I have used them many times, they work pretty well. Biggest problem with them is they dont always release and then you have to haul in a fish and the still digging out dipsy. Try them and experiment a little for best results. You may also want to try yellow birds for near surface species such as rainbow, steelhead, coho, etc. You need kindof a heavy rig to use dipsys, 20 lb rig should do it. I never used a snubber.