TOPIC:

Setting up a couple of rods for dipsey do I need to run braied line of can I get away with 30 lb mono and what size dipsey ? Kind of new to all this never tried to fish deep just flat lined in the spring . Trying to get my first big king

You can get away with mono but braid would be the preference. I would go with a standard size 1. The setup should look like below:

Reel - Line - Dipsy - Snubber - Leader - Lure

Thanks that helps

I second the Braid vs the Mono. I started using mono and my catch rate was not very good and trying to get the dipsy to release with mono was difficult. Just make sure you have a good snubber on it and mono or flouro for the leader so that you have some stretch when the fish hits.

Dirty wrote:

You can get away with mono but braid would be the preference. I would go with a standard size 1. The setup should look like below:

Reel - Line - Dipsy - Snubber - Leader - Lure

It all depends on how deep you are wanting to run your diver. In the spring or if you are fishing in shallow water and only need to run the diver out 20 or 30 feet, go with 30# mono. If you are going to try to get the diver down to 25 or 30 feet deep, you will need to run a mile of mono to get it there, so switch to 30# braid. Or use this trick. First remember mono is cheap, a quarter pound spool of Trilene Big Game is like 8 bucks and that's enough to do this trick about 25 or 30 times.
Spool your reel with 30# braid (actually, spool with some mono first, then add 150 or 200 yards of braid to fill the spool correctly) Learn to tie a double uni-knot and use that to tie on a top-shot of 30# mono - about 100 feet. Now you are ready for spring and running the diver shallow. When it comes time to run the diver deeper, remove the mono (it's only 33 yards) and tie to the braid. Add the O-Ring and you can now run your diver on down to the depths. How far? Slow trolling with a spoon, perhaps 70 or 80 feet with 200 feet of braid deployed. Time to fish the mouth of the ditch for Skamanias, Put 100 feet of mono back on. Heading out deep again, take it off. Buying $8 spools of mono is way cheaper than buying a new dipsey rod and reel.

If you have a mono-diver out so far that it's hard (or impossible) to trip the diver, You need to be switched over to braid.

I mentioned 30 pound braid. Lots of guys use 50 or 60 pound, but I've never had a 30-pound braid line break and even with braid, stronger = thicker and thicker means less dive on the diver. When I want my diver running 40 feet deep, I'd much rather have out 100 feet of 30# than 150 feet of 50#.

Disclaimer - all these depths are approximate since trolling speed and type of lure being used greatly affects the running depth of a diver.

Thanks that's a great trick. Any suggestions on leader length from dipsey to spoon or dipsey to fly ?

Three to five feet works for me. The main thing is to not make it so long that when the diver is reeled to the top guide the fish is out of reach of the landing net. I've fished with captains who used longer leads, but it took three people to land the fish - one guy with rod and reel, one guy with landing net and one guy hand lining the fish the last few feet. Even then, I wasn't convinced a shorter leader would have turned off the fish.
Basically, if you get to worrying too much about these little details which might or might not matter to the fish, you are probably forgetting something that does matter to the fish.

Definitely don't want to hand line to land the fish thanks for the help might try to get out tomorrow good fishing

I run my leader from rod tip to the reel and can’t say I’ve had any issues catching fish

What about using fluorocarbon instead of mono or braid?