

And sorry if I hijacked your thread eliminator.

Gosh I love this site! Such a wealth of information. Thanks guys.

Welcome to the site! I have learned a ton from this site. Same as ssplook, i fish out of a small 16' Smokercraft and also have to choose my days wisely.

That's a good combo you mentioned from Northwoods. If it was me I would have gotten the convector 30 from Northwoods, but i would have ordered some daiwa Wilderness rods. You could get the Daiwa Wilderness 8'6" M action for 14.95 plus shipping from Fishusa.com. shipping is only 5.95 i think from fishusa.

Unlike fishing with a rod in hand for gills/perch/walleye the sensitivity is not cruicial with salmon. I've had a lot of time with these rods and they handle just fine so far for me.

I thought gill/perch/walleye rods and tackle was expensive. Once i broke into Salmon gear it's become one costly habit. Dipseys, downriggers, leadcore, copper, big reels, spoons, flashers, flies. lol. It all pays off as soon as you get a screamer on the line and your forearm hurts soo bad you want to pass the rod off to your partner.

good luck with your quest on appropriate fishing gear. I can say if you can do anything get the most you can afford. I've been in the process of updating my accupdeth 27lc and my magda 30's since the first season in 08.

Yup. I ice fish almost every weekend and I still got it. Nothing beats a nice spring day out in the boat.

Well that makes sense then. Thanks for enlightening me on the subject. I'm not worried about dragging shakers since like you said we have mainly big fish, and also I only fish six lines with my partner and we are always checking and changing up until fish start hitting.

I understand that with the chamberlain releases you can crank down on the rod to remove some of the bow in the downrigger line so you don't have so much slack to reel in when it releases and still have a light release. My question is why do you want a light release on the lure end? I'm talking for Salmon as well.

My thinking is you would want a tight or strong release on the back so when the fish bites it has some resistance to pull the hook deep into the fish's mouth. With a light release wouldn't it be releasing as soon as it hit? A lot of times with mine I see the rod bounce a few times before it releases, or sometimes it doesn't release at all, and we just yank up and it releases and reel reel reel.

Am I in the wrong to have them set tight so where they don't release on the initial hit?

Sounds like a great morning Robert. Good work.

Thanks for the report. I'm going to try to get over to that area this weekend if the winds will cooperate.

I got the insulated waders from cabela's and like them. The boots are attached. I chose insulated because most of the time I fish the rivers are in the spring and fall. If i go in the summer, I'm the guy in gym shorts and ol raggity tennis shoes.

This was the 2nd season with the cabela's waders and they are great so far.

I hope it's not too late for my input.

First off, let me say I am no expert with river salmon and steelhead, but am an experienced angler on the river, considering I grew up on one. But, I have tangled with my fair share of river steelhead/salmon.

Let's start with the terminal tackle. One of the most important items in my mind. I would advise only using the top of the line hooks, swivels, and line when going after the salmon and steelhead. For hooks, I like to use size 2-6 octupus style by gamakatsu or mustad. It will vary with what you have on the hook. I use a lot of wobble glo's and spawn.

Line, I like to use power pro. I like it's great line diameter to strength ratio. The thin line cuts through the water better than mono and allows me differentiate better between rocks and bites when drift fishing. I use 15lb and a leader of anywhere from 6-8lb fluoro.

For your rod it depends a lot on what you want to fish with. If you intend to drift fish with spawn and wobble glo's, or cast small inline spinners you can go with a light weight rod. If you are going to end up on the piers casting 3/4oz to 1oz spoons or big cranks you would want a M weight rod. If you intend to both, I would say M or ML would suit a wide range of baits.

Also, I stop at Lunker's frequently in Edwardsburg, and every time I tell myself not to go back. Their stock selection is a lot of times scarce, and their prices are too high. I would advise finding the rod you like in the store, and save yourself twenty bucks by ordering the same rod online.

I hope I have helped, and let us know what you end up with.