my story about learning Leadcore... and questions

[jwmiller33]

Recently, I've heard all the walleye guys talking about Leadcore and how they love it so much. I did some research online, watched a few youtube videos of guys explaining the basics and talked to some people first hand about how to go about pulling Leadcore for a guy who had never done it before (me). I went to the big C store and made the purchase of my first ever baitcaster style reel (getting used to reeling on the right hand side is in order, as it is impossible to find left hand reel line counters). I got a 9 ft trolling rod that is perfect for leadcore, it has enough backbone to haul in those hogs, as well as a sensitive enough tip to tell when the lure is running true or if I am tapping bottom. To go along with that, I got a line counter reel. Put about 75 yards of 10lb mono backing, then 7 colors or 18lb Leadcore, and then a 35 ft 10 lb mono leader. Used uni to uni knot on all knots.

So off I went to Mille Lacs today. A complete newbie to leadcore trolling, and I have only been on Mille Lacs a handful of times, with most of them being in the hard water season, and never before in this this time of year (fall). I could have not asked for a better day on the Mille Lacs. I woke up in the metro around 5:30 and was on the water shortly after sunrise, and had this view when I first got my Leadcore wet

The wind was never more than a slight breeze today, which made trolling very easy. I was using between 3 and 4 colors the majority of the day. I started shallower in the morning, working the first breaks, in the 10-15 ft range. I then moved out deeper, to the second breaks in the 18-25 ft range, and thats where I fished the majority of the day. I was using size 5 shad raps (firetiger crayfish, purpledecent, perch) and salmo hornet 4F 1/16oz in the green tiger pattern. I had the best luck with the salmo

I can't believe how much you have to down size on cranks for this bite on Mille Lacs. Everyone I have talked to has said either size 4 or 5s, so I had to stack up my tacklebox with a bunch of cranks that size. A bunch of size 7s were the smallest that were in my tacklebox with 3 size 5s, so needless to say, I had to stock up on those smaller size cranks, as I saw first hand today how lethal they are! And how the big walleyes were biting on such small cranks!

To my surprise, I was able to actually catch some fish, even though I will admit, I didn't really get the hang of what I was doing until an hr or two in. The first fish of the day was a jumbo perch, and after I boated a fish with the leadcore, I was pumped and had confidence in I was doing something right.

After that, I did another troll and bam, huge walleye. As I am reeling it in, I finally come to know why the leadcore guys say it is so much fun to reel in [big] fish on lead. It is an absolute blast. Easily one of my favorite ways to fish now. There is nothing like reeling in a huge walleye with 200 feet of line out. Anyways, I get the fish to the boat and he is doing massive headshakes and I struggle to swoop down with the net with one hand and net the fish while I hod onto the rod in the other (I was by myself today, so no netman or camerman, thus, pardon the poor attempts at pics). The fish ended up being on the heavy side of 5 pounds. The Mille Lacs walleyes are fatties too! Anyways, I ended up boating a bunch more walleye throughout the day, and had a blast. Leadcore is an amazing tool that I will continue to learn and get better at so I can be more effective at running the right depths.

Here are some pics of the walleyes I caught today:

All fish that I caught were immediately released. Although I caught many fish that others would throw in the box, I was just fishing to learn, have fun and catch big fish.

I have a few questions after Day 1, about Leadcore in general.

I have a 35 ft leader of 10lb Trilene mono (guy at cabelas suggested I put it on). Say I let out 3 colors of lead, going roughly 2.0 mph. Do I look up in the Precision Trolling book for 35 ft (my mono leader) to see how far is goes down at 35 ft, and add that to my 3 colors of lead (roughly another 15 ft), and to get the depth my lure is running at? Are the depth curves in the Precision Trolling book for a certain speed? (for some reason I want to say it is like 1.2 or 1.5 mph) How do I account for the difference in trolling speed that I am running at (1.9-2.1) to the depth curve that is at 1.5mph (or whatever it is).

I just want to figure out exactly how deep I am running at all times, and get it down to a science, so it's not a guessing game. I could figure it out eventually with trial and error, but each crank runs different and I was switching it up a lot. Once you get the right depth, just remember that number thats on the line counter and you are good to go.

Lastly, what do you use to attach your mono leader to the lure? I heard your just supposed to use a snap, not a snap swivle. I was told that the swivles attached directly to your lure make it run "not true". So I tried at first just tying my line to a snap and snapping onto the lure, but I was having major line twist issues, so I switched to just tying the line directly to the lure and that worked the best.

[jwmiller33]

sorry about thecouple pics not working in the first post... i dont know why they didnt work but here they are...

