Setting Up and Running Sliding Divers on Wire for Great Lakes Salmon Trolling

Why Run Sliding Divers on Wire Line?

Trolling sliding divers on wire combines maximum depth with unmatched attraction- the natural hum and vibration of wire through the water actively calls Great Lakes salmon in, while the sliding diver gets your presentation far away from boat noise. Best of all, because the diver slides down to your leader stop when a fish strikes, you can run ultra-long stealth leaders without ever needing to handline fish to the net. Read below for the exact step-by-step rigging setup to make this system work on your boat.

In The Beginning

When wire first came around (for divers at least), I ran 30lb wire against braid. It was no contest. Starving Lake Huron kings preferred their last meal on steel over spun plastic by a wide margin. I then tested, for a whole season, 20lb wire vs 30lb wire. My log showed that 20lb outfished the 30lb quite easily. I don't have the data handy, but it was to the point that I changed all my diver poles to 20lb.

So enter the clarification of the Great Lakes, which was already happening, of course. Suddenly divers set 30ft back stopped banging salmon like they had. Fish seemed to shy away from the boat, and presentations set further back, like long rigger leaders, long hand-lined diver leaders (ugh☹️), started doing best.

Why Sliding Divers Works for Long Leader Presentations

The Slide Diver is obviously a killer setup for this approach. You can run it with a 100ft leader, and when reeling in a fish, the diver slides down the line and no hand-lining is required. But how (and maybe why) do you run a sliding diver on wire? Here's how I go about it:

But Wait...

Wire vibrations and the diver itself are noisy and attract fish- so having the lure way back behind all that racket might not seem to make sense. I had the same thought when setting this up, but I had to give it a try anyway. It works. My theory is that aggressive fish coming in hard to check out the spread will eventually spot a lure, whether it’s right at the diver or a different rig. But if they’re skittish and shying away from the boat, that long lead is right where it needs to be.  And it's always nice to avoid hand-lining!😀

Set-up

Find a tiny swivel (I like Spro 50lb or 75lb) that will clear your guides and traveling level-wind arm, loop, guide, thingy. Attach your wire to one side, and on the other side, attach a "working" leader of 30, 50, or 75ft of heavy-ish mono. I use 30lb. Use 50lb if you want. This is going to be where the diver lives.

I like to deploy the entire leader, so the diver is locked down at the roller swivel, just a few inches from the wire, so the "vibe signal" is best. At least it seems that the more wire without a mono damper, the better the vibe.

Slide a stop bead up the heavy leader and attach it to a good ball bearing swivel. Then run 5-6ft of 17lb leader to a snap. I like to run a clean snap here, since the swivel further up the line is already handling the twist management. That way the light snap really lets the spoons kick.

Deployment: How to Set a Sliding Diver on Wire

This is where things get tricky. I'm sure most of you know wire is a finicky beech: coils, curls, loops, and twists appear out of nowhere at the slightest hint of slack. Setting a sliding diver can be a mess, so I'll try to walk through it step by step.

Assuming we're setting line on the starboard side of the boat:

Take the pole and the released diver in your left hand. This hand is down by the reel. The reel is disengaged with the clicker on. We're safe at this point, the wicked, evil wire is hidden under a few wraps of mono. While holding the diver and pole, also pinch the line to keep pressure on it. The line will be coming off the reel, up through the guides, and right back along the pole to your hand holding the diver.

Now throw the lure in the water, hopefully you clipped it onto the snap first!🙂 Start letting line out by stripping it with your right hand, keeping pressure with your left the whole time. When you get the tiny roller swivel to the tip (roller, spring, whatever your rod's using) it will probably catch due to the hard 180-degree turn. You may have to jostle it a bit. Spring tips seem to work better for this. Keep stripping (but keep wire tight!) until you get the wire down to the diver.  Then lock the diver up. Swing the diver out, reset your counter, and let her go.  Start catchin feesh!  Whew. Easy.

The End

That’s about it! If you’re trying to get your lures away from the boat- whether due to engine noise, shallow water, or spooky fish- the wire slide diver is a great setup for the job.