Leadcore

I’ve never used leadcore…and was wondering if it’s worth the investment….Question…can I use three-ways to present cranks just as effectively?

One thing the leadcore allows you to do is get the lures away from the boat vs 3 ways that keep the lures relatively close to the boat. In shallow water, you may be spooking the fish?? There are times when the fish want smaller baits and are still relatively shallow so leadcore may be one way of getitng those baits in the “strike zone” and still get the baits away from the boat.

Three ways work well on stick bait type cranks. Leadcore works better for lipped baits. You have better depth control with leadcore when using lipped baits. I recommend learning this very productive method.

Like a lot of the other guys here, I like super braids cuz the low diameter and no-stretch gets the cranks deep fast. One thing I started doing last year was splicing a 6 to 12 foot piece of lead core to my super braid to get even greater depth. This (to me) fishes easier than pure lead core or heavy three-way rigs.

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I’ve never used leadcore…and was wondering if it’s worth the investment….Question…can I use three-ways to present cranks just as effectively?

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The more I use leadcore, the more I like it! Especially on the river.

As mentioned, you can get the crank further away from the boat. In many situations that’s definitely a plus. Leadcore can be run a lot faster than 3-ways and leadcore does a better job of following contours, turns and breaklines.

I load all 10 colors of lead onto a level wind reel and match that up with an 8 foot fiberglass downrigger rod. Nothing fancy. You can get set up for a little over $100 with some decent equipment. The Shimano TR-200 shown here for $59.99: Shimano TR-200 A decent downrigger rod can be picked up just about anywhere in that $39.99 range. Spool that up with 18 pound leadcore line and away you go!

Leader lenght, mono or braid, light or heavy now that’s a whole new topic!