Dipsy leader length

[pulpfishin]

I was watching some videos of pros fishing in a tournament today and almost all of the boats in the tournament had leaders between their dipsy and flasher long enough so that they had to hand line the fish in after the dipsy was reeled up to the tip. I understand the advantage of making your leader as long as your rod, but my question is do you all think there is an advantage to longer leaders? And has anyone seen a difference in size, catches and hookup rates directly related to the length of the leader? It seems that last year we struggled with our wire dipsy bite and I am wondering if leader length had something to do with it. We were running them about 8-10 foot.

[JWheeler]

My dipsy program really took off last year, much more success. I think in part due to the lengthening of my leads from the dipsy. We end up hand lininng at the back of the boat too.

[mattmishler]

The shortest ill go is 10ft on my wire divers. If you don't want to run longer leaders for divers go slide divers. I'm going to run slide divers on my wires this year so I don't have that problem. I'm usually don't have any help when im running the back deck.

[Just Hook'n]

We ran longer leaders for bouncing bottom for lakers and it worked awesome.

I've not run excessively long leaders for anything else, but it might be worth a try.

[danthebuilder]

The 333 TV series almost everyone has is using long enough leaders that you've got to pull it in by hand.

[DarkBlue]

Longer is better. Minumum 10ft. Handlining can be tricky without enough people, but you will put more fish in the box.

Chris

[jimbobber]

i went to longer leaders last year and it made a big difference for us for both trout and kings.mine are 10 to 18 foot long.

[DIRTY DOG]

I run the same as Jim, 10 to 18 ft.

[killerbe20]

must be an east side thing

I have seen and heard from guys about the super long leads. I personally had an awesome diver program last season with standard 6-8 foot leads. I see the advantage and see how it could be a pain when working the boat by myself....to be honest though, until I am struggling to catch fish on my divers, I am going to stick with my standard leads.

[jimbobber]

dont blame you Josh its kinda pain for sure , my divers were struggling a bit last year so i tried the long lead and it seemed to work so for now i will stick with it i guess,however i do have one getting short due to cut backs and im still catching fish on it so who knows.

[mriversinco]

Wow, 18' leaders? That's the length of my boat......

[Eliminator]

I switched to 10' last year and saw a great improvment in dipsey action, definitly is a two person show but puts fish in the box!!

[pulpfishin]

I was watching 333tv! awesome viewing by the way. thank you everyone for your insight. we will be lengthening our leaders this year for sure! hand lining looks fun and adds an element of skill anyways!

[adrenalin]

must be an east side thing

I have seen and heard from guys about the super long leads. I personally had an awesome diver program last season with standard 6-8 foot leads. I see the advantage and see how it could be a pain when working the boat by myself....to be honest though, until I am struggling to catch fish on my divers, I am going to stick with my standard leads.

I agree

[pulpfishin]

It doesn't seem to be a problem catching fish as we do okay on riggers and boards and we did get bites on the dipsies. But man is it a blast to fight a big king on wire! Another question for you all: do you immediately loosen the drag on your dipsy rods when you see a fish on them, even before you take the rod out of the holder? I have done this a few times and I am not sure if it is my luck or just dumb luck (probably one in the same!), but we have lost a few fish doing it this way. Am I loosening the drag too much or not enough or what?

[Gnarf]

i run 9-10 foot leads including snubber and my dipsys always produce. florocarbon leaders also helped.

[spoonfed]

We also run 10' plus leaders, and yes we loosen the drag to get them out of the rod holders.

[Scale Chaser]

When you guys are saying 10' leaders, is that from the back end of the dipsy to the front of the flasher/dodger? Or is that from dipsy to hook? If its from the dipsy to the flasher and I'm running meat it could be 16'+ from the diver to the hook! Which is what it looks like in the videos. I to have seen a number of the 333 videos (and have participated in a few TT 333 events) but don't run my wire diver leaders nearly that long and with very good success. After watching the videos I'm certainly considering lengthening my leaders, though. Thanks for the info guys!

[sherman51]

i,ve been using about 7 to 8 ft for walleyes. doesnt seem to hurt anything, but then i,ve never tried longer leads. i even switched to the lite bite slide divers, but i just use them like a standard diver, i wanted them for the lite bite feature. if i was going to run the length leaders you guys are talking about i wouldnt use anything but the lite bite slide divers. you can make the leader as long as you want. and then just have a swivel tied in about 5 or 6 ft from the diver to stop it from going all the way to the bait. then you still have the lite bite that you can set so a shaker will trip your diver. just my opinion.

sherman

[Consummate Sportsman]

I run 6' leads and do just fine.

If my dipsey isn't firing, it's not because of the dipsey itself. It's because I don't have the right flasher/fly combo, or they don't want flies at all. If thats the case, I then switch over to spoons and... FISH ON!

Long leads aren't the secret to success w/ dipseys, IMHO. It's an agressive presentation that solicits agressive fish. The dipsey itself is an attractor! Why do you suppose guys love their wire?

Save the "stealth" for your long lines like copper and lead.

[Lobi]

I'm ready to try longer leads between my dipsey and flasher this year.

Going to start with ten footers but want to try running one at 30 feet.

What do you think of this logic..

The flasher on a short lead can only spin out so far.

A longer lead will let it spin a larger circle.

Heard of one boat running 30 ft leads and doing well. Hope I'm not letting someones secrete out of the bag.

[BenLubbs]

30' leaders ehhh, sounds like fun.

[southtrollsouth]

I run 6' leads and do just fine.

If my dipsey isn't firing, it's not because of the dipsey itself. It's because I don't have the right flasher/fly combo, or they don't want flies at all. If thats the case, I then switch over to spoons and... FISH ON!

Long leads aren't the secret to success w/ dipseys, IMHO. It's an agressive presentation that solicits agressive fish. The dipsey itself is an attractor! Why do you suppose guys love their wire?

Save the "stealth" for your long lines like copper and lead.

You are 100% correct. The only reason why we run slightly longer leaders is to get the customers out of the cockpit backing up with the rod so they dont lean over at the last minute and put the fish out of net range. We handline our coppers and riggers to the net as well and tell all customers to back up towards the helm during netting. Much greater control of fish that way rather than with a 10 foot pole sticking up in the air..