A couple of weeks ago I asked for input on trolling rigs like the dipsy diver, jet diver, etc. well I went out and bought a few and here are my results. 1st. The Jet Diver - I got the '20 model. It was the easiest to use, just tie top end to rod and bottom end to '3 - '3 1/2 of leader then to your bait. It ran down around '20 as advertised (I got snagged around '18). Simply rig it up and trow it out off the back, then troll, wasn't very hard to reel back in either. 2nd. Big Jon's Mini Disk - Similar to the Dipsy Diver but about 3/4 of the size. This one rigs up basically the same as the Jet Diver, top to rod, bottom to "40 of leader then to bait. Claims to dive to '30 with every '2 of line giving '1 of dive, not to sure about this one, but it was in the ballpark. Shook similar to a crankbait and reeled in fairly easy as well. My only concern about this one is accuracy of the depth. 3rd - The Pink Lady I went back & forth with this thing and finally put it back in the boat. Rigs the same as the above and goes down '1 per '2 of line out, however it has a trip release that activates when a fish gets hooked so you're not fighting the fish and the rig. I found this release to be very troublesome, I used a 3/4 oz. bucktail jig then a 1/2 oz. It seemed the weight of the baits were causing the release to trip. I never could get it to dive down and stay down. Maybe with a pet spoon or a crankbait this may work correctly, but I was not impressed. 4th - Hell Pet rigged, This is an oldie but a goodie. Took the treble hooks off the hell pet added a 1/2 oz. sinker to the front eyelet and tied a '3 leader to the rear eyelet then to bait. This is a proven classic and worked well diving to depths of around '15-'20. Easy to rig, easy to use but a pain to reel back in. Pulled the big jigs just fine and the end of my rod tip. So all in all I would reccomend the Jet Diver they come in various sizes and work great, or just get a downrigger!

If you look at your jet diver, you can see that it dives by virtue of the front fins digging downwards into the water. You can hear a weight rolling inside, when you tilt it back and forth. This weight rolls forward and tilts the fins downwards. The more "drag" you apply to the other end, by reason of lure weight or water resistance, you reduce the downward angle of the fins, causing it to run more shallow. The same principle applies to all these devices. I've got best results with the #14 pet spoon, which weighs only .2 oz. I let out about 100-125 feet of line with the 40 ft. Jet Diver which, as you probably know, can't be bought "off the shelf" here. (It will run about 28 ft. deep.) My results also improved when I started using 5 ft. lure leaders. I've never got around to using my Pink Lady, but you might possibly get better results with a lighter lure. I'm not familiar with that Big John's item, but I seriously doubt you're going to get a foot of depth with every two feet of line.

15-20 feet sounds about right for the "hell pet" combo, the way you've got it rigged. It will wear you out trying to get it back to the boat.

The Dipsy Diver has a true release, a little rod that detaches from its holder when pressure is applied. This lets you retrieve it quickly and easily over the top of the water.

You have to spend some time playing around with these things, but they do work. I've had better results at depths greater than 20 feet, though.

I was hoping to get deeper than '20 with the Pink Lady, but as you stated a lighter lure or even a crankbait maybe the ticket, when you drop that thing in the water it only takes the slightest amount of weight to pull down the rear of it and in doing so never allows the release to reset. Directions state to just give it a quick tug up and it will reset, no such luck for me. Where I was fishing target depth was '20 +/- due to the lake level being '10+ low. When it comes back up I'll try with the '30 Jet Diver. The Jet Diver dove & pulled the big jigs with no problems.

But how do you know how deep you're getting? Google up Depth Chart for Diving Planers. With 125 feet of light line out, and the right lure, you should be able to get 28 feet down with the #40 Jet Diver, 23 ft. with the #20. I haven't been able to do that with a heavy jig. I wasted a lot of time earlier this year because I didn't realize that my "presentations" were running much shallower than I supposed. Doesn't make much difference, I guess, if you're targeting reds on Calaveras. If you're on Canyon, though, I've had far better results getting deeper than 20 ft. And I've found, the hard way, that when you attach a deep running crankbait to a Jet Diver, they just offset each other.

Pardon. Got you mixed up with a South Texas angler with a similar handle.

No worries. I got the 1/2 oz. jig snagged twice on rocks both times it was in water going anywhere from '18 - '20. While trolling I could watch the rod tip bump and bend when the jig would bounce off submerged objects in these same depths, that's how I know.