What line to use on dipsey divers

What line and how many pound test to use on dipsey divers? Mono backing? need help with setting up to rounds.

Oh if were only that simple. At some point with any type line on a dipsy you will reach a point that the resistance from the line in the water is of the magnitude that the diver will no longer go deeper despite letting out more line. Thus the diameter of the line and the resistance from the surface of the line are very important for achieving depth with dipsys. If you have ever seen a depth chart you will note that as you let out more line say >100' the depth achieved per foot decreases more and more. This is true for braid, wire and mono. Thus you can not physically get as deep with mono as you can with braid or wire. If you let out enough mono with nothing on it the drag it creates will eventually break the line......so I read. Here is a chart for wire that I use to guesstimate where my lures are: http://www.bloodruntackle.com/more-copper-depth-data-and-wire-diver-depth-numbers/ Point well taken on expense over the long haul. I've not changed out my RipCord 40# for at least 8 yrs. Over all way cheaper than mono even if you change it out only once per year. Yes, I to wonder when I should change but still can't break it very easily. At one point a number of yrs ago when we commonly bounced bottom 100fow off Racine I only had 2 wires. So I decided to bounce bottom with my braid dipsys. My recollection is it took about 200ft of line with the 30# wire to bounce bottom. Using the same set up on the other corner the braid line counter needed to be at 225. Grey Beard

That a boy sloshkosh! Bingo Bingo

I gotta chime in here. The guys I fish with its certainly not 90 % using braid on dipseys. I am not even sure if its 50/50. I never had any problem popping a mono dipsey unless it was out more than 200 feet. Changing mono twice a season seems like overkill unless your doing 60 trips a summer. Everyone has there way and I dont think there is a wrong way to do it. Yes braid and wire will get you a little deeper but you is it really so bad to run inexpensive mono and let out 40 more feet of line to get to the depth you want. All this get deeper talk doesnt do much more me. Last year you were better off working the middle 1/3 of the water column and higher anyway. Setting riggers 20 and 40 feet off the bottom was not hot and planer boards took most of the fish on every boat I was on. Repeatability is just as important as the depth you think a diver is running at. 120 on wire, 150 on braid or 180 on mono...if its working keeping doing it. After saying all that if i was getting started today with no gear I would spool up with 30 lb mono until the reel was 75% full and then split a 300 yard roll of braid in half to fill the spool. 99 percent of the time the braid will be the only line you ever see on that reel.

Braid is cheaper than mono unless you're using the same mono year after year. On my mono rods I replace the line at the begining of the year and at least once during the season. My braid lines have had the same line on them for years and it will be on for years to come. It might be more expensive right away but in the long run it's cheaper. One break off with mono and you lose a dipsey, flasher and fly, you could have bought a spool of braid for that! Braid allows you to "pop" your Dipsey so you can bring it up, mono you need to reel the thing up with it still set or risk breaking the line trying to "pop" it. Braid also allows you to get deeper with less line out and you don't lose set ups from line breaking. Wire allows it to go even deeper. I don't see any reason to run mono on a dipsey anymore. You're correct that the fish haven't changed but our techniques have which allow us to catch more fish. There is a reason 90%+ of the guys out there are using either braid or wire.

What did people use before braid? Mono is far cheaper , take your time ,set your drag . Super line ins bunk in my book and now the craze is wire. Jeepers, does it have to be that complicated. The fish haven't changed any in the last ten years , why should we? Read less articles that are trying to sell you over priced stuff . Stick with mono and put a extra tank of gas in your boat.

For a newbie on a budget I would suggest 40-50# braid with inexpensive 30#mono backing. If you have 2 reels to fill I would use 1/2 of a 300yd spool for each. It's best to fill any reel to capacity to maximize rate of retrieve. Easiest way is to have reels of equal capacity and put the braid on first then fill with backing. Then transfer to the other reel. Another option is to put the braid on first then fill with backing then using an electric drill transfer the line to any empty spool. Then to another empty spool and them back on to your reel. Time consuming but effective. For me the only time braid is a problem is if the fish hook fleas show up and clog the line so you can't reel in. For me mono dipsys would be useful so infrequently I no longer have one. Good luck, Grey Beard

amstel239, Good luck on your setup, there's a lot of great info on boat set up here on this forum. I learned most of what I know about salmon trolling from the guys on this site, search this forum with you questions and you will probably find your answer. As far as setting up a boat on the cheap I have some knowledge on that, feel free to pm.

I run 65lb braid on slide divers and subsets I run the slide divers on braid and haven't had an issue

Thanks slosh that really helps the way you explained it.

Amstel there truly is not a right or wrong. Here is what I have. Braid Diver with 300 feet of braid on the outside with 600? feet of mono 30 lb backer. That mono back is just cheaper than 900 feet of braid. You could certainly fill the whole spool with braid if you want. Most people recommend some mono to start when filling or some electrical tape so the braid wont slip on the spool and cause issues. Straight mono 30 lb full spool no backing or knots on that one. Straight wire 30 lb blood run with no backing because I don't want any knots from wire to mono etc. Just get some wire and fill it up for that one if you run wire. I also have a Slide diver that is a little more complicated. Starting with 500 feet of mono then 300 feet of braid, then 50 feet of mono that the slide diver hooks onto. So in the end its a mono leader to snap the slide diver on, braid to get it deep and mono under that because im cheap.