Beginner Michigan Salmon Fishing Set-up. Help??

Here\\\’s the situation. I just have a small boat, 17ft. deep hull Alumicraft with a 40hp tiller. I know I can only go out so far and only in calm weather conditions but I\\\’m thinking about putting together a minimal amount of equipment necessary for me to fish salmon on the big pond. I\\\’d be fishing alone or with one other person in the boat so I\\\’m thinking of a maximum of 6 rod and reel combinations. A couple of lead core rods, (one with 4 colors and one with 8 or maybe 3 and 6), a couple of dipsy rods and a couple of rigs for just trolling flat lines out the back or off boards. I\\\’m not thinking of having any downriggers at this time so I think I\\\’m restricting myself to the top 40 to 50 feet of water, regardless of the total depth of the water. The possible exception to that would be with the dipsy divers I think, but I\\\’m not sure how deep I can get with the dipsy. I\\\’d prefer not using steel line for the dipsy\\\’s at first and one of my questions is how deep can I get with a dipsy using 17# to 20# mono as compaired to say 20# or 30# Fireline for example. Can anyone give me some feed back about the lead core setups and the dipsy setups and any other equipment I might concider for the shallow water presentations. I\\\’d appreciate your input. Thanks

Here\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s the situation. I just have a small boat, 17ft. deep hull Alumicraft with a 40hp tiller. I know I can only go out so far and only in calm weather conditions but I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’m thinking about putting together a minimal amount of equipment necessary for me to fish salmon on the big pond. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’d be fishing alone or with one other person in the boat so I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’m thinking of a maximum of 6 rod and reel combinations. A couple of lead core rods, (one with 4 colors and one with 8 or maybe 3 and 6),

buy a core, and seperate into either 4 color and 6 color, or 3 and 7 colors. If you go 3 and 7 colors you could also use the 3 color as an SWR on a rigger if you ever go that route. You can also add snap weights in front of the lead to get you down farther. I use 10.5 foot rods, Daiwa heartlands

a couple of dipsy rods I would get 9.5 foot rods for the dipsys (daiwa heartland, shimano TDR, etc)

and a couple of rigs for just trolling flat lines out the back or off boards.

You can use the 10.5 foot rods for this, run the core off your boards.

I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’m not thinking of having any downriggers at this time so I think I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’m restricting myself to the top 40 to 50 feet of water, regardless of the total depth of the water.

For your last two rods, buy 8.5 foot downrigger rods, these could be used for rigger rods, pumphandle rods, inside dipsy rods. You can easily run a pumphandle down a 100 feet or more, it works very well.

The possible exception to that would be with the dipsy divers I think, but I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’m not sure how deep I can get with the dipsy. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’d prefer not using steel line for the dipsy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s at first and one of my questions is how deep can I get with a dipsy using 17# to 20# mono as compaired to say 20# or 30# Fireline for example.

I would use 50# power pro, as a minimum, possibly 65#. Buy the Magnum Dipsys, they will do everything the smaller ones will, and will push 100 feet.

Can anyone give me some feed back about the lead core setups and the dipsy setups and any other equipment I might concider for the shallow water presentations. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’d appreciate your input. Thanks

hmm where to begin??

I think you\\\’d be selling yourself short if you went with the no downrigger thing, however, if that\\\’s your cup of tea, go with it(IMO)

Rods and reels- I would start with 2 fulls cores, and 2 half cores. I would put at least 450 feet of Power Pro backing on both setups. You can run both of these off boards.

At least 2 dipsies- I run one out each side of the boat, spooled with 80/18 Power Pro. Wouldn\\\’t even bother with the mono for dipsies- it just acts like a big rubber band with 200 feet of line out. With a #1 dipsy set to a 3, 210 feet of 30lb braid would get you in the neighborhood of 60 feet deep.

As an option, you could get a roller rod setup with wire line for pump handles

I\\\’d still go with downriggers though

WOW! Thanks for the quick responses. And for all the detailed information. I think I am pretty clear on most everything you guys said up until I read about this \\\\\\\\\\”pumphandle\\\\\\\\\\” thing. Is that the setup with the 8 – 16 oz. ball of lead that you \\\\\\\\\\”bounce off the bottom\\\\\\\\\\” that my brother use to talk about when he was going after lake trout? Or is it something different. A detailed discription would be very helpfull here. As for downriggers, I would like to have them at sometime in the future but that will have to wait for now. Thanks again for the information. Anyone else out there who wants to add their $.02 I am still here listening.

Here is my take. If you want 6 rods I would get all the same, 9 foot Shimano Telora rods and ABU Garcia CS Pro Rocket reels. I would spool them with 50 Spiderwire Stealth. This way if you want to run a deep rod (pumphandle) you could have some 10oz and 1 lb lead balls to snap on and run a leader to a dodger fly combo, spoon, or j-plug. This setup will have you bouncing bottom all the way out to 125 foot or more if you wanted. The same rods can also have dipseys snapped on with a lure of chioce behind that. For high lines you can snap on a spoon and put a rubber core sinker on various size 8 feet in front. Set up this way you can easily swich to what the fish want. I run 12 rods with the only difference being that I use 8 foot rods for the down riggers.

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WOW! I think I am pretty clear on most everything you guys said up until I read about this \\\\\\\\\\”pumphandle\\\\\\\\\\” thing. Is that the setup with the 8 – 16 oz. ball of lead that you \\\\\\\\\\”bounce off the bottom\\\\\\\\\\” that my brother use to talk about when he was going after lake trout?

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Yes, you can run any size lead ball you want, the bigger you go, the less blow back you have. I would recommend the big water edition, of Precision trolling. It will get you Dipsy, pound ball, lead core, and many other depths, or very close to it. I would get the different length rods, because it will help give you seperation, if you decide to run a #1 and a mag dipsy on the same side, or even two of the same,it helps keep them seperated. Pm if you have questions. WTA

The term “pumphandle” is basically an oversized three-way rig. Some guys use trolling fins, others use a piece of triangular plastic with three holes in it, but what I use is a big three-way swivel. Starting with that, tie it to your main line. On one of the swivels, tie about a 10-12 inch dropper line(your pound ball attatches to this) then on the last swivel ring, you tie on your flasher and fly, usually, or whatever other plug or lure their snappin’ on.

Get the Precision Trolling “Great Lakes Edition” as stated earlier- LOTS of great info.

Hey! Thanks again guys. I think you got me on my way to putting this package together. I would bet I’ll have more questions as time goes buy, maybe we’ll talk more later. Till then.

Are you planning on fishing Kings at the Harbor entrance? If so, I have simple spreads that work great for small boats. 2 riggers, 2 dipseys, and 2 short cores or yellow bird rigs with snap weights. Its important to keep everything tight to your boat as fall fishing is combat fishing in close. J-Plugs and mag spoons are all you will need. I can provide detailed info if you like. These are all things I learned as a first mate and would be happy to share. I agree with sticking with power pro for all your dipsy’s and although I love my wire dipsy’s, they can be dangerous. In my opinion, Diawa Heartland rods are the best bang for the buck and are cheap. The best deal I have found is at bobsoutdoors.com. Good luck and good fishing.

In answer to your question, yes I plan to fish the harbor mouths. As far as needing more detailed information, I am still doing my research so I would be greatful if you would provide more detail. I’ll be waiting, thanks