Leadcore/Salmon

[CEDES]

I'm seriously thinking of traveling east to smack some of these fish. For the ones giving this a go, Awesome reports!! I don't have any knowledge on chasing these bruisers, I am more or less a Walleye guy and I pound the heck out of the "eye's" with the leadcore all season long, Although leadcore is leadcore the species is different.

Leadcore is line diameter, and speed driven. What pound test do you run for these critters ? and what speed do they like ? Do you / or if you run boards are you measuring out a pre-determined amount of Lead and attaching the board to the mono/super line backer ? and adjusting lure depth by speed ? or running leadcore primarily as a "flat" line ? or using a mast and realease system ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated and if any of you find your way to central Minnesota I would return the favor

[tunrevir]

Cedes, I too troll for the eyes with the leadcore but I upsized to 27lb for the salmon(less break offs and hassle)You can fight the fish in with the lighter core but every now and then there are those fish that just don't want to hit the boat. We'll run 2-5 colors off of boards with a variety of baits from spoons to stick baits, running a halfcore setup straight back or a full core setup can get you bit if you don't have riggers but it is easier IMO to go with snap weights then with that much line out. We run 2-3 mph depending on what the fish show us. Many of your eye tactics can be used for the great lakes but with a bit stiffer tackle. I usually run lead off my boards with a leader of 30-50' 2-3 colors of leadcore then mono backing and will attach the board to the mono. I'm new to this game too but it sure is fun! Be careful, cuz it is addicting as heck too! Hope this helps.

Tunrevir~

[CEDES]

Thanks tunrevir !!!! I hear about the "addiction" factor. I haven't even been and I can't wait to get back

[luv2rapala]

You need to try the SWR as well (secret weapon rig)

2-3 colors off the bottom rigger(deepest/farthest back)put all the leadcore out and attach the line at the backing to the rigger release. JUST DEADLY the undualation (sp?) of the leadcore back and deeper then the ball is really a killer setup!purple/black and glow spoons have been good to us.

luv2rapala

PS careful on the turns!

[Sutty]

Hey Tunrevir,

Can you help me out? I tried running a 3 color setup behind a church walleye board and it went under the water when I engaged the spool. I just ran the lead out and clipped it to the mono. I think I had just put on a spoon.

Thanks.

[OUTDOORNUT]

Try letting the board out slowly keeping a little tention on it to help walk it over (once you clear your other lines)as it is going out. What may have happened is the board got let out down the chute and when it was to where you wanted it you enguaged the spool causing a jerk reaction to the board and it may have dove and/or caught a wave trying to catch an edge, and once they dive it is hard for them to right themself. Also try and run your leadcore setups with Superbraids instead of mono, the stretch in the mono may hinder the proformance of the setup. Everyone has their favorites but I have had good luck with Power Pro and it seems to hold it's diameter more so than Fireline.

[CEDES]

Luv2Rap--Nice idea ! I love thinking outside the box!! I will give it a spin at my next opportunity and report back

Sutty--I too use Church boards, any chance you have the wieght (slide weight on the bottom)too far forward or backwards is it diving or sinking ? Spoons are a little heavier than a walleye plug and I would assume you would have to adjust the board accordingly. Just a thought. How fast were you traveling ? The faster you go I would guess the weight gets distributed and the board will start skipping, Do you have the bigger boards ?(I am assuming)cause 3 colors unless it is real heavy L.core (27# being the norm here), I would say that won't sink it and a walleye plug won't sink a board with 4-5 colors of 18# or 27#, but Maybe you had a big critter on from the start ?

Thanks guys !!! Man, I love this site

CEDES }<>

[CEDES]

Outdoornut----Didn't even think of that, it happens !! Nice call !!!

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[Sutty]

I slid the weight all the way forward to compensate for all the weight on it, that might have done it. I was using the 27# leadcore. I also did not have any tension on it I was just sending it down the middle waiting for it to clear the lines before engaging it. Heading back out next weekend I'll give it a try again.

[CEDES]

Sutty-- Set the weight in the middle, slightly towards the back to keep the nose skipping and set it out with tension and your good to go How has the bite been for you ? I think I have my walleye fishin' buddy convinced to give this a try We are looking at coming out there the wkend of the 11th. Think they will still be hittin' ? Any colors work better than another ? We are going to shoot from the hip, I think if you try and match a hatch you can hardly go wrong, right ? I am new to J-plugs, flies, spoons in general........It is like I'm 10 years old again......AWESOME !!

[Sutty]

I posted a report on one of the other links here which talked about what we were using, I should also point out I have only made two trips to michigan so I am certainly not an expert.

That said its a blast and we had real good luck last weekend. get out early because the best bite times are before sunrise and at sunset. Run glow stuff in the dark and mix it up in the day. Common colors are blue, green, and white. A good set up to start with is a blue dipsey, flasher, fly on one side and green on the other. than put on a couple of differant spoons or a spoon on one side and a j-plug on your other downrigger assuming you have some riggers. I have only caught a couple fish on stackers (a second line on the same downrigger cable), which is why I am trying to get planer boards working. You can run three lines per guy. Make sure to have good solid rod holders for the dipsey's those suckers get torked pretty hard. We did the best on spoons last weekend but sometimes the bite is better on fly's

[tunrevir]

I think they may have already diagnosed the problem but you may want to try different settings of the keel weight moving it towards the back of the board untill it will run upright. We run most of ours about 3/4ths back to get the nose up a bit. I think I'm heading out this next weekend if the weather is decent to try my luck again, I'll know closer to thursday this next week once I can see what the weather is going to do. Good luck out there guys!

Tunrevir~

[Quickstrike]

We run anywhere from 2 to 10 colors off of boards. most of the time we use the mast and run a swr off the outside and then a full core on the inside. instead of using the standard larvic releases, get the heavier duty scotty releases. this allows to run 4 or sometimes even 5 lead lines. We also use big birds and they seem to track well with heavier lines. (the charters out there use them for running 1 lb balls and will run up to 6 per side!) once again, the big birds come with junk releases, so I would replace them. We have tried using standard off shore boards with leadcore, but they seem to get pulled too far back and like to dive. Leadcore was the ticket out there this year, talk about some sore forearms on the boat!

[CEDES]

NICE WORK !! Thank you for all the info and feeding an addiction (I don't even know about yet ) I soooo can't wait. It is like a whole new world, this Salmon fishing, I think we will get along just peachy

How long do these "salmon runs" go ? or is it non-stop ? (Please don't tell me it is non-stop, I will have to move ) SWEEEET !!! Keep smackin' and stackin' and Keep the reports coming !!!!