Using a Dipsy Diver as a means to troll without expensive equipment like a downrigger can be just as exciting and productive.
Dipsy Divers can get your lures into most strike zones with ease making for a fun day of fishing. The challenge is discovering which Dipsy Diver is right for you and that is what I hope to answer with this blog post.
Luhr Jensen, the makers of the Dipsy Diver, offer four different sizes each with distinctive running depths to work in just about every depth of the water column.
But of the four Dipsy Diver Sizes, which size works for the type of fishing you do?
Different Dipsy Diver Sizes: The Mini Dipsy Diver- Size 3/0
- Original directional design
- Adjustable positive trip mechanism
- Larger sizes have heavy duty welded ring construction
- Add optional "O" Rings to dive even deeper
- You'll cover more water when the Dipsy Divers are deployed
The smallest of the Dipsy Diver sizes from Luhr Jensen, the Mini Dipsy Diver, is great for ponds and shallow lakes, or for early season trolling.
Most anglers would prefer to use a bigger Dipsy Diver all season long and adjust depths as needed. An advantage to using the smaller dipsy when fishing allows is less weight on the rod when trolling and less to scare any easily spooked fish. With a general operating depth of 20 feet, you could equip your setup with the Mini Dipsy and fish anywhere fish are feeding 20 feet or less in the water column.
There’s a popular video of a young angler demonstrating how to use the Dipsy Diver and examples of fishing with it in a man made neighborhood pond. The Mini Dipsy is perfect for that type of application. You can see the video below;
Additionally, early season trout and salmon trolling is another good time using the mini dipsy diver. Because of ice out, the optimal temperatures for trout and salmon end up being at or near the surface.
While flatline trolling can be effective this time of year, your window of opportunity narrows considerably once the sun rises.
Using a small dipsy puts less stress on your equipment while still getting your lures at the appropriate depth. It also is about two inches smaller than a typical Dipsy Diver which would help minimize any spooking of hesitant fish you may be targeting.
Saying all of this, I would not recommend a mini dipsy unless you’re limited to shallow depth bodies of water or you really need the extra performance from your tackle with a smaller dipsy.
For those of us that would rather buy just one Dipsy while still fishing a wide variety of depths in the column, one of the other larger Divers make the most sense.
Different Dipsy Diver Sizes: Dipsy Diver- Size 0
- 0 Dipsy Diver Flo. Chartreuse / Green UV / Chrome
- 0 Dipsy Diver Flo. Chartreuse / Green UV / Chrome
- 0 Dipsy Diver Flo. Chartreuse / Green UV / Chrome
- 0 Dipsy Diver Flo. Chartreuse / Green UV / Chrome
- 0 Dipsy Diver Flo. Chartreuse / Green UV / Chrome
Unlike the 030, this Diver, while only 3 and 1/4 inches, can be reasonably expected to dive to depths the fish hang out in almost all year long.
If you’re targeting lake trout, you may need to go deeper with your lures, but generally, even in considerably larger lakes, rainbow trout and salmon will hang around the
Thermocline that most likely never goes past 30 or 40 feet. Of course there are exceptions, but in a large lake in the northeast, the thermocline will stay around 30-40 feet even into August. For those lakes where this is true, the Size 0 Diver makes the most sense. It’s small enough to not completely stress out your equipment yet big enough to really dive into the necessary depths.
You can find the detailed depth chart for the Size 0 here, but generally at around 2.5 to 3 mph you can achieve depths anywhere from 10 to 40 feet depending on how much line you let out.
There are a few factors that come into play to alter those depths, namely equipment like fishing line and current, but you can be relatively confident in using this chart.
Sometimes though you just need to go deeper than the thermocline, and Luhr Jensen has that Diver for you.
Different Dipsy Diver Sizes: Dipsy Diver- Size 1
- 1 Dipsy Diver Batman / Silver Bottom
Statistically it’s the most popular Dipsy Diver of the four Dipsy Diver sizes.
The Dipsy Diver 1 has a general operating depth of 50 feet but can reach depths of 70 feet in certain conditions. This Dipsy Diver is 4-1/8 inches and is offered in a wide variety of paint schemes.
The popularity of this Diver can be summed up pretty simply: versatile. If there is one Dipsy Diver you can rely on for any depth you need (mostly), it’s the Dipsy Diver 1.
Most anglers who use Divers are using them purely to get to depths only the Dipsy 1 and Dipsy Magnum can reach. The other two options are still viable, but meant for specific applications. For anglers with limited space, the Dipsy 1 is their best choice.
Believe it or not, there are still anglers hoping to troll at even deeper depths. There are instances where fish are looking for colder, deeper water and the Dipsy 1 won’t get you there. For those anglers, the Magnum Dipsy is their only option.
Different Dipsy Diver Sizes: Magnum Dipsy Diver
- 3 Dipsy Diver (Magnum) Chartreuse / White Bottom
For anglers who need to go down 100 feet in the water, the only choice they have is the Magnum Dipsy Diver. 4-7/8 inches, 8.8 ounces of pure downforce, the Magnum Diver does one thing extremely well: get down deep in the water.
Be warned:if you need to accomplish these kinds of depths regularly, you should be certain your outfit is capable of it.
We’ve detailed the specific equipment we recommend using Dipsy Divers with, but if a Magnum Diver is necessary, go beyond the recommendations. It really is a lot for most equipment to handle.
The Optional “O” Rings
With every Dipsy 0, 1, and Magnum, Luhr Jensen provides an attachment affectionately named, “The O Ring.”
Essentially the O ring extends the surface of the Dipsy Diver to provide even greater depths while trolling.
While it’s not documented specifically as to how much deeper the Diver will go, the main benefit is that it’ll take less line to achieve those depths.
This is extremely helpful especially when adjusting the weighted bottom to orient the diver in certain directions.
Plus, with less line comes with less to reel in when fighting the big fish!
This page was last updated on 2022-08-29. Affiliate links and Product Images are from Amazon PAAPI