Lastly, here is another pic of my rig on a gorgeous day out on Mille Lacs

[tunrevir]

Looks like a great day on the water and you had the perfect weather for learning the ropes. You can as you mentioned, use the dive curve in the precision trolling book to get a close idea as to where you are running. There is a bit of trial and error with the depth the lures are running with a longer leader that you can decrease by running a shorter lead of say 10'. The stick baits will run pretty much where you have your leadcore set but the lipped cranks will dig a bit deeper. I always tie direct to the bait but some folks like to use speed clips for ease of changing baits. Looks like a great day spent on the water, congrats!

Tunrevir~

[WalleyeGod]

Nice day on the water. Use just a snap myself.

WG

[mrklean]

looks like a great time nice job on the eyes

[Deitz Dittrich]

Great picts and story..Thanks for sharing. Its always fun to gain confidence in a new way of fishing! You will be a better angler now because of it!

[Gunnin4fish]

Great post, JM!

[Acemac]

so your just fishing deep how is this any diff then using a bottom bouncer? guess i dont really understand lead core

[LoonASea]

Nice fish Jake ,,,I played with lead core on Superior this year 2 color 3 color and 5 color

I dont use long leads tho ,,,I stick to 10-20 ft leaders

LAS

[PerchJerker]

The dive curves for floating lures are not dependant on speed. As long as you're moving fast enough to get the full action on the bait, say 1.5 mph or so, your lure will dive to it's maximum depth based on how much line you have out. Doesn't matter if you're going 1.5 mph or 3.5 mph.

But with a sinking line like leadcore your lure depth is totally dependent on speed -- run slower and it will run deeper, run faster and it will run higher. A good rule of thumb for leadcore is 5 feet of depth for each color of lead at 2.0 mph. On a 35 foot leader your bait will run deeper than the lead, by however much the lure dives on 35 feet of line --- but your speed and the depth of the leadcore will have a more significant affect on how deep your bait is.

Great report and love the pics, sounds like an awesome day on the lake!

[TruthWalleyes]

Wow, its not very often you see reflection on that lake! Looks like it was very light wind the rest of the day too!

I've been using leadcore for two years now, and it is still trial and error with each lure waiting to "tick" the bottom.

Another note, Although you seemed to catch quite a few walleyes and a dang nice perch, I have more luck running planner boards on very calm days when on the big pond.

[jwmiller33]

Thanks for the responses guys. I went with the longer leader because that is what I heard/read so many places online. Some guys go as long as 50 ft of leader, as the majority I found said around 30 or so. What is the advantage of going with a 10ft leader as opposed to 30? Just less variable to account for with the depth curve?

How many colors do you guys have on your reels?

What do you guys use for leaders? mono? how many lbs test?

[jwmiller33]

Nice fish Jake ,,,I played with lead core on Superior this year 2 color 3 color and 5 color

I dont use long leads tho ,,,I stick to 10-20 ft leaders

LAS

Thanks Randy. How did you do on lead on lake superior? Im going to be in Duluth in a week or two for a couple days. What lakes have you been hitting lately? I'd love to get out on the big lake with you and use my new leadcore rod!

[fishinfey8]

Nice report and pics miller! Leadcore is absolutely one of the best inventions for trolling. The kings in lake michigan love that stuff. I'll be headed up to Duluth this weekend through tuesday if ya want a place to stay or a fishin partner let me know. BTW I run 5-8 colors for salmon- basically whatever I can fit on the reel. By the looks of your pics, it looks like you have it figured out. Small raps eh?

[TruthWalleyes]

Thanks for the responses guys. I went with the longer leader because that is what I heard/read so many places online. Some guys go as long as 50 ft of leader, as the majority I found said around 30 or so. What is the advantage of going with a 10ft leader as opposed to 30? Just less variable to account for with the depth curve?

How many colors do you guys have on your reels?

What do you guys use for leaders? mono? how many lbs test?

I've got 5 or 6 colors of 18# and thats all that fits.

Using 20' of Stren 12#

I use Snaps.

I would think the only advantage to a longer leader is you can run further from the boat

[JohnMickish]

so your just fishing deep how is this any diff then using a bottom bouncer? guess i dont really understand lead core

Where lead shines over using the three way method is that lead will follow the path of the boat under water, so if your following a breakline and going in and out, your lure goes in and out. If you use a BB or three way your lure takes the shortest path, so if your following a zig zag breakline your lure is not always where you want it to be. Plus, with lead if you want to fish suspended fish or at any depth it is easier to control your depth with the linecounter and/or speed.

[JohnMickish]

Nice post 33. Lead can be a blast, think about how fun it would be when you have 4 lines out and in a 2MPH current and 3 rods go off!

I use 10' of 12 lb fireline and only use the crosslock type snaps for cranks. I use the short leader because I don't fish rediculously clear water (Mille Lacs is as clear as I go) and that way I can for the most part just fish off the lead chart. I do use a swivel if I am going to run a spinner bait. Yes, a spinner bait on Mille Lacs with lead, but don't tell anybody.

