Help with my spread

[pikeman8]

I have been having good success for me this season so far running a spread of 8 lines. Two riggers, two divers, and four leadcore off boards. My question is that I often have 3 or 4 friends on the boat and would like to add two more, effective, lines to my spread. I am thinking of trying either two more dipseys or lead but dont want to get snarled up. I have only got tangled this year so far when running 8 lines when a mad king decided he wanted to investagate all my other lines:lol:. I have been hearing good things about the Z boards and their true tracking so I am thinking I could possibly run three off each side. I am running offshore boards now and they pull back too much with lead for me to try to run three off each side. My dipseys have produced 2 fish all season so im not too keen on putting two more out. Any thoughts? What does your spreads look like?

[mattmishler]

MY big spread will look like 4 leads 2 divers and 3 riggers. Thats when i have 3 people or over. I dont like really big spread then that equals big tangles. When you have a big king that wants to go crazy then he will take out everthing in his path. Im a big fan of the KISS method. But if the bite is good i will run 6 Only JMO. Somtimes less is more.

[Nailer]

The easiest way to add two more would be additional divers. It really helps to have the high (out) dive on a longer rod than the inside one. We all get in the habit of running flasher/fly combo on the diver, but spoons work very good in early summer on the diver rods.

[adrenalin]

I would add more cores. You should be able to run 8 cores without any problems. Our typical spread is 2 corner riggers, 1 chute rigger, 2 divers, and 8 cores. If they won't hit any of that stuff their is probably a different problem to solve.

[1mainiac]

I have ran 4 boards per side many times with my Off Shore's still don't have enough Z Boards to do that but working on it. as long as you put enough room between the boards they will be fine if you don't drive in figure 8's. Keep in mind the depth difference I have more issues with my high diver getting into my copper or full core than anyothe issue as they get let out thinking deeper without thinking wider and next thing you know it is in the copper.

[pikeman8]

I assume all running the Z-boards are using the biggest ones they make? I lost one of my offshores last weekend so this would be a good time for me to get some new ones. Would have went back for it but wanted to get in quick the radar looked nasty to the west.

[steeliebob]

During the early am or late evening I cut back on the number of lines that I run so that I won't get a king running across lines. Most of the time down to two poles with sliders or 4 poles with stackers. I do not want to spend the prime fishing time messing with a bird nest of lines. I have put just as many fish in my boat running 4 lines as guys I have seen running 8 or more lines. When the fish are not biting well I tend to put up to 8 lines out just to cover different depths.

[Just Hook'n]

I run 10 all the time. They typically look like this:

Down, Dipsey, 300 copper, full core, half core

OR if the feeshes are shallower

Down, Dipsey, Full core, half core, 3 color

Obviously this is on both sides.

I find that three boards a side runs very well.

We've tried to get creative and run 12 lines, but it is not fun and you have to run STRAIGHT.

That being said, I know guys that run 16 lines with great sucess.

[Knot Tellin]

I typically run 8-9 rods. 2 riggers, 2 divers, 4 LC (3, 7, and 2-10 color rods) and a long line, sometimes with a divebomb. 5 boards. I have been running offshore OR12 boards. But they don't seem to track as well as the church board I used to have. I have been thinking of adding some weight to front of it so that they have a little more bite. The nose of the board is to high in the air when pulling all of that lead.

Glad to see I am not the only one to have problems with wild Kings. Running through the set.

Also if I was to add another rod to the set up what should I add. Wire or Cooper?

Thanks for the tip on the Z boards. But I wish I wouldn't have sold my Otter boats. They tracked awsome.

[Yankee Troller]

It's hard to tell you what to add. I would add a 3rd rigger and then toss a copper down the chute that has some depth to it so you can get down to those deep kings. 4 wire divers are great when there is a good King bite going on. Even when you have a mix of Coho and Kings you can put a slide diver over the top of a wire diver. Just be careful with the slide divers getting into those church boards.

I am not a fan of church boards. They just dont pull out to the side enough. I have heard that the Z boards are much better at this, but I have yet to try them.

My typical spread is 3 riggers 2-4 divers and 3 junk lines (one off each otter boat and one down the chute). I only have a 9'6" beam and we have no problems with this spread. On slow days I might even put out 2 more junk lines for a total of 5. Two on each otter boat and one down the chute. It may be a PITA to re-set the outside line on the otter boat, but that boat is perpendicular to my boat, so I know my lines are away from my divers. Makes turns a lot easier.

[Knot Tellin]

Yankee Troller

I know what you are saying about the otter boats. They really track nice and have been debating on getting another set. Don't complain about a 9'6" beem. I fish out a 16' Lund Pro Angler with a 60hp merc 4st. It is 16.5' long with a 89" beam. We tend to look like a porcupine and that is the way I like it. I have fished 35 miles of shore before and put about 90 mile on the boat and burnt 12.5 gallons of gas. Its a small boat but it gets the job done. If I add another rod or 2 they will be either wire, cooper or more LC.

We fished a tournament this last weekend and most of the fish came on LC.

[Capt. Brian]

Adding another dipsy each side is going to be your least expensive way to go I will run either 2 braids per side with a mag on the inside and a standard #1 high or if I need to get deep I will run the mag on a wire set up. I also run up to 6 board a side with any thing from a flat line to 300 copper I run all orange waleye boards and I wrap the release so the board stays hooked and does not slide back to the bait when it gets ripped hard or just bounces in the waves just right. The bumbier it is the less boards I run they tend to start jumping over eachother.