I have been walleye fishing for a better part of my 35 years, and have never used lead core. Most of our fishing is done on the Mississippi so i’ve never needed it. We are going to do some lake fishing this year and i went out and bought lead rigs. Befor I screw up i was wondering do i need a short leader tied to the spool and then to the lead core to keep it from slipping on the spool? Thanks
Yes not just a small one either. someguys runs all of there lead out in the water, and then some.
there’s some great leadcore info here.
Thanks for the info!! Very helpful!!
We fish lake Michigan a lot, so all of my core reels are setup for that sort of fishing (to be able to handle huge king runs), but can easily be used for walleye. On LM, we generally run 300 yards of 30# power pro backing, and then the core, and then a long mono leader. Mono can easily be used for backing, but the PP takes up way less space and will probably last way longer. The core is so bulky that you need a lot of reel to handle all of the backing and leadcore. The Accudepth 57 has been a decent reel (its huge – for walleye purposes, you won’t need one this big, but it works well for salmon). The 47’s are very nice.
When I adapt my stuff to lake trolling core, I still am able to use the same rods/reels (although many of the rods are a little heavy… but some of the long 10.5′ dipsy rods can help me get 2 lines out really far to the side), but I do shorten my leaders up quite a bit depending on water clarity. (Lake Michigan mono leaders often run 25-50 feet or more!) — My walleye leaders generally run 6-8 feet in stained water. If I were running core for walleyes only, I wouldn’t need all of that backing, but I would still want a healthy amount. Say you have 4 colors out on a 5 color outfit… You get snagged or hook up with a musky or something.. If you don’t have the backing, you just lost that lure, core, leader, etc.. Just make sure to use enough backing to be safe depending on the type of fishing you do.’
Willis knots are the cat’s a$$ – very easy, very strong. If you plan on using PP and connecting directly to the core via willis knot, it wouldn’t hurt to do two (or even 3) willis knots in the line, just because the PP is slick. (especially if you are using too thin of a diameter PP)
Jason’s article is a great resource!! Nice work, Jason 
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
