Trolling Question

[smhamilt]

I have used dipseys on lake Michigan for many years. I plan to be in Marblehead in late June for one week. WI see you guys talking more about jet divers. Would I get jet 40's 30's or 20's? And does color really matter? Thanks

[mkalink]

I have used dipseys on lake Michigan for many years. I plan to be in Marblehead in late June for one week. WI see you guys talking more about jet divers. Would I get jet 40's 30's or 20's? And does color really matter? Thanks

It depends on the type of planer boards you are running. I run Tru-Trip 40 jets off of my big boards. If you are going to run little Offshore or Church boards the Tru-Trip 30's will work well with them. I do highly recommend the Tru-Trips, I have used them all and they work the best for me. I always run a couple of Dipseys too.

[wajski]

dipseys are fine trutrip 30 smoke are my favorite, inline wts snap wts bottom bouncer anything that will put you in depth fish are.

[wakina]

I have used dipseys on lake Michigan for many years. I plan to be in Marblehead in late June for one week. WI see you guys talking more about jet divers. Would I get jet 40's 30's or 20's? And does color really matter? Thanks

Just so you know, the Church boards, both the Walleye Special TX-24 boards and the TX-22 Boards will pull and handle the Tru-Trip 40 deep divers as well as all of the Jet divers of comparable size. The TX-22 boards also float in the upright position while at rest or moving in a very slow motion. There are fishermen who run the Offshore Boards that say they are successful pulling both the Jet 40,s and Tru-Trip 40's. I have no personal experience with the Offshore Boards used in conjunction with the mentioned divers so maybe some one who does use them together will chime in.

I prefer the Tru-Trips over the Jets as they trip when you hook a fish, they can also be manually tripped by the fisherman similar to a dipsey so you are not fighting the diver while retrieving the lure to change, check the bait or land a fish. They dive deeper sooner which requires less line out per foot of depth vs. the Jets.

Also there are those who use the dipseys with great success also. It boils down to personal preference as to which method you want to use. Since you are already familiar with the dipsey set up that seems to be the logical place to start with maybe a couple of inline boards and Tru-Trips or Jets to supplement your spread. Then go from there with what to add to your arsenal.

[wakina]

There is one more thing to consider and that is the fact that any setup that requires speed to maintain depth without sinking can result in snagged lures, dipsys, inline wts, or bottom bouncers when fishing over the reefs or rocky bottom. Once the line out from Reel to (Dipsey, inline wt and lure) exceeds the depth of the water, snags become more likely while making a turn or slowing down or stopping to land a large fish simply because they sink like a rock.

If you snag a line on the inside of a turn you then have to make a choice of to stop and maybe snag other lines that are wt dependent or simply break off the snagged line and continue. The Jets and Tru-Trips are floating divers when not in forward motion and either remain neutral or slowly rise to the surface eliminating most of the snagging potential.

[wakina]

I also forgot to mention there is another option for depth control and that is a weighted diver made by OffShore Tackle. Off Shore Tackle TadPole resettable diving weight available in several sizes much like the floating divers previously mentioned. It works similar to the Jets and Tru-Trips but would sink when slowing down or stopping.They work well behind either make of inline boards.

They have been gaining in popularity for the last couple of years and have the advantage of being resettable in the water once tripped. If using harnesses there would be no advantage as you should check the worm/bait that was hit, so you would have to bring it in any how. If using a spoon or stick bait then simply reset and continue to fish like as before, jets work in a similar way. Tru-Trips must always be brought in once tripped as the Tru-Trips diving characteristics have been altered/defeated once tripped.

[mkalink]

Just so you know, the Church boards, both the Walleye Special TX-24 boards and the TX-22 Boards will pull and handle the Tru-Trip 40 deep divers as well as all of the Jet divers of comparable size. The TX-22 boards also float in the upright position while at rest or moving in a very slow motion. There are fishermen who run the Offshore Boards that say they are successful pulling both the Jet 40,s and Tru-Trip 40's. I have no personal experience with the Offshore Boards used in conjunction with the mentioned divers so maybe some one who does use them together will chime in.

I prefer the Tru-Trips over the Jets as they trip when you hook a fish, they can also be manually tripped by the fisherman similar to a dipsey so you are not fighting the diver while retrieving the lure to change, check the bait or land a fish. They dive deeper sooner which requires less line out per foot of depth vs. the Jets.

Also there are those who use the dipseys with great success also. It boils down to personal preference as to which method you want to use. Since you are already familiar with the dipsey set up that seems to be the logical place to start with maybe a couple of inline boards and Tru-Trips or Jets to supplement your spread. Then go from there with what to add to your arsenal.

I have had zero luck pulling Tru-Trip 40's behind Offshore boards. I have really never had any luck with Church Boards. But you are 100% correct about how much quicker the Tru-Trips get down. I have been eyeballing those Tadpole weights to see how well they perform. I might just have to buy some and check them out. Although I rarely troll with weights, and I always run big boards. As for colors on the jets I always run smoke, I don't know if the color matters on them. I just happen to run into Capt. Dan at a seminar and he was selling his Tru-Trip jets for $9 each so I bought 2 dozen of them in smoke.

[wakina]

I have had zero luck pulling Tru-Trip 40's behind Offshore boards. I have really never had any luck with Church Boards. But you are 100% correct about how much quicker the Tru-Trips get down. I have been eyeballing those Tadpole weights to see how well they perform. I might just have to buy some and check them out. Although I rarely troll with weights, and I always run big boards. As for colors on the jets I always run smoke, I don't know if the color matters on them. I just happen to run into Capt. Dan at a seminar and he was selling his Tru-Trip jets for $9 each so I bought 2 dozen of them in smoke.

I have been pulling the Tru-Trip 40 divers behind both Church TX-22 and the Church Walleye Boards since the Tru-Trips became available. Have had Zero issues with them.

The 2 things that I don't care for about the Tadpole divers is the shallow water issue of sinking on the inside of turns and maybe getting snagged, plus the fact that you need at least 20% more line out to get to the same depth as a Tru-Trip 40. That line out amount is according to the manufacturers dive charts provided with the instructions and on their respective web pages and not something that I made up to support my position. That of course is at 1.5 mph speed. The faster the speed the more line that is needed to achieve depth if it is even possible within reason. Please check out their respective dive curve charts.

[skipper9]

I will be fishing out of marblehead in june. I will be more than happy to share all the info with you. Give me a call and we can talk fishing. 614.327.7144

[sherman51]

I will be fishing out of marblehead in june. I will be more than happy to share all the info with you. Give me a call and we can talk fishing. 614.327.7144

skipper you are a great guy. I seen on another thread where you offered the same advice. not many guys will go to that much trouble just to help others catch fish.

I couldn't offer any advice to either guy. and i'll say thank you for your offer to these guys.
sherman