For those or you that fish for salmonids as well as walleye, you might be interested in looking at a new reel that is being manufactured by Walker Downrigger. I just bought 2 of them for use with downriggers. They are made like casting reels but are mounted under the rod like a spinning reel. They are made like a Mack truck. They are a bit heavy but when mounted under the rod they balance beautifully. Cost $85 each. I like to reel left handed even though I am a right handed person, so I really appreciate these reels. If they offered the same reel in a line counter version I would really be happy. I ordered mine from the Walker service center in Michigan.
http://www.walkerdownriggers.com/wtd-300.html
CJB

I saw those advertised when they first came out and always wondered about them, but never heard of anyone that used them.

if they are anything like my Walker Downriggers they gotta be great reels

thanks for the review

The word I heard on them is that Walker made about 500 of them about 5 years ago and still has some of them in stock! It's kind of a neat idea but it doesn't seem like it ever caught on.

I hope that they paid a little more attention to detail on their reels than they did on the 'Deeper Diver'. Those things are junk.

hombre,
"deeper dive"..are you refering to their "dipsey diver"? If so, i really like 'em.
Mike (aka Boatnut)

"Many fish bites if you got good bait. I'm a goin' fishin', yes, I'm a going' fishin' and my baby's goin' fishin' too" Taj Mahal, "fishing blues"

I too use the Deeper Diver disks. They are slightly larger than the Big Jon diver disks and as stated, dive deeper with the same amount of line out. I use them with the Stinger scorpion spoons or with a crawler harness.

The Walker divers are anything but junk. Better hardware for the release, good screw for adjusting the release, no rings that need super glued. Makes me wonder if you ever used one?

Come fish with me!
http://www.walleyecentral.com/wcdirectory/fullpage.php?ckey=141

>The Walker divers are anything but junk. Better hardware for
>the release, good screw for adjusting the release, no rings
>that need super glued. Makes me wonder if you ever used one?
>
>Come fish with me!
>http://www.walleyecentral.com/wcdirectory/fullpage.php?ckey=141


Actually, I've used six of them. The release hardware is no different than that of a Dipsy. You also need two tools to adjust the tension release, as opposed to just a flathead screwdriver on the Dipsy. Also, all six of the rings on the back of mine seperated at the 'cold solder' point when attempting to land larger than average walleyes (a very common occurance from what I've read on other forums). This also happened on two of them that my friend had been using.

I was given five of them (one each of the different sizes available) from the Walker rep at a sports show before they were put into production. They were touted as having far superior hardware as compared to the hardware on the Dipsy (nice, heavy duty, brass ball bearing swivels). Well, the rep was correct. The proto types came with the upgraded hardware, but when I saw the production models when they hit the stores, they were equipped with the exact hardware that is on the Dipsys. Kind of a bait and switch move, if you ask me.

As for me, I'll stick with Dipsys. Walker tried to make a better mousetrap, and in my opinion, they fell flat on their face. Rapala filed a patent infringement case against Walker the minute that the deeper divers hit the shelves. It may take a few years, but I'm hoping they win, because that's exactly what Walker did.