cranking and lead core

[rippenlips]

Im going to be pulling some cranks and the depth I am going to try and reach is around 25ft. I have the precision trolling guide and theri is allot of cranks that will get me to the desired depth if I have enouugh line out. my buddy is telling me that i need to get a reel spooled up with lead core. Why would I need lead core if some cranks get deep enough if i let enough line out. Thanks for all the help.

[Northlander]

With lead you wont need nearly as much line out therefore you can contour troll it better. Only thing is lead is very speed dependent meaning it will move up and down in the water colomn quite a bit with increase or decrease in speed.

[PerchJerker]

Lead will let you get any lure you want down to 25 feet. You may have cranks that will run that deep, but if you want to use something like a #7 shadrap or a #12 HuskyJerk you won't get down to the bottom without some weighting.

With leadcore the rule of thumb is 1 color gets you an extra 5 feet of depth over what the bait gets on it's own, so 3-4 colors of lead should let you fish just about any bait in 25 fow.

[Rost]

Okay, Northlander and Perchjerker... I only pull lead when I need too. Usually it takes 20+ fow for me to even consider pulling the lead rods out. However,in the past few years, my tourney partner and I have noticed a trend starting up. We've talked to more and more guys that only pull lead. It doesn't matter if they are in 6 ft or 40ft, they are using it. We fished a tourney last summer where the max depth on the lake was 13 ft. Most guys were pulling in 11 fow. Interestingly, we learned that a good majority of the top finishers were pulling lead.

A few things confused me here...

1. The top three teams were pulling lead

2. They were trolling a max depth of 13 ft

3. They were all using walleye dives, jointed #5 etc..(Lures that you don't need lead to get down 12-13 ft).

4. They were not following any special contours. The lake is a structurless bowl.

The only thing we can come up with is maybe that lead does not "surge" as much?

Any ideas?

[SteveWilson]

My guess is that by using lead all the time you maintain a consistant technique. If you go from using mono to leadcore then you will probably use different rods with different tip action, feel diferent responses, as well as having to rethink your depth curves. If you use lead all the time then you could be consistant. Me, I would rather go light line and use downriggers with a 4lb ball (hey we're only talking 20') and keep the same rods as when I pull mono.

[Northlander]

I wouldnt run lead then either. To be honest I never run lead in my boat but have done so with other guys. I am going to put at least 1 secret weapon rig in my boat to run down the shoot when needed though.

Im thinking that the lead gave them a more start and stop action an the baits and as we all know that can trigger strikes. Lead is so speed sensitive that turns and playing with the speed can really get baits up and down in the water colomn. I know guys who run the "Secret Weapon" rigs on their Offshores do real well around here.

[PerchJerker]

I also don't run leadcore very often, I would rather catch fish on mono or powerpro. The only times I use lead is when the fish are too deep for the baits I want to use.

I used to use snap weights a lot but now I would rather use leadcore - seems a lot more controllable and precise.

Are you sure the baits they were using will hit 12-13 feet without some kind of weighting? My first thought is they needed lead to get the baits down far enough.

Another thing about leadcore is you usually go slow with it. Not counting spring and fall, I never troll as slow as I do when I'm running lead. So maybe the slow speed of the presentation had something to do with it.

You said a lot of these guys only use lead. My guess is they're good with it and really understand where and how their baits are running, and can control what they doing and repeat what works, and they probably don't get that feeling by running baits on something other than leadcore.

Or who knows, maybe it's the surge thing

[Corey Bechtold]

Here's my thought. If the cranks that were being used were floating style, like shad raps, then it's possible that when the boat would make a turn or change in speed the baits would suspend or fall slowly triggering more reluctant fish into biting.

If someone didn't have leadcore and was hoping to take advantage of deep water fish then I would look at deeper diving suspending baits like Husky Jerks. They have worked great for me in the past. Sometimes these fish can't resist a bait that pauses for a bit and then starts to move again.

Anyways, there are lots of good options for targeting deep water Walleyes. Finding the "Pattern" is always a challenge and can be very rewarding.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Rost]

Thanks for the replies fellas-

I don't know..my partner is convinced that it is something we should try. I am still waiving the talk flag.

Next year we'll try pulling lead on the inside and PP on the boards and see what comes out of it.

Thanks again.