View Full Version : Cranks and Dipsies
RickyP
03-20-2002, 01:04 PM
Last year was my first experience fishing the western basin of Erie. It was a great year. Early in the season, I had success trolling cranks behing in-line planer boards. While i caught many fish with the boards, I found them awkward and cumbersome. When the water started warming in mid june, I switched to spoons with dipsies and the results were fantastic. I liked using the dipsies much more than the in line planers to get the baits out and back. I'm thinking of using dipsies with shallow running cranks for the early season this year. Do many of you fish cranks this way? If not, why not? Thanks for the info.
FreeByrd
03-20-2002, 01:59 PM
You can do what you are saying but you experienced the typical pattern we have on Erie. Spring is dominated by cranks and planar boards. For the dipseys, don't run cranks that have big bills/deep divers. I run shallow lipped cranks like shallow thundersticks or husky jerks behind dipseys early and late in the year. Summer time is mostly spoons. The thing is the fish we are after in the spring are usually in the top 15 feet (and often top 5 to 8) feet of water so dipseys aren't made for targetting this shallow water. I'm talking about fishing the top 15 feet over 28 to 32 feet of water. You may get some bonus fish from down deep on the dipseys though. The more you use the boards the more you'll get used to them and like them. If your boat is big enough for it to be practical you may want to consider the large mast & ski boards which allows you to just bring in the fish after it releases.
Dipseys are definitely the most efficient method I know of to get lots of lines out when the fish are in the right depth range for them. Some charter boats run up to 5 dipseys a side. Also the spoons in the summer (Michigan Stinger small size Scorpion most popular) is due to the baitfish/forage. If you are going to do this in the western basin, I'd reccomend the small dispseys (size 0) so you have some chance of hitting the top 15 feet of the water column. Also while the preferred method for fishing dipseys is to spool with one of the spectra superlines (Power Pro 30 pound test / 8 pound diameter is very popular), if you are intent on spring dipsey fishing you may want to spool with 20 pound or even 25 pound mono line and give it a try. The larger diameter will help the dipsey run shallower to some degree. Not sure I'd go through the hassle of respooling, but just an idea. I really think the best bet is to just experiment with the boards some more and you'll get used to them.
Having said all that - I usually start experimenting with dipseys earlier in the year than most people and usually with the shallow lipped cranks for the very reason that once the fish start going on dipseys - Dipseys are easy and efficient once you get them mastered. Email or post back if you have more questions.
Good Luck,
Steve Carlson
steve199132@yahoo.com
Steve,
Is the only depth control on a dipsy the size of the didsy or is there some adjustment. I have not used these but was thinking of ordering a couple. What is the depth range of the smaller and largerdipsies assuming you are pulling a shallow running crankbait. Thanks.
FreeByrd
03-20-2002, 04:30 PM
Dipseys are VERY speed dependent as they are really just a fancy directional sinker. ie if you are not moving it is straight down. I don't know the weights of the different sizes. Size 0 is the smaller and size 1 is the largest. Also the size of the disk increases the pressure which also dives deeper. They run deeper with the "O" rings on them. For the original poster - if you do this in the spring to target shallower fish you may want to also remove the O rings. The weight on the dispeys can be rotated to different positions to achieve different angles away from the boat, so by rotating the weight farther out to the side you can get them running shallower. There is a decent description of the dispeys on the Luhr Jensen website. There are four marked positions labled 1,2,3 on each side and 0 straight back. You can turn the weight out to where the "4" would be if it were marked. Any farther and it doesn't run correct. Set out to "4" it will run shallower than set at 3, and so on.
You could conceivably run the dipseys on short leads like 30 foot back on the inside which we've done with success SOMETIMES, but dipseys really shine when you get to depths over 25 feet. Guys that run wire line dipseys in the Central Basin can get down to 70 feet or so. Sorry if this is confusing. Someone else may have a better answer for you but the bottom line is while you can run the dipseys in the top 15-20 feet of water, that's not really where they shine.
In the spring and late fall some of the biggest fish come in the TOP 5 feet of water. This is crankbaits and planer board territory.
BIG RECOMMENDATION: Before you buy ANYTHING else for trolling, get a copy of "Precision Trolling" and read the first 20 pages a couple times. It is avaialable online by clicking "procucts" at the top of this page.
Good Luck,
Steve
Peter H
03-20-2002, 04:46 PM
Try http://www.luhr-jensen.com/tr_dipsy_diver.htm. They have depth charts for each setting and tips.
I have run across a couple of posts that mention dipsies behind boards. Are they refering to the smallest size, approx. 2 1/2 " Luhr Jensen dipsies? Are these used in combination with Off-Shore boards? If so, what clips are typically used?
d_rigger
03-20-2002, 06:29 PM
These wont get u away from the boat, JetDivers not directional. Can run them shallow or deep. Might work behind mast style planner boards.
FreeByrd
03-21-2002, 08:09 AM
Running Dipseys behind boards is popular in the Central Basin of Lake Erie. The guys I know that do this run the "small" dipseys size 0 which are the size you are talking about. Everyone I know that runs them does it behind the large mast & ski planer boards. Don't know if the inline boards can handle running size 0 dipseys. Advantage to this compared to Jet Divers is the dipseys being a weighted device are speed dependent and when the boards surge or on turns the dipseys will move up and down in the water column thus covering more water than jet divers set at the same starting depth range. There are times when the jets outperform the dipseys and times when the dipseys are better off the boards - just a different option.
To run dipseys off the boards, the dipseys must all be set on the same setting per side or you will end up with a mess. The releases are usually set tighter than if you were running the dipseys by themselves as you don't want a false release when the dispey is back 120 feet then out 150 feet on a towline. This is more complicated, but definitely worth a shot in deeper water once you have a handle on running dipseys by themselves and also running boards. I wouldn't start out trying to do this if you don't have a good handle on both things involved already unless you have an extreme level of patience!
Good Luck,
Steve