Dipsy Divers

[Azrael]

I’m thinking about picking up a Dipsy Diver to use on a deep water lake I fish often. I’ve heard these are the things to go to when the waters flat. I don’t have any experience with these. I would like to know what size diver, pole, type of line or anything else I should be using to have properly functioning set-up.

[Team Otter]

How deep are you wanting to go?

[Azrael]

About 30'

[tunrevir]

Dipsies may not be the thing of choice for that depth range. The dd's tend to swim hard and are nice for running baits off to the side and down but you can accomplish this with snap weights, inline keel weights, three way rigs, bottom bouncers, downriggers or a personal fav: leadcore. Things to think about: how far of a trolling pass do you have to reach the desired depth or target zone? Long runs with meandering edges are great for LC. Snap weights, bouncers, 3 ways are very speed dependant and will sink quickly if you have to make frequent adjustments to stay online while trolling but are super for open basin areas without much weed cover to worry about fouling the bait. The other option is use a superline and run deepdiving cranks like shad raps, taildancers, wally divers ect. which can easily reach that 30' range. For a dipsy rod, I like a 8 1/2' medium heavy rod but you could use a medium actions with the smaller DD's, with 10-14# mono. You will want rod holders for your rods as the DD's pull pretty hard and you'll tire quickly without them. The other thing to think aboput is the action that will be imparted to your bait when pulling DD's is like a continuous bounce, bounce, bounce which may or may not trigger the fish to strike depending on their mood. You can run the snmallerDD's with a superline and reach deeper faster with less line out then with mono but you'll want a lighter mono leader to the bait to absorb some of the shock of a strike to avoid lost fish. Look into the precision trolling book for snap weights, and dive curves for specific lures. A good line counter reel is a real asset when you are getting serious about trolling and takes some of the hassle out of finding the zone. Hope this helps!

Tunrevir~

[Team Otter]

tunervir has you covered in some respects but a super line and big Reef Runners or Rapala's Tail Dancer will do the same thing. You certainly don't need Dipsy Divers to get to 30'.

[PerchJerker]

I've used Dipsys for walleyes and have caught fish on them, but I think the other options for getting down 30' are better if it's walleyes you're after.

If you do go with Dipsys, you'll want a rod that loads up with a soft, slow bend. The rods that get sold as planer board rods work well with Dipsys. I'd agree with 10-14 lb mono for your main line, as hard as Dipsys pull you'll want some stretch and give in the line and the rod, otherwise you'll be tripping the release all the time, or have to set the release so tight that small fish might not trip it.

[riverrat56]

Check out the other thread going about getting cranks down deeper, so good info in there as well, alot of people seem to agree on ditching the hardware and buying some cranks that dig down to the mid 20's or even 30' is the way to go.

[rodmaker]

I agree, use the deep running taildancers or others. Keep it simple, and easy.

Going to troll a few taildancers for awhile on Mille lacs Sat. on the mud

[mrklean]

We fish Lake sakawea in North Dakota and we fish in the 30s a lot, all we use for cranks is reef runners one of the best cranks out there in my opinion might have to do a little tuning but thats all we use, tail dancers are the next option.

[PerchJerker]

we fish in the 30s a lot, all we use for cranks is reef runners one of the best cranks out there in my opinion might have to do a little tuning but thats all we use, tail dancers are the next option.

I agree, I'm a big fan of Reef Runners too. 2nd option for me is a deep tail dancer or a small shad bait on leadcore.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Interesting post. A buddy and I were just talking on Sunday about trying the DD's for deep 'eyes.

He just got back from Alaska and they used them there for Salmon.

[gulllakeguy]

I also use the Reef Runners. They are tricky to tune though. I like the deep taildancers but they don't run as deep. I also use a 3-way rig with a 1 to 2 oz sinker and as long a leader as possible.(a long rod is ideal) I like to use a shallow runner that has a more subtle action down deep.