Rigging 6 lines on Superior – Without Downriggers?

I’ll be heading back up to the North Shore to fish Thursday and Friday. I don’t have down riggers. How should I rig 5-6 lines in a Crestliner Fish Hawk 1750?

Here’s what I have so far:

– 2 dipsey lines setup.
– 2 leadcore lines. One with 10 colors of 18# 832. The other I don’t know how many colors. (not mine)

The following I don’t know what to do with:

– 2 other rods without line counters with superline.
– 2 walleye planer boards.
– Assortment of snap weights.

Just looking for suggestions for setting up a good spread.

I’m not looking to buy any more trolling combos for this trip.

Thanks!

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I’ll be heading back up to the North Shore to fish Thursday and Friday. I don’t have down riggers. How should I rig 5-6 lines in a Crestliner Fish Hawk 1750?

Here’s what I have so far:

– 2 dipsey lines setup.

– 2 leadcore lines. One with 10 colors of 18# 832. The other I don’t know how many colors. (not mine)

The following I don’t know what to do with:

– 2 other rods without line counters with superline.

– 2 walleye planer boards.

– Assortment of snap weights.

Just looking for suggestions for setting up a good spread.

I’m not looking to buy any more trolling combos for this trip.

Thanks!

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I’d recommend adding two more planer boards.

Inside rods would be your dipseys.

Middle rods would be lead core on boards running cranks or spoons.

Outside rods would be braid on boards running deep diving cranks like a #11 Deep Tail Dancer which has been a great bait for us up there in the past.

Add snap weights to the lead and braid rods as needed for added depth.

Sliding dipseys straight out the back, angle dipseys one out each side and then the boards outside of that. It was a tough weekend on the south shore from what I heard. We did pretty good on Michigan once we figured things out. Good luck.

Is it ok to clip the boards to the leadcore, or do I need to run all the leadcore out?

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Is it ok to clip the boards to the leadcore, or do I need to run all the leadcore out?

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I’ve clipped boards directly to lead in the past with no issues. Good luck!

lead is hard on the clips but you can do it. They will just wear out faster, if you don’t do it that often you may not even notice. I prefer to clip them to mono.

To figure out the program and what the fish are wanting, my feeling would be to do this:

Run one dipsy on a zero setting, straight back off the boat, to get the deepest set you can. The next dipsy, either off the port or starboard, depending where your other rod is, on a 2 setting. Both with spoons of some sort.

Next your full core, run it right down the chute (behind the boat. This way you can add or subtract snap weights as needed for depth control for where you are marking fish and or catching. You can slide the rod left or right when reeling in other lines or fighting fish. Again I would go with a spoon.

Rest, put on planers for high riding fish. And DO NOT put your boards on the leadcore itself, put it on the backing. The lead sheathing can break too easily if you do this. The reason for segmented core. Works these rods with cranks and spoons.

Good luck.

Thanks Jim!

That was my plan with the dipsies. I may consider putting a couple colors of leadcore on my “wild card” rods so I can run that behind the boards.

For now, I’ll probably wait to get a couple more boards until I have some more rod options.

I’ve done pretty well the last 2 trips up there this month but I was fishing solo both times. I didn’t have enough lines in the water to have to consider the spread of lines. This time I should have 1-2 others in the boat so this should be interesting.

Hey James, since you’re trying to figure out new ways to use leadcore, try an figure out a way to put leadcore on a dipsey! You might call it a poor mans SWR.

Pick up some 1 pound balls and three way swivels. Put the ball down on a bout an 18 inch dropper line your lure on a 6 foot or so leader of Fluoro. You can either let it out until you feel bottom and work it there having someone PUMP it. This can be super effective at times. If you want the rod in a holder, hit bottom and reel up a bit. Setting your dipseys on 3 leaves plenty of room out the back for these rods. Hits can be amazing, and rattling the bottom sometimes brings fish in that will hit other lures in your spread. Cheap and fun.

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Hey James, since you’re trying to figure out new ways to use leadcore, try an figure out a way to put leadcore on a dipsey! You might call it a poor mans SWR.

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I need to work out the basics with the dipseys… I’ve just not fished with them much and when I have the dipseys just haven’t produced well for me. They’re in the arsenal and I’ll keep messing with them. So many ways to skin the cat…

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Hey James, since you’re trying to figure out new ways to use leadcore, try an figure out a way to put leadcore on a dipsey! You might call it a poor mans SWR.

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You would need a slide diver to accomplish this other wise you would be hand lining your SWR lead however long it is… Ya know what I mean?

BTW slide divers were created to add stealth to a “dipsey” set up. You can run as lonk of a leader as you like.

All of the above options are great. Don’t connect your boards to the lead core, I’ve done this in the past without issue, but yesterday lost a board and another rig from this.

I’ll run leadcore with the magnum dipsy divers at times to get a third line on the bottom when fishing the flats by Madeline Island. I don’t like this over rock as it is sometimes a bit of trial and error and knocking bottom, another way to get down to 100 feet.

I fished Monday and Tuesday out of Bayfield, we found consistent laker action on the flats, nothing big, nice eaters and way too many small fish. We scored one small king along the south channel monday evening. The fish were really spreead out on the flats, both flashers and spoons worked equally as well.

Looking forward to some cooler water temps and shorter boat rides out the big lake!

Let me know if you would like to go, I can run up to 12 lines out of my boat. I also have all the equipment needed