Does anybody fish with leadcore?

[Fawkinnae]

I'm going to try some leadcore fishing/trolling. One of the things I'm noticing is the guys that talk about leadcore always seem to have these incredibly long leaders. 30 feet. Sometimes 50 feet. What's the deal? Why these crazy long leaders. What do you do?
Thanks

[dakids]

leadcore isn't flexable at all and would kill all action.  we use about 30 ft of fluorocarbon.

[HD]

When we fished the walleye trail, we used lead core on the bigger bodies of water. The longer leaders were used to give you a little stretch in the line. As Dakids pointed out, lead core has no give. When hooking a fish with a short leader, you would pull the hooks right out of the fish and miss quite a few. With that being said....we never went over 20 feet for leaders, that gave you enough "stretch" to keep even your short bitters on. A lot of the walleye trail runners keep this in their arsenal for picky bitters (when they are deep), and we only used it as a last resort on deep water lakes.

[Fawkinnae]

Thanks - now here is another question. How is it to tie and what is the best way to tie on your leader? I got a million of them... hachachachacha.

[HD]

To add....you should consider a line counter reel when using lead core.

[Fawkinnae]

To add....you should consider a line counter reel when using lead core.

Got one. And it's underutilized.

[dakids]

We always used the Willis knot.
http://www.netknots.com/fishing_knots/willis-knot

[HD]

I called a friend of mine that still uses lead core a lot, and reminded me that you can use the compression leader loops they sell for fly fishing which will reduce the "drag" you get using tied knots through eyelets. I think I still have some around from back in the day.... if I can remember (or find them), I'll take a pic of one....

[HD]

Der it is....

[Boar]

Interesting read, dont no anything about lead core so my question is, whats the porpose for it and why.

[HD]

It's along the lines of a poor man's down rigging. The lead core helps get your bait down deep. Most lead core is colored for length so you can kinda tell how deep your lure will run while trolling. Used with a line counter reel, you can get pretty close to the same depth if you maintain the same speed.

[Boar]

Hmmmmmmmmm

[Fawkinnae]

It's along the lines of a poor man's down rigging. The lead core helps get your bait down deep. Most lead core is colored for length so you can kinda tell how deep your lure will run while trolling. Used with a line counter reel, you can get pretty close to the same depth if you maintain the same speed.

What he said.

[ChrisWallace]

20-30 feet leaders is typically what we run, now lakes like devils, Mitchell ties right to the lead core and still just fine.

IMO i don't want a hunk of lead going past a fish in clear water directly to the crank.

It's similar to down rigging in the fact that it allows you to get a small, shallow diving crank bait down deep, without a down rigger, or a three way set up or pole lining.

The biggest down fall with lead core is it is not a contour hugging technique like down rigging is. With the amount of line out over 30 feet of water, there is about a 30 second delay in your turns.

Leadcore is also very very speed dependant where down rigging is not.

General rule of thumb is for every color out at 1.0 mph your gaining about ten feet of depth. At 2 mph you lose about half of that. It's a thicker line and drag causes the line to lift the faster you go.

So in theory, if you want your crank bait to go down to 30 feet trolling at 2 mph, you will need 6 colors.

You will also want to check the dive of your crank bait to at the specified leader length as most cranks will give you an additional 2-3 feet as well.

Most walleye guys run around a 16-18 pound Leadcore, there is no weight difference if you go to a heavier lead core over 20 pounds, but you will lose depth per color because of a much thicker line diameter.

Then if you really want to make a mess of things, you can get into wire line or even copper line. Neither of those have gained popularity in minnesota but it's dynamite on the Great Lakes.

When you get really good at it, you can come up on mudflats where it jumps 5 ft or as you come off a flat you can adjust your speed to raise and lower your crank baits. To hug the bottom.

Also incorporate plenty of "s" turns into your trolling patterns as well, as when your turning one side will slow down and dive deeper and the other one will speed up and climb.

[Fawkinnae]

Lots of good feedback here. I appreciate it. By the way I ended up not doing any leadcore on Rainy but look forward to trying it on Mille Lacs and other lakes this fall.

[Boar]

wow that is good stuuf, thanks chris. can somebody lock this thread or something Ill have to efere to it from time to time. Altho there are threads here several years old. I remeber my mom an dads rod hanging in the shed with those old metel rods and reels, the line was this thick cord like line with multi colors in it running every so often, didnt cast well thats for sure, was that early leadcore?

[dew2]

wow that is good stuuf, thanks chris. can somebody lock this thread or something Ill have to efere to it from time to time. Altho there are threads here several years old. I remeber my mom an dads rod hanging in the shed with those old metel rods and reels, the line was this thick cord like line with multi colors in it running every so often, didnt cast well thats for sure, was that early leadcore?

Nah boar that line is old Dacron line before dacron it was cotton blend.I still have 3 of those knuckle buster reels 4 spools of like new line,and 1 steel rod.Each fall I go to a good bass lake in the area and go old style just for fun.