What Are You Adding To Your Arsenal?

[Paulywood]

Well I finally abandoned hope and put the boat away this weekend. Now I am thinking about things that I would like to add to my spread for next year. I was thinking about getting a couple of copper set-ups for when the fish move real deep. Anyone else thinking about new gear for next year?

[Treblemaker]

I just picked up 4 new reels for core, to replace my tired old PENN 209's and 210's. I opted for the new PENN 220 GTO, and the 230 GTO. I will use the 220's for under 5 colors, and the 230's for 10 colors and under. A great reel for the buck, super smooth and a loud clicker.

Hopefully pick up a couple rods at the swap or a show this winter. I also plan to abandon all but 1 of my deep copper rigs and go to assorted lengths of copper this year.

[DIRTY DOG]

looking for a pair of wire divers

[GLF]

I went on a charter a couple of years ago, and they were using egg sinkers on their lead core for extra depth. I am going to work with adding egg sinkers to the lines. I would like to be able to achieve the depth of copper without having to switch over to copper and changing rods.

[Paulywood]

The charter captain that we go with likes to add 1 lb. balls to his cores. That helps him acheive the depth. I have already added a couple of short cores for spring and fall fishing. Other than the copper all I plan on adding are more lures!

[HitMan]

We are planning to add a lot more Copper Rigs. We had extremely good success with the few Copper rods we had last year. They were consistent producers; often outproducing all of the Lead Core rods combined. We have been using Copper for the previous 4 years with so-so success. But, last year it seemed to be a lot more effective than the prior 3 years. It definitely is not user friendly, but was extremely effective.

[Paulywood]

Hitman, what would you say were your most succesful copper set-ups? I was thinking of 1 300' of 30lb. and 1 300' of 45 lb. But I am open to any recommendations.

[HitMan]

Our two most productive Copper Lengths, by a huge margin, were 225' of 30 pound Copper and 175' of 45 pound Copper. Others that were decent were 300' of 30 pound Copper (the most commonly used length in both 30 pound and 45 pound Copper) and 375' of 30 pound Copper. Personally, I prefer the 30 pound Copper over the 45 pound Copper. It has seemed to work better, doesn't backlash as easy, and definitely spools off the reel more cooperately. Anyways, the 225' of 30 pound Copper was probably our best rod, day in and day out, all year long.

[Paulywood]

That's good to know. I haven't made any decisions on what I am going to do yet, I was just thinking about getting 2 rods set up and appreciate the info. How deep do you figure that 225' of 30 lb. runs? How about the 175' of 45 lb? I would like something that runs deeper than a full core, if I could get that and stay shorter than that would be great!

[HitMan]

We figured that the 225' of 30 pound Copper was so productive that we would make up 175' of 45 pound Copper to hopefully equal the 225' of 30 pound Copper, since the 45 pound Copper goes deeper than the 30 pound Copper. I would guess these two run the same depth, which is a little over a Full Core, maybe 11-13 Colors. If your main objective is to get deeper than a Full Core with only two Copper Rods, I would definitely say anything from 225' to 375' of 30 Pound Copper would be excellent for you, with 300' of Copper being the most popular and easiest to get. I would say 300' of Copper is roughly equal to 15 Colors of Lead Core. I don't know as many specifics about the 45 pound Copper, other than it is thicker and you can achieve more depth with less Copper out. We have had much better success with the 30 pound Copper than the 45 pound Copper for some reason. It sounds like your initial idea of 300' of 30 pound and 300' of 45 pound Copper would be a good scenerio for only two rods. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[caznik]

I am getting new rod holders for my dipsey rods and full core rods. I will be putting on 2 vectors and 2 burks. My tite locks are junk.

Caznik

[Paulywood]

Caz, I love my Bert's ratcheting holders for the dipseys. GLF, what kind of riggers are you going with?

[GLF]

I believe(still undecided) I am going to go with 3 Big Jon's. I am trying to decide between Captain's Pak or Pro Tournament. The Pro Tournament is suppose to be 25% faster than the Captain's Pak. I hope to make my decission in the next week or two.

Anyone have any feed back between the two?

[Paulywood]

The charter boat we were on last year was running the Captain's Pack and he complained that they were a little slow when they were fishing deep (100'+) the week before we got up there. Depending on the price difference the faster ones might be the way to go. Electrics aren't in the plans for this year but I plan on getting some next year. When I do I'm going full bore and getting the Speed Riggers from Big Jon. They are $pricey$ but I will only be getting 2.

[Erik Soderberg]

Hi everone this is the first time I have added to yor discussion. I ussually just read what the fishing report is and how people are doing during deer season. Any way I plan on adding a couple more lead core poles. Probably seven colors and a couple of 2 or three colors to run off of the riggers. I will also add a few more dipsey poles. The more hooks in th ewater the better.

[GLF]

Hi Erik,

Welcome to the site. We are glad you decided to come out of the shadows and become part of the discussion. Is that your boat in your avatar?

[HitMan]

Hey Mike,

As of August, when I last talked to the Big Jon Rep, the Pro Tournament Riggers were still having problems with their motors. He said the motor issue should have been finalized and figured out by the end of the summer. He said they were working on it, and at that time he was recommending people purchase the Captain's Pak Riggers.

I know 3 different people who purchased new Captain's Pak Riggers last year and everyone said they worked great. I haven't heard anything bad about Captain's Pak Riggers in years.

Also, the Speed Riggers had the same problem with their motors when they first came out. Boats were going through riggers every other week. But, the last I heard the Speed Riggers were better than in years past.

Captain Jon

[SD800]

Hit Man,

This is John from Big Jon Sports, not sure who you spoke to but we have had only two motor come back out of over 1500 last year, one was a warranty and the other was a dock mishap. If you spoke to me I must appoligize for giving you incorrect information, It may have been at a tourney and I may have inadvertently said the pro tournamnet instead of the Speed Rigger. Which your statement is correct. We are currently not releasing Speed Riggers, they are much better than the first units but not up to Big Jon standard. we are currently working with the control and motor manufacturers. I would not look for them to be released until 2008, we want a good year of field testing before they are released again.

I will look forward to seeing you this summer at the tournaments, good luck to you and the Hit Man team this year.

[Erik Soderberg]

Yep thats my boat in the picture I keep it in pentwater at charles marina.

[HitMan]

Hey John,

Sorry for the confusion about the Pro Tournament Rigger and the Speed Rigger. Yeah, I talked to you at a tournament. This fall, I had another person mention they were thinking about getting the Pro Tournament Rigger or Captain's Pak in March. I will definitely remember that the Speed Riggers are not being released anymore and that the Pro Tournament Riggers are good and ready to go. Those do sound like a better deal for the additional features and speed increase. Again, I apologize and am sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the kind wishes and we will see you in South Haven.

Captain Jon

[Priority1]

I just added 4 Big Jon rod holders for my dipsys. John aka SD800 fixed me up with some factory seconds that look real good.

I'm also about to weld up an 8 rod SS Rocket Launcher, to go up on my HT. The Rocket Launcher will pivot down to clear my 10' high garage door. The Rocket Launcher will also have my two 55w halogen fishing lights and the anchor light mounted on it.

I will probably set up a couple of SWRs with some of my reserve rods.