i guess i'll put my 2 cents worth in if you don't mind. i started by going out on a charter that ran dipsies. learned to run 3 dipsies per side. made 2 trips with him before going on my own. i learned more in those 2 days than i could have learned in who knows how many yrs. i started on my own with the same setup that the charter running dipsies. but had problems with the rings coming off. switch to the deeper divers and they was much better. then i swithed to the lite bite slide diver. but i didn't use the slide part. i just rigged them like a regular diver but had the lite bite function on them. i can set the rod adjustment just a little tight in rough water and the lite bite as loose as it goes. not so many false releases but even most small fish even white perch will trip the diver. i wouldn't ever go back to standard divers.

30# braid in the norm for eyes. and be sure to use a mono backing on your reels. i didn't at 1st and the line was slipping on the spool on some reels. i started with 65# braid for my main line because that's what the charter used. i went out to 50' of water with my diver set on a 4.5 setting at 2 mph with 65# line and let the diver out slow until it started tapping bottom. took 185' to reach bottom. did the math and got 2.7 feet down for every 10' of line out. now i set the front diver to the depth i want. then set middle diver on 3 20' less than front diver back diver set on 1.5 20' less than middle diver.

i also use downriggers for eyes on erie. i bought the chamberlain releases for them. i have rigger fished for 35 yrs and the chamberlain is the best there is for fishing on erie. check out downriggerrelease.com. they have 2 adjustments on them. 1 for rod tension 1 for lure tension .