Fish Seekers for trolling? (instead of jets or mini-dis...

[Invention Vacation]

I have a handful of Fish Seekers in my box that I have not really tried (I just use jets if running boards). Anyone have any thoughts about the Fish Seekers?

For info. (if you have not heard of Fish Seekers), the Fish Seeker is a diving planer with lead in the nose area. It is depth adjustable via a series of connection holes on the front and back. I bought them from Cabelas, and I am guessing that you can look them up on the Cabelas site.

The instructions indicate that the Fisk Seeker flips (like a larger jet) upon hook-up, and the lead will cause a sinking effect rather than floating (unlike a jet) during a stall. These features seem appealing, but I am curious to hear any thoughts.

Ron on Invention Vacation

PS I head out of Port Clinton and fish the flats West of the Erie Islands

[ETT]

A good friend and former captain Scott Stecher (Pres. of Reef Runner Lures), made a an effort to get a grip on Fish Seekers. He worked with them for almost 2 years, and finally just gave up. There were simply too many adjustments to figure out.

If you want to play with them, I'd strongly suggest you settle on 1 hole in the top and 1 hole in the bottom. Then you have an opportunity to familiarize yourself, with their opperation.

They'll work but Scott spend too much time getting them dialed in.

[SS2]

We've used them around the islands for years and on a couple of Fairport Harbor trips. I've only used them with small rouges, med flutter spoons, and harnesses. They work well up to around 2-2.2 mph then they go sideways & come up.

Depth settings seem relatively accurate in the sense that we have marked fish at different depths and then caught them using the appropriate setting and a little guessing. Set it at 30 ft and you will touch bottom if you get much shallower than 30 fow. Set it at 25 ft and you don't touch in 30 fow. We stick with the top holes (10 ft increments) and the 1st 2 on the bottom (0 & 5 ft increments) around the islands.

The original version had a simple release that I favor. The current ones are supposed to flip over. Friend says current ones flip fine and I've read other reports that indicate they flip over as they are supposed to. I only time I tried the current version was running them at 55 to 65 ft & they did not flip for me, so I went back to the old style.

They catch fish, the limitation is speed. Sounds like you have it but I have instruct if needed.

No experience with mini-disks, but I am comfortable with jets, reg dipsies, deep 6's, and have pink lady's - don't always use the seekers but can't think of a time they haven't caught fish when we do use them.

Good Luck,
Silentsixty

[Invention Vacation]

Thanks for the info., especially the info re speed. I tend to troll faster that the average guy (e.g., around 2.5MPH, except very early), so they may not be perfect for me. I will still give them a try, especially if the jets seem slow (sinking on stall might be the ticket on a particular day).

Ron on Invention Vacation