Dipsy Divers

[Humperdink]

Any you old farts ever troll for stripers with a dipsy diver? My dad and I used to catch coho salmon with them in Lake Superior quite frequently, and under sail no less. After a trip to Michigan and a stomach full of fish I have decided id like to try trolling Allatoona. Fishing with my dad and uncle, 67 and 73 years of age respectively, we had a lot of experience on the boat and it wasnt exactly challenging. Go to the secret spot and reel them in until we hit the limit. Having pretty good success learning tactics for green fish on allatoona i am ready to move on to some big boys.

Im not interested in setting up downriggers on my tiny little boat just yet and since a Dipsy Diver would get me all the depth I need I decided I would give them a try. I have had marginal success just flat line trolling so I guess they cant hurt. Ive got a few tied up and ready to go. For now I am going to use the terminal tackle that catches lake trout and coho up in Superior (Spoons) even though I know you guys like to troll with live shad. Once I get the technique down I may haul some live bait out there as I dont expect a lot of action on the trolling spoons (i cant even find them on shelves here--either they arent productive or people just dont like them).

Is 30 feet a good depth to start at? I do have a basic fish finder/chart plotter to play with so maybe get a few size dipsy divers and use the one that goes to the depth I am spotting fish at? For now Ive got divers that target 25 to 40 foot depths. I am uncertain on how to determine target depth as we dont even use the fish finder anymore in Michigan. We found a 2 mile plateu miles and miles off shore in Superior that comes up abruptly from 500 feet to 200 feet and stays that way for a few miles. Drag a lure 20 feet up from the bottom and you will get a fish. Every time. Because my dad and uncles figured all that out for me Im not sure how to target in 'toona. A few weeks ago I ran from the north end all the way to the dam and found a few good passes that have at least 40-85 feet of water for a good distance--ill hit those spots first.

I haven't been to this forum in years--since i participated in the tree cutting a while back. I was the guy with the little blue aluminum boat. Ive got more motor now and can cover distance fairly easily so hopefully I will find some good spots.

[leapnlineman]

OK ya "Young Whipper Snapper" I don't know much about a Dipsy Diver but here is the little I know about trolling for the "White Ghost Fish" of Ole Toona. Use your electronics to hopefully locate a school of the elusive beast of the deep and make note of their depth. Then try to troll your bait slightly above that depth, whatever that lure or bait might be. Fish most generally feed up, remember. Most of the Toona guys troll U-rigs with 3 - 5 jigs. The jigs will most likely be either hair jigs or soft plastic curly tails in any combination of colors. I believe most of the white fishermen prefer bright colors such as yellow, chartreuse green and pink (yes P I N K, pink). For trolling most of those guys also use a reel with a counter so they know how many feet of line they have out. They will in general put out 100' of line to start and then by trolling at a set speed (2 - 4 mph) they will know how deep their u-rig is running. The faster they go the higher the bait and thus the slower they go the deeper the bait is running. Of course you don't have to use a u-rig you can troll any type of lure or bait that you choose and some days the fish will want one bait or lure over another just as the "green fish" do. If your brave enough you could even troll a U-RIG loaded up with 5 Bull Shad's, I'm sure Mike would love to see that. And I'm sure you would hate it when you snag that rig on the bottom when you go to slow. Which brings me to a lure retriever, a well planned aid to those that troll. If you get serious about seeking the "elusive white ghosts" of Allatoona you will also get a cast net, glo-light and bait tank. But that is another story all in itself. Lastly if you want to learn more about Striper and Hybrid fishing call Robert Eidson of First-Bite Guide service and hire him for a 1/2 day or full day trip. Robert will teach you more in that time than what you can learn on your own in a year. And ask him every question you can think of and pay close attention to his gear and how he rigs it. Hope this helps, now go catch some fish and leave us "Old Farts" to our memories of better days.

PS: Have you cut any dead trees lately, he he.