what me, jump in? hardly ever, like pulling teeth for me to give my opinion but i will try and help ::)

Your deep divers will be directly effected by the diameter of your line. Physics......thicker line means greater resistance and hence shallower diving depths. Choices, choices.......braid will get you deeper but it has its own drawbacks as in only certain knots can be used, potentially injurious to work with (I like gloves when tightening knots) and is highly visible to fish. There is also no stretch which can be a disadvantage due to "pulled" hooks.

I like the big deep taildancers and the trout colored finishes are tops in my book. I pull them on 8lb green xt trilene but your knots have to be 100%. Do not tie 8lb to the split ring as you will not get 100% strength. Get rid of it altogether and get a fas-snap and tie the gryp knot using a "tie fast" knot tying tool. Experiment with the number of wraps, 5 or 6 wraps should work. Yes, I sound like a broken record but this works and works well. If you do not do as I suggest I would move to 10lb mono as a minimum for tying to split rings and their oval configuration (you can minimize the thickness of tying to split rings by tying where the ring is single thickness of wire.....that helps tremendously). I will stick with the tiny fas-snaps in the large size (not x-large).

On overcast and rainy days the lakers will go up in the water column to chow down and they can be caught with the taildancers. Run them far back, rod holders are helpful and have your drag fairly tight if you use mono. Remember, mono has stretch. When you hook up remember to loosen your drag as the fish gets nearer the boat because now there is little stretch and little margin for error with 8lb line and a big fish.

Want tostep up the line size a bit? Sure, less chance for a breakoff. But now you need to get deeper. Enter in line sinker. Pay special attention to the line between the sinker and the lure.....no stretch with mono and no shock absorbing bungee effect to help out. You might want to up your lb test in this crucial area to say 12 or even 14lb test. The less experienced you are the heavier the line should be.

Trolling in lines for lakers in open water with no depth finder can work fine but trolling in lines with any precision near the bottom usually results in hang ups and that rather quickly. What makes the deep diving cranks shine is there ability to dig bottom without hanging up.......if you remove the front treble you have a snag resistant lure indeed.

good luck
MT