[jwmiller33]

fishinfey yes very small raps and salmos. i had the best luck with the salmo in the green [fire] tiger pattern, but that could have been because i lost a couple other lures first when i was figuring out how deep to run them. here is a pic of the salmo and the shad rap i was using with a quarter and a 2 oz pyramid weight in the pic for reference

the biggest fish of my day came on the smallest of all cranks (the salmo)

i can only imagine catching those kings in lake michigan, thatd be a blast. how many lines do you get out there? it was a struggle to keep the boat trolling forward when i had a fish on yesterday... trying to reel the fish in with my hands and steer the boat with my foot... i can imagine it gets pretty crazy with a bunch of lines in the water...

as for this weekend, i might be going up north to the rainy river with greg for walleyes and sturgeon, but the water temps have been just hangggging up in the mid-upper 50s from all this warm weather the past 10 days, so its a possibility were not gonna go. if i dont go up there, id love to get up to duluth to fish with you for a few days on our old stomping grounds. i also wouldnt mind day trippin to mille lacs again and pullin some leadcore. you know we would slaayyy. i could use a extra hand in the boat for when i am reeling in my fish

[LoonASea]

Jake Sept was not a good month on the big lake but I bet we boated close to 150 salmonoids this season ,,,didnt get into the eyes as much as we fished a bit deeper this year but I will say the salmon more then made up for it (the wife put her foot down and said i better not come home with any more salmon as she was tired of eating it,,,since Im better at landing fish then I am at landing women I better keep her happy)

I only hit Island Lake once this year and spent the rest of the season fishing Superior ,,things tappered off as my fishing partner went back to school

Come up next spring when the cohos are close to shore and its a blast fishing with leadcore and planer boards

LAS

[jwmiller33]

Randy, thats good to hear about the salmon. I've only been out on the big lake once in my life and we were catching salmon and trout up at Isle Royal. I definitely need to get out and do that again. As for Island Lake, it's been plagued with low water levels most of the season, making it a completely different ball game out there. Since I got the leadcore bug right now, part of me wants to troll some lead on Island this weekend, but knowing how many stumps, logs and other snag hazards there are, I am second guessing it. Earlier in the season, that one spot next to that island I showed you last summer was producing nice mixed bags, havent been back to that spot in a while though it is usually good for a few fish once the sun hits the tree tops

[fishinfey8]

as for this weekend, i might be going up north to the rainy river with greg for walleyes and sturgeon, but the water temps have been just hangggging up in the mid-upper 50s from all this warm weather the past 10 days, so its a possibility were not gonna go. if i dont go up there, id love to get up to duluth to fish with you for a few days on our old stomping grounds. i also wouldnt mind day trippin to mille lacs again and pullin some leadcore. you know we would slaayyy. i could use a extra hand in the boat for when i am reeling in my fish

Either way, let me know if you don't end up going to the Rainy. Like I said I have fall break, so I have a long weekend (friday-tuesday). It's been too long, and I would love to drive the boat while you catch fish ML or duluth...

BTW- I don't know how well you know Mr. LeBlanc, but he knows some good places to troll leadcore on Island.

[Northlander]

fishinfey8 dont forget we have a Island Lake plan as well.

As far as leadcore goes I run about a 12' leader because I mostly fish darker waters up here. If I was on a clear lake like Mile Lacs or Lake Superior I would go 25-30'.

I use a small snap swivel or just a snap to my cranks and or spoons.

Leadcore shines over bouncers and 3 ways because depending on wether your speeding up or slowing down it will rise and fall. Slow = Fall and faster = rising. Its great when making S turns etc.

Its alo very good for getting smaller baits deeper than they can go by themselves.

I run Sealine 47's with 5-7 colors. I use 12# Power Pro as backing wich helps with sink rate and I run 12# Trilene Xt or Big Game in clear as a leader.

If Im holding the rod I like the 5' Shorties from Limit Creek. They are much easier to pump for long periods of time. If Im just running the rod in the holder I like the Limit Creek 8'6" telescoping leadcore rod.

Jwmiller I have 2 of them Cabelas rods you got and they are ok leadcore rods as well.

[TruthWalleyes]

33,

If you're struggling keeping the boat straight while reeling in a fish you should try my method...

When i'm trolling with my outboard, by bow mount trolling motor is also in. Often times i'm leaving my outboard pointed straight, and using my bow mount to steer...when i get a fish on, i put the outboard in neutral, and let the trolling motor keep me straight... Works even better when it is windy because the bow of the boat always wants to turn in the wind, but not with the bow mount down.

Keep Fishin!

[fishinfey8]

fishinfey8 dont forget we have a Island Lake plan as well

I didn't forget...was thinking maybe seeing if Jw wanted to come with?

[Northlander]

Thats cool I will just toss in a extra seat. Plenty of room.

Oh and Miller keep that rod tip out of the air and flat out the side of the boat. At least thats the way I and most others I know do it. Keeps that dive curve truer.