Sinking lines such as lead core, stranded copper wire or weighted stainless steel wire are deadly effective means of getting a host of lures to depth. Commonly used to target trout and salmon in the Great Lakes, weighted lines can also be used to target walleye, striper, muskie, and a host of saltwater species as well.
The benefits of sinking lines are they help get lures deep and they create a separation between the lure and the boat that helps to trigger strikes from spooky species and when fishing in clear waters. Adding an in-line planer board such as the OR12 Side Planer or the OR37 SST Pro Mag is an effective way of spreading out lures while covering a host of depth zones at the same time.
Shorter (more shallow running) lengths of these weighted lines are typically fished on outside board lines, while longer and deeper running setups are fished on middle and inside board lines. Using this strategy, an angler can literally flood the water column with baits yet still reel in hooked fish without having to clear other board lines. Slick!
One of the other advantages of trolling with sinking lines is they have little stretch, so when a fish bites, the hooks are typically driven home quickly. Because these sinking lines are highly speed sensitive, anglers can use trolling speed as a means of controlling where the lures are running in the water column.
RIGGING SINKING LINES
Typically sinking lines are rigged as a premeasured segment of line sandwiched between a leader of fluorocarbon line and a backing line that can be either monofilament or super braid. Because these sinking lines take up a lot of space on trolling reels, most anglers favor using a thinner diameter super line as a backing line. This enables you to load more backing line onto the reel to deal with powerful fish.
With lead core a double Uni knot is typically used to attach the backing and fluorocarbon lines to the lead core. By removing about six inches of the lead core, the double Uni knot can be tied creating a very small knot that easily travels through the reel and rod guides.
Stranded copper line is typically terminated using an Albright knot. Weighted stainless steel wire is commonly terminated using line crimps and small barrel swivels that also easily pass through the rod and reel guides.
RIGGING A MONOFILAMENT BUMPER
Another option for rigging sinking lines requires adding a 10 to 15 foot long monofilament bumper between the sinking line and the braided backing line. This setup has the advantage of letting anglers use traditional monofilament line releases on their in-line boards instead of expensive after-market releases designed for super braid. The lure, leader and sinking line are deployed and the in-line board is attached to the bumper line.
The monofilament bumper should be a stout line to stand up to considerable abuse. For trout and salmon fishing, a 25 pound test monofilament bumper works nicely. For targeting smaller fish like walleye, the bumper can be reduced to 20 pound test monofilament. It’s best to pick a hard surfaced monofilament such as Berkley XT, Berkley Big Game, P-Line CXX or Maxima Ultra Green for the bumper.
SUITABLE REELS
The reels suitable for using sinking lines are generally the round frame level-wind style trolling reels. Line counter reels aren’t necessary because each reel is loaded with a premeasured amount of sinking line. To identify how much sinking line is loaded onto each reel, a small sticker with the necessary information is placed onto the reel for quick reference.
A 20 size reel is large enough to accommodate 200 yards of backing line and 1, 2 or 3 colors of lead core line (30, 60 or 90 feet) respectively. A 30 size reel is needed for running 4, 5 or 6 colors of lead core with an adequate amount of backing line. A 40 size reel will handle 7, 8, 9 or 10 colors of lead core and super braid backing line.
Because stranded copper and weighted stainless steel wire lines are larger in diameter, bigger capacity 40, 50 and 60 class reels are generally used to fish these lines.
BOARD CHOICES
The shorter lengths of lead core line can be matched up nicely with the OR12 Side Planer board. This work horse in-line planer will handle lead core setups up to and including 10 colors.
Heavier copper and weighted stainless steel wire rigs will require using the larger OR37 SST Pro Mag boards.
ROD TIP TOPS
Lead core line can be fished with any rod suitable for trolling an in-line planer board. Copper and stainless wire rigs should be matched up to a rod that features either a roller tip top or a Twili-style rod tip.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Many anglers shy away from using sinking lines because they are hesitant to invest in the dedicated rods and reels needed to use these lines effectively. Without question fishing sinking lines requires a financial commitment, but once the investment is made, an angler can expect many years of service from quality rod and reel setups.
Sinking lines are deadly effective and when paired up with in-line planer boards they become a fish harvesting system.
Editors Note: Several videos are available online on how to tie Uni and Albright knots.
