wingnut

Thanks for your honest opinions on the riggers and weights.

Looks like a mixed bag of opinions on the BJ riggers. I think the gadabouts were cheaper than the captains pack, with the captains pack having more cable on the spool. Could be other differences I don't know about though as is usually the case when you get what you pay for. What would you guys recommend for weights?

I'm looking at buying my first downriggers and I'm looking at the Big Jon Gadabout riggers. I like the Idea that they are made In Michigan and the booms are made of aluminum verses the plastic on the Cannons, Although I have used the cannons on My boat with no problems. Are these decent riggers to start out with and What weight and shape balls should I get.

It would be Interesting to see how the blood run wire stacks up. I think you would have to have the Identical testing to get an apples to apples comparison though.

Thanks for all the replies and sorry It took me so long to reply, Just got back in town. I'll take your advice and use flouro from a bulk spool for my leaders.

Is it worth while to use line that is labeled leader material for my leaders or would line that is on a bulk spool that I used for my backer work for leaders as well?

For my wire misadventure I removed the spro swivel and joined the two halves with the Albright knot. After practicing the knot with SS wire I found that If I made the ten wraps tight and close together they cinched up just like mono. My plan Is to use the wire until It gets shortened enough that I start seeing that knot come out, then I'll cut the knot out and still be able to use the second half of my spool.

I'm also Interested in finding a good way to join SS wire. After spooling a 1000' of 30# on loose, I tried to unspool so I could wind it back on under tension. That's when things got bad, It uncoiled on me making one heck of a mess and ended with me having to cut the line where it started to fray, almost in half. I used the half hitch and the overhand knot on a Spro heavy duty swivel to join the two halves but the swivel hangs up on the rod tip. It's a 20 to 50 pound rod so the tip doesn't bend as much as a 12# to 27# copper rod.

I was suprised when the Knot wars people compared the Palomar knot with the Trilene knot and found they were both equal on mono and flouro, the Palomar did edge out the Trilene on braid though to give it the strongest overall rating between the two.

Just finished spooling with the 32# copper and the Spro heavy duty #3's. They go through the reels line guide with no problem at all.

I've been reading this post with Interest since I'm just setting up this year for copper line fishing myself. I bought two new Okuma clarion reels , I'm assuming they have the wide mouth line guides. The opening in the line guide is .124 " at the top and .159" at the bottom. The Spro heavy duty #3 swivel measures .120". That looks pretty tight to me but I have no experience whatsoever with this set up. I hope someone that uses this set up can post about using this combination and possibly let me know if the line guides that came with these reels are the wide line guides or if I need to upgrade to wider line guides. The #3 heavy duty swivel looks tiny to me, Is there a smaller Dia. swivel with enough # test that would be better.

That sounds like a good Idea with the surgical tube, I'm new to fishing with wire but I take it the wire will probably want to uncoil if not kept taut. Would a 4" length aquarium hose work.

Thanks for posting the pics, nice up close shots. I'll use them for a reference.

Check out the Reel fill calculator at the top of the page. You can change the amount of backer and power pro to come up with the right combination for you.

I thought with the copper tied to the swivel (#3 Spro heavy duty)It would be easier to change lengths of copper for different depths and for retying from the planer board release wear on the mono backer. I'm starting out with two copper rigs this year (my first) and if I'm marking fish at 40' and I'm set up with 300' of copper fishing at 60', my plan is to take the 300' section off and put a 200' section on. I read an article in the woods and water news on fishing with copper and one method of tying the copper to mono used shrink wrap to lock down the haywire twist. The theory with the shrink wrap is that if the wire cannot start to unwravel it will stay wrapped tight.My plan is to have swivels tied on pre cut lengths so changing out would be easy. If the fishing with copper is productive for me I'm sure next year I'll have more copper rigs. There was a charter captain that made video's of different tips and tricks but I think I saw it on an older post and can't find it again. I thought I would cut cost on the stainless and split a 1000' spool between the two reels.That's why I would need to tie the stainless to mono backer, I think the blood run site recommends using mono as a backer for stainless wire. The half hitch with an overhand knot is what I'm planing on using for the swivel thats connected to the diver.

Just got my copper wire from blood run today and can't find the video of one of the captains tying the copper to a spro heavy duty swivel. It seems to make the connection stronger if the line is looped through the eye twice on some knots and was wondering if It would be better to loop the wire through the swivel twice then do the haywire twist. Also does anyone know what size shrink tube works on 32# with the haywire twist. Another question is which knot would be best for tying 30# mono to 30# stainless wire, would an Improved Albright work with the stainless? I have two Tekota 500's that I thought I would split the thousand feet on after putting on the mono backer.

I'm just starting out with wire this year myself and after the recomendations on this board I went with the Okuma classic pro GLT, CP-CL862M rods for the copper. For the SS wire rods I wanted to stay away from roller rods and go with rods with guide rings that would stand up to wire use so I went with Daiwa Saltist wire line rods STE 70 XHW 20 to 50 LB rods. 20 to 50 LBS Is probably overkill but I wanted somethig that would pull mag divers without an Issue. The Daiwa's were pricey at $125 but you get what you pay for.

I'm just setting up 2 rods for copper this year (first time using copper) I planned to start with 300' of 32LB. How much line should I let out past the copper before I clip on the board.

Optronics makes a set of LED lights labeled dock and mooring lights for about $100. They claim you can see the light reflect off DOT reflective tape at 500 yds. That sounds pretty bright to me. They also have SS hardware and aluminum casings. I'm suprised about the diodes burning out on the LED lights, I thought that was supposed to be their strong point. With the low operating temp I thought they would last for a very long time. I do have a pair of Led lights mounted on the gunnel to light up the deck that I end up replacing about every other year but I suspect the cheap switch, they're not expensive lights.

Good tips and advise, thanks for sharing your knowledge and know how. I'm sure It will help me put more fish in the boat this year.

Musser, I think that the LED lights have such a low amp draw that they don't get hot at all. I used a single halogen light plugged into a dual 12 volt outlet adaptor that also had the GPS plugged into it. I think that it was too much draw for a 12 volt plug in because it did get hot. My salmon fishing outfit is a work in progress. With a rocket launcher or a hard top I would mount and wire the lights permanently with a switch but with the bimini top and me being a part time salmon fisherman I'm leaning toward clamp on lights and the 12 volt plug. The single halogen didn't spread the light wide enough to see the rod tips on each side of the boat but with one on each side they might even shine enough light to see the boards with the reflective tape. Thanks for the tape Idea also. With the fish coming up in the water column to shallower depths at night should I be running with the lights off and turn them on occasionaly for a check.

Does any one use LED spot / floodlights to light the back of the boat for night fishing? I'd like to keep the amp, draw low to prevent any problems with heat building up at connections and drawing too much juice from the batteries. Ideally I'd like to set up with a small spot / flood on each side mounted to my bimini top rails. The LED lights I googled were way too high priced starting at around $75 and going up in the hundreds. Thanks for your replys

I've got a Cabelas and a BPS wthin a half hour but near lake erie, not much call for them. Neither one of the big shops list them on their web-site either. Is the 553LS a new model, It seems to be made for copper line trolling.

Tony, I didn't know you sold reels too. I'd like to put one of these reels in my hands and check them out before I buy them, you're over on the west side of the state aren't you?

Where is a good place to buy these reels (CLR-553LS ). Over here on the east side of the state I'm having a hard time finding them. These seem like they would be good reels for copper wire line fishing, wide line guide, large line capacity and a fast line retrieve ratio.