i have to agree with what the others are telling you. you really need to go out a couple of times with someone who knows whats going on.

when i started fishing the central basin i was totaly lost. i had never even seen a dipsy diver except hanging in the stores. and over there its pretty much trolling, i have never seen anyone drifting. but i got some friends together and just chartered a trip. i went to school for a day and learned alot. then the first trip i took my boat up i chartered with this guy again the first day of our trip. i do still have alot to learn, but i can fish now.

the charter we went on used dipsy divers. he ran 3 on each side. so i started with dipsy divers. then i switched to the walker divers, they had no rings to mess with. then i seen a film on the lite bite slide diver. i really liked the way you can set the tension from your lure to trip the diver. i dont even use the slide part of the diver. i just use them like the other divers but run my line through the lite bite arm.

but my point is i spent 2 days fishing with someone that knew alittle about what he,s doing and i was able to fish 3 divers off each side. then i just run 2 outriggers and 2 downriggers. so i can fish 5 guys with 2 rods each. i could have spent years trying to learn how to run 3 divers on one side without keeping them tangled. so watch for open seats where guys offer to let you fish with them for your share of the costs and take a couple of the walk on charters. it will save you thousands trying to learn it on your own

just make sure what you want to learn, then make sure the boat your going out on is planning to fish that way. another great way to fish erie is with boards. you can use inline weights or different types of divers to get you down to the fish. i havent used my boards on the central basin. but i just bought a set of electric reels for my planer mast. so i am thinking about using my boards with some other divers to spread out my lures and add a couple of extra lines when i have 6 people on board. good luck to you. now go to school and learn in a couple of trips what it takes years to learn on your own.
sherman