anonymous

The small red, orange and yellow Spin Doctors have done well for me along with the dodgers mentioned above.

I have the 3 rod trees from Great Lakes Planers and love them. Cheapest place I have found is Falcon Outdoors on Ebay.

Pink and gold Thinfish work well along with green, silver and orange Tadpollys along with the baits already mentioned.

I thought I was fine with manuals and definitely was until I went with someone else with electrics and got to use them. If you find a deal on Big Jon electrics, I would not hesitate to get them. I have not dealt with other brands service departments, but based on feedback from others and my own limited experience with them, they are second to none. I have used Cannon, Big Jon and Walker manuals and would recommend any of them if that is the way you choose to go. Keep shopping and good luck.

I have not done alot of this and would like some tips because I would like to give it a try as soon as I can get out this spring. I know alot of the basic lures, but do most people start on the shallow bars and move out if nothing happens, or just keep on the beach and look for warmer water. Also, what port is the best bet from St Joe to Grand Haven? What speeds are good? Thanks for the help!

Yes, Mark Chmura is the guy using torpedo divers. His tips are available on You Tube. Something I did in St Joe a few years ago when nothing was happening shallow was use an 8 oz snap weight 6" in front of a mag dipsy on braid. We heard someone on the radio say they were scoring in 180 to 200 ft. Anybody who has fished St Joe knows that is a ways out there. We went out there and saw the boats about the time we started marking fish in the bottom 40 feet. I had read an article recommending this by Mike Veine in Mid West Outdoors earlier. Before trying it, the only thing I had working were deep riggers and the dipsies started going once we got them deep enough. I wrote a reference note that on the way in the dipsies rubbed bottom in 150' with 253' of line out at 2.2 mph. I don't use that presentation unless I want to get really deep but it works.

I have used spiderwire stealth 50# on my divers with no regrets. I am buying a bulk spool so I can replace my mono backing on copper for the reasons mentioned above.

I agree with this reply. One other thing to mention is that you could use the the shorter lead/copper as a secret weapon rig (SWR) on a rigger for a different look. All of the lengths listed above are killers for steelhead by themselves and with the weight added and the right boards you can get deep if needed. I have a lot of copper combos that I bring to the lake and in a 20 footer, I am starting to run out of room. The add on weights can do alot when you only have a few rods.

A j-11 orange/gold rapala 100' behind a board. I usually run 1/4 ounce of weight 6 ft in front of it, but sometimes no weight or more weight is needed, let the fish tell you what they want. The weight not only gets the lure down a few more feet, but it catches alot of crap that will otherwise slide down the line and foul the lure. I only run the rear hook, which I change to a larger treble than the stock one, I have had the front hooks foul on the line and nothing is more discouraging than pulling in a useless fouled lure and wondering how long it has been that way. I can't wait to get back out there!

I agree on diver deployment methods mentioned earlier. For long lines such as cores and copper, triple rod trees from Great Lakes Planers have made deploying multiple long lines much easier on the two boats I fish on regularly. In-line boards are better for running different depths than a mast system IMO. Mount them on your gunnel forward of your diver rod holders. For deploying them, I let them out down the center and let them back far enough to clear anything inside of where they will run before engaging the reel and letting the board pull to the outside.

If boats are packed up when the bite slows, try inside or outside of them. Alot of times when the pack breaks up and heads deep later in the morning, you can head back to a productive area after giving it a little break and pick up some more fish by adjusting the spread as mentioned by earlier posts.

Since it looks like a second spoon is allowed, I also would have to mention watermelon. Whether it is a Moonshine glow spoon or any of the other patterns, it has put alot of fish in our coolers.

Great thread. Make mine a Stinger Natural Born Killer (green). It works on any presentation I use.

100 ft of 45# copper with a mixed veggie or a double orange crush spoon caught alot of fish for me in the past.

Does anybody out there have any experience with the Cannon Tilt-Up Bracket that they offer for their downriggers? Any feedback would be appreciated.

I have also had alot of success with Lyman Lures, don't be afraid of trying them especially if you can find a closeout. Their glow patterns are good options in low light and the wonderbread is a good one around the piers.

J Plugs can be good any time, anywhere. Alot of people just don't use them that often. Pay attention to what size spoons are working and try to match that up with the J Plug size you are using. I have had instances where a certain color spoon is working and I don't have any more but used a similar color J Plug and had success. Your silver patterns can be a very good thing on lead or copper during high light periods.

I use a 2lb ball occasionally in a 6 rod spread in place of a dipsy if I can't get them to go and lead or copper is working. It makes a good stealth presentation as you can use infinite lead lengths. You can also get deeper than a dipsy with this rig. You might be better off going with the new directional torpedo diver because it has even less resistance, meaning less set back and more depth. There is no reason that a 1 or 1.5# ball won't work for this, you just get more set back as you go lighter.

Went 7 for 10 Sat. am, 4 steelhead and 3 kings. All caught in 170 to 200ft north of port. 2 kings on riggers 35 and 40ft down, watermelon standard and mixed veggie magnum spoons. 1 king and 1 knock off 170 down on rigger, standard carmel dolphin spoon. 4 for 5 on steelhead on 100ft 45# copper with standard mixed veggie spoon. 0 for 1 on steelhead 50ft 45# copper, goldilocks standard spoon. 60 deg surface temp everywhere, coldest water we found was 170ft down at 52 deg, we were using 10# balls so there was alot of set back. GPS speed 2.5 to 3.2, down speed was 2.0 to 2.6. NW to North troll was by far best.

Either one of those trips are possible on a good day. I have done both and it can happen. I think Saugatuck is closer to South Haven, but I have trolled to St Joe within sight of the pier a few times and had plenty of time to troll back if we desired to. I need that lake bad right now, I have been stuck in Minnesota for the last two weeks. Hope to see you all out there this weekend, weather permitting.

The plugs do dive a little, they are shown Romanacks trolling guide, but they have to be out a long ways to go down like 8 feet so the amount they dive on a slider would be minimal.

Great to here you guys are doing good. I just got back from working in Texas and needed to here news like this. Thanks for the info.

Run glow lures on your riggers and divers early, and don't feel you have to go to the shelf early am to get fish. If you mark them before that, fish them. Don't be afraid to switch lure types and sizes on all your delivery systems until you find what is right. Check with Instalaunch for a report and keep that in mind as well. Good luck!

I agree 100% with everbody else here. It also helps to have the driver steer the boat to keep everything straight back while deploying any long line to avoid tangles.

I used the Ram Rod 2000 plastics for three years on my previous boat with no problems. I now have Capt. Berts ratcheting aluminum holders for divers and Great Lakes Planers 3 tube trees for boards and I highly recommend both. I have experienced Scotty plastics on two different boats I have been on and would not take a set if given to me. Whether used on divers or board lines, they would work their way up and swivel towards the back on their own. The remedy was to run screws thru the base into the stem of the holder to hold them in place.