lead core

after telling myself for a few years that I wanted to learn this technique, I finally tried it a few weeks ago…there really isn’t anything to it to get set up, but it sure would be nice if there were some dive cures out there…

the precision trolling has 2 charts for 18# line with a 40 ft mono leader…they say that at 2.0 mph you should get down 36 feet with 5 colors…in my own tests that was pretty much what I found, but I was using a “regular” #5 shad rap…also I was experimenting off the mud, so it was difficult to really tell when I was hitting bottom…it was a lot of reeling in and checking to see if there was any debris on the crank bait…

it’s amazing what a difference speed makes…at just over 1 mph I only needed 3 colors with the shad rap to get down near the bottom…

here are some questions that I have for you experienced trollers out there..

1. do you find this Precision Trolling chart accurate?

2. it never mentions a specific crank-bait..obviously this must make a difference…do you use the regular PT book, see how far down the crankbait will go down with 40 ft of 10# mono, then add that depth to the chart in the Big water PT book?..for example if a #5 SSR goes down 4 feet with 40 foot of line out, at 2 MPH would your SSR be running at 40 feet with 5 colors out?

thanks for all the help in advance…it would be a lot easier just to let line out and when you hit bottom, and then crank it up a bit…but I really want to run boards!!!

Best of luck this Fall!!!!

I just moved back into college so I dont have my book with me but I believe when they are talking about their dive curves with leadcore they are talking about pulling spinners and using shallow stickbaits such as husky jerks or bomber A’s or thundersticks. All of the ones in the back of the book. Also, your second question, I always add that into my configuration with if my thundersticks or whatever bait im using. Say it goes down 5 five feet on 50 ft of 10# mono. I will say if my leadcore gets me down 18 ft my bait is running anywhere from 20-23 ft. Nothing is exact. You must take that into consideration

Leadcore is so speed dependent, the slower you go the more it sinks. Speed up and the it will bring your baits up. It is something you really need to practice with. No matter what dive curve they put out there are a lot of factors that will change it lot (Current, Speed, etc)

Thanks for the replies guys…Scott, the things you mentioned are some of the things that I have encountered…

It’s good to try to have some sort of idea before you get to the lake, that is if you want to run segemented…I’m sure that I won’t be buying 10 reels with different lengths set up…

let me ask another question…if you were going 2 mph with a #5 SSR, how many colors (segemented) would you guys run to get it to run 30 feet down?…again assuming the same 40 foot 10# vanish leader?

I did a lot of experimenting running segmented leadcore on Mille Lacs this year. Most of my experimenting was done with deep diving crankbaits such as the #11 Deep Tail Dancers and Deep Thundersticks. Using a 40-50′ mono leader, these cranks would bottom out (32 feet) using 100 feet of 18# leadcore. However, they would not bottom out when I was just long lining them behind the boat.

Reason why…. is because it’s almost impossible to troll perfectly straight (especially in waves) with a planer board so that it’s always maintaining a speed of 2 m.p.h. Any time that line goes slack while using a board, the leadcore will sink and thus bottom out. Just something to be aware of.

Now to answer your question, my best guess is that you would be pretty safe (not bottom out) using about 3.5 colors of segmented leadcore along with a 40 mono leader to get your #5SSR down to about 30 feet going 2 m.p.h.