Lead Core Trolling Rod

So, I know very little about lead core but recently picked up 2 trolling rods with line counters that I plan to set up for lead core. I have no intention of using planers or anything of that sort (in my head I’m thinking of using it like the guys did on the scatter rap challenge). Is there any reason I should NOT run a full ‘spool’ (10 color) amount of lead core in the reel? I see guys talking about doing segments of just 2-3 colors and I assumed that’s for planer boards, but I just don’t know enough.

I don’t (think) I’d do much other than leadcore through these rods, I have 2 baitcasters (M power) that I’m getting some metered braid for that I hope will work for shallower trolling, picked up a bunch of trolls to rap’s for a heck of a deal earlier that I figure I’ll use those poles for also.

Thanks for any help.

Depending on the lakes you fish you may not need 10 colors.
Here on ML and everything else I fish I never dig below 32-34′.
6-7 colors would do me fine when I hit 2.25mph.
But yes,I would say if your reel will hold 10 with backer then do it, you may end up losing a color or so in a tangle some day.

I have been running the same LC, its gotta be 5 years now, and hook boards into it regularly with no harm yet, but do what you like.

The only real disadvantage of having 10 full colors even if you might not need it is the extra weight you’ll have on your reel. Also to get a full 10 colors you will need a larger reel whereas you can get by with a smaller reel on a lake such as Mille Lacs where you’ll probably never use more than 5 colors.

Another consideration is that you can save $$ by buying only 1 spool of leadcore and splitting it into 5 colors each on two reels; however after doing this a few years ago I’ve learned that I prefer having exactly the same color patterns on all of my leadcore rods so I always start with new spool on each rod.

I used to run full cores on all my rods when I started pulling lead because at that time, I wasn’t sure how I would use it. I’ve now found that when I use leadcore for walleyes, I never fish more than 30 foot of water. I switched to the 832 advanced leadcore this year, so only need 4.5 colors of lead to reach that depth at 2 mph. Knowing that I often times troll faster, I went with 6 colors per reel, and the rest is braid for backing.

So, I would ask yourself where you plan to use it, and how deep you need it to run in most cases, or at least the deepest you would expect to run, and go from there.

With that being said, I have a bunch of segmented setups for salmon in anything from 3 colors to a full core, so if I plan to go fish somewhere I need to get deeper, I can always grab one of those reels.

Don’t know how far I’ll go with this, but I’d say most of my trolling would occur on The Miss., Pepin, Petenwell and the one a year or so trips to lakes like Kab. or Vermillion.

Good point on the extra weight.

I have either 5 or 6 colors on pretty all of my rods. I hardly ever use more than 3 colors on the main river in this area. I’ll use 4 colors or so on Pepin sometimes. I rarely if ever fish more than 25′ deep.

Forgot to mention, with most of my setups having 5 colors, I can spool two reels with one 10 color pack of leadcore.

So in theory, if I got a 200yd spool (looking at 832 lead) I could spool one with 5 colors, run the remaining 5 onto a diff. (storage) spool, then when the pattern repeats run the same 5 onto the second reel and then have both with 5 colors and another ‘set’ of 5 colors for back-up or to replace when I make a mess out of the first ones put on the reels (will likely happen at some point) Always like to have a back up of stuff and it would be more economical to get 1 200yd spool. Knowing me, I’ll probably need one of the ‘spare’ sets to figure out how to tie the stuff anyway.

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So in theory, if I got a 200yd spool (looking at 832 lead) I could spool one with 5 colors, run the remaining 5 onto a diff. (storage) spool, then when the pattern repeats run the same 5 onto the second reel and then have both with 5 colors and another ‘set’ of 5 colors for back-up or to replace when I make a mess out of the first ones put on the reels (will likely happen at some point) Always like to have a back up of stuff and it would be more economical to get 1 200yd spool. Knowing me, I’ll probably need one of the ‘spare’ sets to figure out how to tie the stuff anyway.

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That sounds like a perfect plan as it’s always good to have an extra spool just in case You will appreciate having the same color pattern on both rods especially when fishing with others as you will quickly be able remember how far each rod is out without having even needing a line counter.

IRT your comment about learning to tie the leadcore I reccomend a blood knot from your backing line to the leadcore and a small SPRO swivel to attach to your flouro leader. Make sure to break off and slide out about 4-6″ of the lead so that you are only tying knots using the sheath.

You certainly could do that, which is what I initially planned. About 8 rods later I decided I had more loaded leadcore rods than need for spare lead. If I were only going to have two rods, I would probably do exactly what you’re suggesting.

I have yet to need over 5 colors, and that’s with standard leadcore. The extra depth of the 832 should get you anywhere you need to go for walleyes around here.

To be honest, the last two years I’ve spent more time catching suspended fish in the summer than in previous years. Leadcore on Pepin used to be a big fish go to for me, and still produces, but the shallower bite and suspended fish have been good these last two years.

Good advice from good leadcore fisherman. May I also suggest that you carry a emergency filler spool of lead just in case you get spooled. Never has happened to me but I have heard of it!

But I am figuring it out I think

I never thought of keeping spare spools of lead core setups

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May I also suggest that you carry a emergency filler spool of lead just in case you get spooled. Never has happened to me but I have heard of it!

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Yeah, it was a bummer the one time it never happened to me.