Creative Lead Core Trolling
BY MARK ROMANACK
Sometimes old school is the best school. Lead core fishing line is a weighted line that first become popular after World War II ended and countless GI’s came home, went to work and started spending their spare time trolling for a host of species. Lead core is amazingly effective at targeting trout, salmon, walleye, striper and just about any other species with fins. The down side to lead core line is the rigging methods required force anglers to designate certain reels to a select amount of lead core line.
Known as “segmented lead core” the most common way anglers fish this sinking line is to first spool on a reel some backing line, then a desired amount of sinking lead core line, then finally adding a leader of fluorocarbon line. Because the more lead core that is used, the deeper the lure fishes, anglers often equip themselves with several rod and reel combinations outfitted with pre-determined amounts of lead core line.
Here in the Great Lakes region where trout, salmon and walleye can be found anywhere from the surface down to 100 feet or more, it’s common for anglers to rig up lead core as 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 color set ups aimed at targeting a wealth of depths. Each “color” of lead core is approximately 30 feet long. Obviously to get the most from lead core requires the angler to invest in a lot of rods, reels and lead core set ups. Because segmented lead core is most often fished in combination with in-line boards like the famous Off Shore Tackle OR12 Side Planer, most anglers rig up their lead core rigs in matching pairs. The beauty of this set up is multiple lines can be fished on both sides of the boat, without having to clear lines to fight hooked fish.
This piece of rigging magic is accomplished by letting all the lead core out and rigging the board to the backing line. By running the shorter and higher running lead core lines on the outside boards and progressively longer and deeper running lines on the middle and inside board lines fish can be hooked and landed without having to clear lines. When a fish is hooked on an outside line, because that fish is higher in the water column than the other lines, one-line slides over the top of the others without so much as a hiccup. This rigging method popular with lead core line can also be duplicated with other sinking lines such as stranded copper line or the new weighted stainless wire featured by Torpedo Divers.
Getting More From Lead Core
To get the most from lead core line, anglers need to know approximately how deep each color of lead core is fishing at various trolling speeds and also with different lures. When lead core is used with trolling spoons that do not have a dive profile of their own, the spoon is effectively running at the same depth as the lead core line. The same is true of night crawler harnesses commonly trolled for open water walleye.
Diving crankbaits however, are a different animal all together. Because the crankbait is diving and achieving depth and the lead core is adding to this depth, matching up a lead core rig with a diving crankbait requires some extra insight in regard to how deep these set ups are fishing.
The Precision Trolling Data phone apps feature Dive Curve data for lead core line in combination with select crankbaits. This data appears in the app under the “line choice” option. If the lure you are interested in does not feature a lead core option in the line choice, that lure has not been tested with lead core at the moment.
Precision Trolling uses customer feedback to determine what lures and trolling devices they test and the Dive Curves they publish. Anglers can reach the staff of Precision Trolling by visiting the web page www.precisiontrollingdata.com and sending messages.
Using More Backing
Most anglers who troll with lead core select a size of lead core, a pound test and they rig that line with a leader and backing material. When fishing the lure and leader is played off the reel along with all the lead core line on the reel. When the backing line is exposed, an in-line board is added and the lead core set up presented off to the side of the boat.
What many anglers don’t realize is that to get lead core deeper, you simply have to increase the amount of backing line played off the reel. Precision Trolling Data has recently studied this idea and published data that involves fishing lead core with 50, 100 and 150 feet of backing line deployed. This critical data allows anglers to fish much deeper without having to carry on board all the different segmented lead core rigs.
Universal Lead Core Set Up
Lead core line comes in a host of sizes including 12, 15, 18, 27, 36 and 45 pound test. The most commonly used size is 27-pound test. Savvy trollers have learned that they can catch all the common species using 27-pound test lead core. A typical set up includes loading a reel with 200 yards of 20-pound test monofilament, the desired amount of 27-pound test lead core line and terminating with a 25 to 50 foot leader of 20 pound test fluorocarbon line. The double uni knot is used to knot backing line and leader line to the lead core. To make for a small knot that easily passes through rod and reel guides, remove about six inches of the soft lead wire found inside lead core before knotting backing or leader to the lead core.
Reel Sizes
Because lead core is fairly large in diameter it takes a larger trolling reel to fish this sinking line. Most anglers use line counter reels like the Daiwa Sealine series. The SG27LC reel is large enough to hold 200 yards of 20# test backing and up to three colors of 27-pound test lead core line. The larger SG47LC reel is the perfect size for rigging 200 yards of backing and four or five colors of lead core line. The still larger SG57LC reel is perfect for loading seven, eight, nine or 10 colors of lead core along with adequate amounts of backing line. The beauty of the line counter reel is they make it easy to monitor how much backing line is being deployed.
Boards And Lead Core
Segmented lead core is routinely fished with in-line boards like the Off Shore Tackle OR12 Side Planer. This popular board does the heavy lifting and can be fished in combination with all lead core rigs up to and including 10 colors. For anglers who wish to fish more than 10 colors of lead core, the Off Shore Tackle OR37 SST Pro Mag Planer is the answer to pulling heavier set ups.
Braid Backing
Some anglers prefer to rig their lead core set ups with braided line instead of monofilament line for backing. The advantage is that braid is thinner in diameter and more backing line can be loaded onto smaller reels. When using braided line with segmented lead core rigs, the in-line boards used must be equipped with braid user friendly releases. For those who wish the board to be fixed to the line, the Off Shore Tackle OR18 Snapper Release is ideal. This cam operated release was designed to hold firm on slippery super braid lines. Anglers who wish to use braided line and rig their boards to release will want to check out Off Shore Tackle’s OR39 Sam’s Pro Release manufactured by Silver Horde. This unique line release was designed with super braids in mind and is now privately labeled exclusively to Off Shore Tackle. The Sam’s Pro Release can be rigged on either the OR12 Side Planer or the OR37 SST Pro Mag Planers.
Summing It Up
Lead core has been around a long time and has over and over again proven that it can catch fish in a host of trolling situations. By learning more about lead core rigging options, anglers can get the most benefit from this sinking line. Fishing lead core with Off Shore Tackle boards and releases is a match made in heaven.