Best Divers for Kayak fishing for salmon?

I've been trolling for salmon a few times this year and normally use a cannon ball or an in line weight, but this also means that I'm carrying several pounds of various weights in the kayak.  In an effort to lighten the load overall and carry less gear, I'm seeing lots of people using, and having success with divers.

Where the heck to I start with divers?  Cruising the isles at Fishermans and Cabelas, there are endless sizes, shapes, colors, sizes etc.  I also understand that drag may be an issue in the kayak.

I also understand that some of the divers have adjustable depths while others are set for a certain depth.  Even with the depth settings, how do know when you are at the depth?

With all of this in mind, any advice on brands, types, sizes, colors etc?

Thanks for your input.

Hey Cosmo.  I didn't care for the drag from the diver (also my diver wasn't set right, so did not release on the one fish I had while in use), so I've gone back to lead only.  Though I've been mostly using 10oz, I also try to have a 6 and 8 on me in my bucket. 

The diver I was using was a Deep Six - likely size 002.

-Sam

If you have your diver held in a rod holder behind you, straight out the back, it isn't so bad.  However, if your rod his held out from the side, as most do, the drag can be annoying.   
I use a Deep Six... I like that they pop open when a fish hits and you don't end up fighting the diver.  You can also run your flasher right behind the diver which shortens up your gear a bit.  The other thing I like is the fact the faster you troll the deeper it dives.  This lets you adjust your depth a bit simply with trolling speed.

Good information about how trolling speed relates to depth.  I was wondering what Cosmo was going to do if the fish were just a little bit deeper.  Now I know.

I’d stick with lead....you should not need that many leads for targeting coho, a 4 or 6 oz banana sinker is fine.  Maybe toss a 10 oz ball in your box if there’s some chinook around.

I can’t imagine having the rod tip out of sight behind me just to run a diver.  You will not see those jellyfish and weed hits, not to mention short strikes where you may want to slow down and/or speed up to trigger a hookup.  Whatever works though.  The drag from pro troll type flashers is bad enough though!

Thanks for the input and information everyone.  Perhaps I need to stick with what I have and just get more time on the water.  I already have more fishing gear than any one man should have, at least that's how my wife says it.

Look up "Bud's Diver" on You Tube----poor man's downrigger, I have one and love it, you can set your line waaaay back!   And you only need about 6-8 ounces of lead.

If you are fishing the ocean, or most bays, you should not need a bunch of lead because there is nothing to really snag.  I found 6 oz with 3o feet of line on the line counter worked great this weekend.  I only needed the one weight.  Basically, I brought a 4 oz, a 6 oz, an 8 oz and a 10 oz with me. The six was money for me at Depoe Bay - but also the only one I tried - and when I was at PC the weekend before both the 6 and 8 were interchangeable.

I dont see a reason for using lead ball-style weights on a short dropper for ocean fishing. I see alot of folks using that setup but in my mind that applies well to trolling in river systems and bouncing off the bottom. In line banana weights, 6 oz, have worked well for me in the big salt.

I’ve been using nothing but a 10oz ball on a slider for the ocean these last two seasons. It seems to work great. I tried a little less weight but it felt like when there is current the gear stayed up high no matter how much line I let out. I like knowing that when I let more line out the gear goes deeper right away. With a 10oz I can fish basically any depth I want.
I’m not an expert at all, just sharing what’s been working for me.

I've been liking the deep six 001, getting around the drag took some experimenting but I found holing the rod more straight out in front of me made the drag almost non existent. If I had a peddle drive and rudder I wouldn't see the drag being an issue at all.

I've found my best success is either using my scotty lake troller DR, or a cannonball weight on a slider in front of a triangle style flasher.  I run my rod out to the side though, and I imagine if I ran it straight back, I would have less issue with drag running a deep six.  When I have run a deep six, I find it is really a lot of drag, and having my rod out sideways makes the drag a real challenge.  I will keep fiddling with it, but my take is lead on a slider or dropper is best.  I've run up to a 16 oz. cannon ball to target kings deep, and that was a lot less work than just pulling in the deep six after it had popped, just to check my bait.

HAve used Deep Six and Delta Divers---they are a PITA, VERY hard to trip if you want to bring it up to check herring or change lures. And they have a hard pull.  The Bud's Diver is about 22X better, you can run your gear 100feet back of the diver, you can run it with only 3 or 4 oz lead ball. Nowhere near as hard to reel Bud's in without tripping your gear.

I'm gonna go ahead and say it....   I prefer running a downrigger for setting depth of salmon trolling gear.  It's very simple once you get a system.  You always know your depth, the drag can be accomodated with the clip pressure so it will release with a big or small fish trolling big or small flashers.   I always know what depth I'm at with my downrigger ball -- can go chasing chinook at depth or coho at the surface.  It's so much more fun to just play the fish and not have any additional lead on the line.   I highly suggest Downrigger fishing for the ocean.  In the river, I still use lead droppers because of the bottom surface topology and numerous submerged hazards.  Just my opinion.