TOPIC:

I bought a new Okuma Convector reel for a new braid dipsy setup since my last reel went bust a couple of weeks ago when a king smoked the drag. Yes, it was a great fight, but the reel was an old Okuma Magda that I've had since about 2008 and it basically broke. I like the idea of 40# hi-viz yellow braid or multicolor/metered braid so I can see it more easily but I'm worried it might be too visible when trolling. Multicolored/metered braid would probably be less stark than hi-viz yellow under water but I'm curious what your opinions are. My old setup was dark/moss green braided line with 20 ft fluorocarbon leader, which worked great but the dark green braid was harder to see.  My thinking is that multicolored braid would probably work fine especially considering that we use leadcore and copper lines which are visible under water but obviously work. Just not sure about hi-viz yellow and whether it would be counterproductive. 

Line color going to the dipsy is going to zero impact on how many fish you catch is my opinion. If you’re really concerned and want get fancy you use a permanent marker and color the 10ft of the lime black or green or whatever color you think will look best.

You aren't fishing for fish named Einstein!  Let's say there's a fish out there that thinks "Look at the tasty minnow over there," when it spots your spoon. No matter that everything it's ever eaten in the past couple of years was either silver or brown and your spoon has fluorescent paint, dark spots and a strip of glow-in-the-dark tape along one edge. It swims closer to try to catch it. Then it ignores the shiny ball bearing snap swivel stuck in the minnow's mouth. Then the hungry fish notices the baitfish is chasing a funny looking worm (the snubber) which is falling out the butt of that bright fluorescent colored UFO (your diver) a few feet ahead of the minnow. No matter the diver itself is a bright colored plastic. The fish ignores all that but just before it grabs the hook, it spots the bright yellow line attached to the diver and the fish bolts away thinking, "Wow, that was a close one! Good thing I noticed that length of .07 inch string that was just ahead of all that!"  That fish is way too smart to ever get caught. I'd rather think the lake is full of fish that see all that stuff dragging through the water and swims over to get a better look while thinking, "What's all that stuff?"  Once it gets there to take a better look, it still doesn't know what it all is but as long as it's there, it bites on the lure.

I use bright colored (yellow or tangerine) monofilament in the early spring on my diver reels. Then I switch them to bright yellow or green braid at this time of year when I need to get the divers deeper. BTW, one of the reasons to use braid (or wire) is because it allows the divers to dive deeper with less line out than if you were using mono. The thinner the braid, the better for diving deeper, quicker. I use 30 pound braid. Use 40 or 50 if you wish, but you are sacrificing diving efficiency for unneeded extra strength.   

Thanks for your replies. Your answers make sense. I’m going to with a line that’s visible to me in that case.

I run slide divers with a 20 ft mono leader to the flasher/fly setup.

I know I'm a little late for the topic but I echo our fellow board members.  Just letting you know iswitched all my walleye/coho rods over to HiVis yellow braid backer with 160 yds yellow mono and that has zero ill effects on catch rate. With that setup I only have to change out the mono at the beginning of the season instead of full respooling........works out great.

The fleas love braid......might want to add a wire diver into the mix also

Yes, I already have two wire diver rods that I use in deeper water. I wanted a braid diver rod with a mini slide diver for shallower water. I’ve never used braid with a diver setup for shallow water before.

I don’t know if anybody does this but I actually use a slide diver and not a dipsy on my wire rods. The wire line is joined directly to a 20 ft length of 40# mono leader with an Albright knot. The Albright knot is the same knot that is used to join copper line to mono. The slide diver rides on the mono leader and allows me to quickly adjust the leader length. I have the most luck with a roughly 12-15 ft leader length from the slide diver to the flasher fly combo but sometimes run the flasher fly 18-20 ft behind my slide diver. When a fish strikes, the slide diver slides down the line toward the flasher fly combo and I can reel in the fish without having to handline 15 ft or more of leader since I’m not using a dipsy. I have a standard size slide diver on one of the wire rods and another slide diver with the magnum size ring on the other wire rod to get deeper. I’ve been using this setup with the Albright know for about 4 years and have never had it fail or lost gear. Am I the only one doing this?

jpmarko wrote:

Yes, I already have two wire diver rods that I use in deeper water. I wanted a braid diver rod with a mini slide diver for shallower water. I’ve never used braid with a diver setup for shallow water before.

I don’t know if anybody does this but I actually use a slide diver and not a dipsy on my wire rods. The wire line is joined directly to a 20 ft length of 40# mono leader with an Albright knot. The Albright knot is the same knot that is used to join copper line to mono. The slide diver rides on the mono leader and allows me to quickly adjust the leader length. I have the most luck with a roughly 12-15 ft leader length from the slide diver to the flasher fly combo but sometimes run the flasher fly 18-20 ft behind my slide diver. When a fish strikes, the slide diver slides down the line toward the flasher fly combo and I can reel in the fish without having to handline 15 ft or more of leader since I’m not using a dipsy. I have a standard size slide diver on one of the wire rods and another slide diver with the magnum size ring on the other wire rod to get deeper. I’ve been using this setup with the Albright know for about 4 years and have never had it fail or lost gear. Am I the only one doing this?
 

I just started running slide divers on my wire setups but i tied to braid as i was using them for walleyes at the time. I think when i use them on salmon I'll either switch to mono or just attach to a snubber above my leader.
But yes i do run slide divers now on my wire.