mr 580

Slide Diver standard weight is 4 oz. They offer a heavy weight kit which is a 7 oz weight and a big ring. I’ve never fished deeper diver but likely the deeper diver would compare closer to a SD with heavy weight kit. IMO the slide diver dive curve is slightly less than a LJ dipsey which I’ve fished a lot. I just run more line with SD and compensate that way. To me printed dive curves are a starting point and I let the fish and my rods tell me the numbers I need to run.

This is how I setup a Slide Diver Lite Bite- 1. Diver comes with a piece of clear tubing. Feed a short piece of tubing over the end of the rear trigger loop to close gap. This keeps your line in the trigger loop and makes deploying easier. See picture for detail. 2. Put a piece of supplied surgical tubing over front trigger then slide on spring tube section. 3. For braid diver I tie in 40ft. of Maxima Ultragreen 40lb test Mono Leader material ( 30 or 35 ft works too). Can also substitute 30 or 40lb test Big Game mono. I like the 40lb leader as it holds up longer before it needs to be swapped out. I use a back to back uni knot to tie mono to the braid. For a wire diver use an Albright knot to attach 65lb braid to wire then use back to back uni knot to attach mono for slide material. 4. Feed the mono through diver add a piece of surgical tube under front trigger to lock mono before trigger is set. 5. Put a bead on the end of mono to help cushion knot when diver slides back. Tie on a quality snap swivel. 6. Adjust triggers- front trigger should be fairly tight and rear trigger fairly loose. Back trigger adjustment is pretty sensitive. Once you do a few it gets easier. 7. Tie a 3 or 4 ft fluorocarbon leader -I use 20lb test- with a barrel swivel on one end and a plain snap on the other end for your lure to attach to. This leader keeps diver from sliding down to the fish. Make it long enough but short enough for comfortable netting. You can rig a standard slide diver in same manner-just no rear trigger. With the mono slide leader no snubber required. This setup works on Lake Erie or Lake Ontario (use 30lb leader section for flasher fly or meat rig). I also use rings as I like my diver rods to load up so I get a solid release. Pictures attached. Hope this is helpful. The regular Luhr Jensen dipsey works great, I just think the slide diver with adjustable leader length is better.

Let me get some pics and I will post in “tackle and technique” section - hopefully later today.

J Sparrow if you decide to try slide divers PM me and I’ll pass along some setup tips that can shorten the learning curve on SD’s.

If you want to run a longer leader on a diver, it is hard to beat a slide diver. The lite bite version with rear trigger also helps with problem of dragging junk fish around. There is a learning curve in setting them, but once you get it down no problems. I can run 40’ leader usually with a spoon and typically run 2 to a side.

I use 15lb fluorocarbon leader and for length 20 feet along with a good quality swivel. Twisted line might be a bad swivel or spun up from dragging a trash fish around spinning.

Found a group of active eyes on Saturday 5/30 with my worm harnesses in the South basin. So I setup with trolling motor to cast Keitech swim baits on a 1/4 once jig head- first three cast caught one fish and lost another. Ended up catching about a dozen on the Keitech averaging a fish probably every other cast. Some pictures attached of some of the fish caught and released. Fun way to catch fish on light tackle. Water is finally warm enough for fish to get active.

The Keitech swimbaits work well in the daytime too. Check my post and pictures in Chautauqua section. I was using 4" swim bait with 1/4 once jig 3/0 hook averaging an eye every other cast yesterday. I figured they would just as well in day as night and they do.

Traxstech Angled Rod holders are sold. Pair of Bert’s Rod Holders currently still available.

Tiny Tuna- the Bert’s Rod Holders are still available. Sherman- I’ll send you a PM on the Traxstech regarding a freight quote. thanks!

Think it is worth noting that the live bait business changed drastically in NY with laws designed to prevent spread of VHS and requirement of sale of certified bait. Pretty specific regulations regarding bait use, receipt keeping, and transport corridors. Not easy or cheap to be a bait dealer today-plus having to deal with current business restrictions.