Rigging a jet diver is straightforward: your main line connects to the top eyelet on the vertical fin, and a leader runs from the bottom eyelet to your lure. The diver pulls your presentation down to a specific depth while trolling, then pops to the surface when a fish strikes, so it stays out of your way during the fight. Getting the details right makes the difference between a clean setup and a tangled mess.
How a Jet Diver Works
A jet diver is a weighted, wing-shaped device that planes downward as water flows through it. Unlike a downrigger, which uses a cable and weight, the jet diver attaches directly inline between your main line and your lure. When a fish hits, the diver’s release mechanism trips, rotating the diver so it loses its diving angle and floats up toward the surface. This means you’re fighting the fish, not the diver.
Choosing the Right Size
Jet divers are numbered by their maximum running depth in feet. Luhr-Jensen (now under Rapala) makes them in five standard sizes:
- Size 10: 3 inches long, dives to 10 feet
- Size 20: 3.5 inches long, dives to 20 feet
- Size 30: 4 inches long, dives to 30 feet
- Size 40: 4.5 inches long, dives to 40 feet
- Size 50: 6 inches long, dives to 50 feet
Those depth ratings assume you have about 100 feet of 17-pound monofilament out behind the boat at trolling speed. Heavier line, less line out, or faster speeds will reduce the depth you actually reach. If you’re targeting walleye suspended at 25 feet, a size 30 with slightly less line out gets you in the zone without overthinking it.
The Basic Rigging Steps
The jet diver has two attachment points: one on the top of the vertical fin and one on the bottom. Your main line ties or clips to the top eyelet. A leader runs from the bottom eyelet back to your lure. That’s the entire concept, but the execution matters.
Start by tying or snapping your main line to the top eyelet. Use a quality snap swivel here to reduce line twist, which is common with any inline diver. At the bottom eyelet, attach your leader using another snap swivel. The leader connects to whatever you’re pulling: a crankbait, spoon, crawler harness, or a flasher-and-fly combination.
Before you let it out, make sure the diver is in the “set” position. You’ll feel or hear it click into place. In this locked position the diver will plane downward. When a fish strikes and puts enough pressure on the line, the mechanism trips and the diver rotates to its release position, losing its dive and rising toward the surface.
Leader Length for Different Setups
Leader length depends on what you’re running behind the diver. For a simple lure like a crankbait or spoon, 4 to 6 feet of leader gives the bait enough separation from the diver to move naturally. Walleye anglers commonly use this range with crawler harnesses and shallow-diving cranks.
If you’re running a flasher or dodger behind the diver, the rigging gets a bit more layered. A common approach is to place the flasher 24 inches behind the diver, then run a 3 to 4 foot leader from the flasher back to the lure. With dodgers, many anglers increase the diver-to-dodger distance to about 48 inches, since dodgers need more room to achieve their side-to-side swing. The leader behind a dodger is typically 2 to 2.5 times the length of the dodger itself.
Pre-tying several leaders at different lengths (24, 36, and 48 inches) with snap swivels on each end lets you swap quickly on the water. This makes experimenting painless, and you’ll often find that small changes in leader length noticeably affect how your lure or flasher performs.
Trolling Speed and Depth Control
Jet divers reach their rated depths at trolling speeds between 1.5 and 2.5 mph. Faster than that and the diver will ride higher in the water column, reducing your effective depth. Slower speeds let the diver sink closer to its maximum rating.
One of the jet diver’s biggest advantages is what happens when you slow down, make a turn, or briefly stop. Unlike some diving devices that rise sharply when speed drops, jet divers tend to hold your lure in the target zone during speed changes. This is especially useful for walleye trolling, where turns and S-curves are part of the game. Your inside lines slow down during a turn while your outside lines speed up, and the jet diver handles those fluctuations better than many alternatives.
Line Type and Its Effect on Depth
Monofilament is the standard line for jet divers, and the depth charts are based on 17-pound mono. Mono has stretch, which helps absorb the shock when the diver trips and a fish surges. It also has enough diameter to create the water resistance the depth charts are calibrated around.
If you switch to a thinner line like braid or fluorocarbon, your diver will run deeper than the chart suggests because thinner line cuts through the water with less resistance. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but it means you can’t rely on the depth chart at face value. Some anglers use a short section of mono as a top line, then transition to braid on the reel, splitting the difference between sensitivity and predictable depth.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The most frequent issue is forgetting to reset the diver after it trips. Every time you reel in, whether from a fish, a weed foul, or checking your bait, you need to click the diver back into its set position before letting it out again. If you drop it back without resetting, it will just drag along the surface doing nothing.
Another common problem is running too short a leader. Anything under 3 feet puts your lure so close to the diver that the turbulence and shadow from the diver can spook fish or kill your lure’s action. On the other end, leaders longer than 6 feet can make tangles more likely, especially in rough water or when fishing multiple rods.
Line twist builds up over time with any inline diver. Using snap swivels at both the top and bottom attachment points helps, but periodically letting out your bare line behind the boat (no diver, no lure) and trolling for a few minutes will unwind accumulated twist. Doing this once or twice during a long trolling session saves frustration later.