With the waters of Lake Michigan getting clearer and clearer every year, the salmon are becomming very shy of traditional tactics. Downriggers almost become worthless after the sun gets above the horizon. Wire diver setups are normally the hottest rigs on the boat. I want to build a wire diver rod that will go right down the middle where the chute rigger would normally run in the spread. This diver will run right down the middle of the other two divers to each side. Looking for suggestions on blanks. This rod would ideally be glass for durability, 6' or 6'6" in length. The tip needs to take a nice bend to give some "cushion" for hookups, but the bottom end needs to have plenty of power. The ability to control a big king and keep him in the middle will be very important. The rod will be built with SN II guides in a spiral wrap. Building standard wire diver rods is tough enough to get perfect, this application will make blank selection critical.

Tony,
An interesting article on the use of a wire diver rig.

Notice that the suggestion is to use roller guides, if you are going to be using wire for the main line.

[www.michigansportsman.com]

Take care

Roller guides are old school for wire. The SN guides from Fuji are designed for wire and make for a much lighter and user friendly rod. I build tons of wire rods for standard outside of the spread use. Running one down the chute will present some new issues. Looking at some of the Saltwater live bait blanks. Thanks for the article suggestion. It was written by John King, I know him. He has four of my wire rods. He wrote that article a long time ago and is very old school. He has never updated the article since the work we did on perfecting wire rods 8 years ago. Funny, small world. What I am really looking for is a 6' to 6'6" glass blank with a nice bending tip, and tons of power in the butt. These rods are loaded with about 15# of drag pulling mag divers with wire line at speeds of 3.0mph gps and more which is taxing enough. Then they take bites from kings upwards of 25 pounds with the rods in a stationary rodholder. Basically a horrible life for any blank. Most standard outside diver rods range from 8' to 11'. These rods will be much shorter to keep a low profile in their rodholder (center of transem) to allow for other rods to be moved over them while fish are being brought to the boat. The real advantage to the short rod will be in that it will be very beneficial to be able to put the pork to the fish. Controlling a big king, trying to keep it out of the other lines in close proximity will be key.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2015 04:46PM by Tony Childs.

I don't know this kind of fishin Is wire needed ?? Unless some of the fish have lots of teeth ?? LOL

Bill - willierods.com

Bill LOL! Yeah, us Great Lakes Salmon guys love the metal, SS wire, Copper wire, etc.... The SS wire is used on wire diver presentations. It dives much deeper than mono or even braid due to its ability to cut through the water (smaller diameter equals less drag). So, you can get deeper with less line out. We run as many as 15 rods at a time, so everything has to work together or you get a huge mess.

That makes sence The thinner it is Yet Stronge Thinner does cut thought water and go deeper faster

Bill - willierods.com

Tony,
Have you considered the Rainshadow solid glass blank?

[www.rainshadowrodblanks.com]

For example:

.540x.187x76"

This blank sounds right for your application. These are really tough, tough durable blanks that have a nice bend for fishing.

I have built hundreds of rods on this series of blanks for a different type fishing that needs a really tough durable blank.

Take care

Tony, You sound like your looking for a BUNKER SPOON blank (AMTEK ESW 761H) , you can't buy that blank any more but, Baston may have an equal to it.
Its an E-glass blank with asoft tip and a heavy backbone. They would make a perfect bunker spoon rod here for trolling Stripers with spoons and umbrella rigs on wire line.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

If you want something Indestructable They will be it Even the light searies should work

Bill - willierods.com

Now we are talking. Liking what I see. Good call, this application should be very similar to the bunker spoon program.

Dennis,

Can you provide more info on that blank? I can't seem to locate it.

John, That blank is out of production for the past 5 or more years now. I believe it was listed as a wire line trolling blank.If you can find an old American Tackle sheet ,it would be listed. It should come up if you Google it.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Dennis,

I had American Tackle bring me the AXWT66M and AXWT70H to the ICRBE for me to inspect. At the time I was looking for a blank to make a chute rod for a long 60lb copper rig. I felt they were both a bit too robust for my needs. Do you happen to know how the blank you're referring to compares to either of these? I could maybe see the 66M serve as a chute diver blank with an extension fitted if needed. When I handled both, I wasn't considering either for that purpose.

No it wouldn't. It was a stand alone blank that had an action that was perfectly suited for bunkerspoon trolling.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Dennis,

Thanks for the reply.