wingnut

I don't have any painted yet but am planing to paint some spoons for the up comming season. Powder paint with an airbrush is going to be my MO. Here is a sample of some Ice jigs I finished recently. Very happy with the ease of use and the finished product. TJ's tackle has a video of airbrushing spoons with powder. Nice even coat of paint, color shading and a durable finish.

Thanks for the update on tips and guides and I think your right about the sharp radius getting caught on the knotts. the Reading through some old posts several people sounded as though they liked the torpedo tips. The pic I looked at showed a small guide just behind the roller. I remember you experimenting with that Idea to keep the line from jumping out of the roller. Yea I haven't actually seen the saltist rod myself either, not much saltwater gear over here on the east side of the state. My thought on the copper rod guides is pretty much the same, when the knots and swivels start banging through the guides under some serious tension the guide inserts will be the first to get knocked out. The American tackle ring lock guides with the frame that wraps around the ring look like a good option for copper rods.

Tangled mess I'm sure you are right about keeping it simple with one length of copper. It was recommended on an earlier post that I should use 40 lb. as a backer. It seemed the extra 10 lb. would be good insurance if I've got room on the 800. Is Ande the brand that you would use for a backer?

Thanks for the wire rod explanation Tony. I remember you doing research on wire divers a couple years ago and posting on RBO. Is the torpedo tip the one to go with, if I remember right you would use the twilly tips but man are they ugly LOL. I hate to think how much the SN guides are because the sic's are pricey. Diawa makes what looks to be a good rod for wire, the saltist I think It's the STE 72C.

Thanks for the explanation on the power pro, that makes sense now. I think I'll have enough capacity on the 800's using 40LB mono, but I haven't used the calculator yet.

What I had in mind to join the two copper lengths was, quality swivel at the ends and joined by a 3x split ring. The ring measures 7mm and rated at 90 LB. Should make adding on easy. I'd like to set up with more copper but I'm adding two wire divers this year also so theres only so much I can do at one time. I'd like to use my 500 tekotas for the wire. I have more questions about using wire also. If I use mag divers on wire, what rating would the rod need to be. I'm guessing 20 to 50 about 7' long with silicone carbide guides and a torpedo tip.

300 should put me at about 60' that sounds about right. It seems like it would be less trouble to use mono as the backer connecting to a quality swivel then the copper. When the planer board release wears the mono it could be easily, and probably a lot more often be cut back and retied. In a lot of old posts It's recommended to use power pro as the backer then a length of mono for the board release.

I wouldn't fill the reel to capacity, leaving room for the add on if needed. It sounds like I would be further ahead to add weight or one of the dive bombs, to gain the extra depth. If you only had two reels on the boat with copper (ME) what lengths of 30LB copper would you set up with. I'll likely be fishing out of ludington, late summer.

I'd like to start off by Introducing myself, my name is Steve and I have limited experience salmon fishing but I can tell you I am hooked. I'd like to set up two rods with copper line for 2011. I'll be putting the 30 LB copper line on Tekota 800's. From reading old posts it sounds like I don't need line counters for the copper, just spool enough copper on the reel to get down to a set depth by using the copper line sink rate chart. If I'm fishing 40' down and the fish are at 60' Would it be possible to change depth by adding another section of copper end to end while on the boat by having a pre measured length of copper ready to attach? What line rating, power rating should I look for in the rod to pull copper?