Lake Michigan Bows and Kings alive in Sheboygan

[birddogwi]

Was planning on fishing a river tourney this weekend as a fill-in but my buddy was able to shake the wife's plans and fish it - glad he did! Trailered the boat back and forth to Sheboygan this weekend and had a hoot out there! Brought my Father, Nephew and one of his friends along so we were able to run 12 lines (6 on the dual boards, 4 slide-divers, 2 down on the riggers) and pinned the Bows pretty good! Went 15 for 22 in @ 7 hrs. 11 Bows from 5-13lbs, 3 Kings from 12-17lbs and a rogue Laker @ 11/12lbs we're usually good for picking out.

The Bows didn't disapoint!! Had 3 fish rocket out of the water behind us before they even tripped the release. That added some excitement figuring out which reel was going to start screaming at any moment! Actually ran a dodger and flasher that produced. Tinsel flys in green/black/silver and green/blue/silver did well. Spoons we had fish on were Pro-King green/holo, cracked ice, and an old glow/green (squid pattern my father gave me back when.. he had to run it [cool]). Jeff's Mag spoons in silver/black w/purple ladder, and glow/red pulled fish.

Sunday had similar results @ the same area but caught more of a mix. The crew changed a bit as the kiddos were with their fathers. Had Dad, my Brother, my brothers father in law and brother-in-law as well so we ran a full set of 15 lines. Went 17 for 20 with 7 Bows from 8-12lbs, 3 shaker Cohos (weren't big enough to trip the rigs so we were draggin' em around for who know's how long), 5 Kings from 12-20lbs and 2 8-9lb Browns. Same spoons got wet and added a silver Kroc and a deep jointed fastrac in white/orange that pulled fish too.

Was a great weekend to be out on Michigan seeing how warm it was inshore! The sunburn is managable yet and it was good to fish with dad on father's day!.. Thanks to the women in their lives for being 'fishing widows' for the day and their unselfishness to let us boys go play on the water together!
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[jacksonlaker]

Wow that sounds like a great trip. I used to fish Lake Ontario alot when I lived back east si I really enjoy the Great Lakes fishing reports. I am familiar with most of the lures you are running, but most guys out this way have never heard of them. I have a question..I have heard of the slider rig a lot, could you explain what that is ???
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[birddogwi]

Cool beans, jaksonlaker! I've never fished Lake Ontario myself.. One place that I should add to my 'Places to fish' list, though. Yea, we all had a great time out there! My friends up at the Riverside Boat Club gave me some water info to start out with that made the fishing a bit easier. Thanks to Rob and the guys!

The Slide Diver is very similar to a Dipsy Diver except its design has pretty much made the Dipsy obsolete. In comparison - With a Dipsy you're attaching your main line to the front pin swivel of the Diver and then attaching your leader to the rear swivel resulting in a set leader length (length of your rod or shorter). Also adding a piece of awkward hardware tied directly to your line thats not very fun to deal with when fighting a fish. With the Slide Diver your main line threads through the front pin and into the diver body itself where it passes through a piece of surgical tubing (that the front pin pinches when pulled back to the set position) and out the back of the diver. You then thread a single bead and attach your main line to a bearing swivel and leader. *Here's the kicker!* When the Slide Diver trips - the line pulls through the diver (its free floating or "sliding" on the main line then stops at the bead/swivel. This results in a free spinning or "sliding" diver that gives you the ability to adjust your lead lengths as short as your leader or as long as you could possibly want 'em.

I can gaurantee that if a person who uses Dipsy's tries Slide Divers he'll shelf the Disey's as back-ups! There's better hook-up/netted fish ratios, more sensitivity from less drag since you're not fighting a directly attached piece of hardware and they offer more flexibility in presentations from its ability to adjust your lead lengths.
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[bkidder]

These sound pretty interesting to me, since I have fooled around with dipsy's in the past. The reason I quit using them was that the added pull they cause when fighting a fish makes it less fun. It also seems to cost me fish when I go after soft mouthed kokanee salmon. Adding a snubber helps, but the dipsy's are too much trouble to even bother with for me.

So these divers release when a fish strikes? Then they slide down to the bead... do they add pull from there? Or are they out of line and therefore not "diving" anymore? Where do you get the divers?

Thanks for your report, and any tips you can give me on these divers!
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[birddogwi]

Yea you should at least try these things on your Kokes out there. No exagerations, B - you'll be happier with these things than you were with the the Dipsys. Sure you still have the junk in the water ( I hate it too) ahead of the fish, but they honestly don't drag nearly as much as a dipsy. I was even running a 00 flasher/fly and 6" dodger/fly combo behind 'em this weekend.. and I didn't cuss 'em out once. Sure you can feel all that at times, but they make it more acceptable.

Yep they release. Basically like a Dipsy. They do add resistance, but what you get with the Sliders is that your line isn't interupted by the hardware itself.. its free floating sorta speak since your line runs through it - not tied directly to it. So when a fish takes off on a psycho run, shakes his head, etc., ... your rod bend plays more of a role since you're hooked up directly to the fish. The Slider can spin and move freely and if the fish takes a hard run its not necessarily taking the entire brunt of the hardware since the line can pull though it if the resistance differs. Otherwise the fish is yanking on the Dipsy before you feel it (or IF you ever feel it) on the rod at times.

Here's a few pictures to compare:

[black][size 3]DIPSY[/size][/black]


[black][size 3]SLIDE DIVER[/size][/black]




You can get 'em a bunch of different places, but I'm not too sure about out your way. Google "Slide Diver" and you should come up with something. If you have a tough time let me know! They're made locally here in Wisconsin - were designed by some charter boys that weren't happy with the Dipsy either []
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[bkidder]

Thank you very much for explaining slide divers to me! As soon as I get a minute to spare I'll look them up online. I'll let you know if I have any additional questions about them!

Talk to you later, bkidder
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[birddogwi]

no prob Bkidder. I just re-read my post and made a few edits so it was a little easier to readand understand.. sorry, I must've been a little tired last night []
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