Lead core

Has anybody had any luck pulling lead core? If so, can you point me in the right direction? I think I going out on Saturday with the wife and a buddy and I heard that the spinner bite has slowed quite a bit.

We had some reports last weekend. Most of our customers have been trolling the 28-32′ transition out here from the resort. Most of the fish have been caught on #5 or #7 Shad Raps or I have had good luck with the new #4 Shad Dancers. The bite still isn’t real hot yet but it should get progressively better. Might not hurt to try a bigger deep diver on a flat line. Some customers were getting the bigger fish on that presentation.
Dean
Fishers Resort

Dean, Thanks for all the info. Since I will have 3 people in the boat I was planning to start with 2 lead core rods and 1 long line and then go from there.

I never have trolled with lead core but I wondered why people don’t just use downriggers?

In my opinion it is easier to carry 2 lead core rods that setting up a boat with 2 downriggers. With that said, I may borrow my dads downriggers and set them up on my boat.

I was going to try last weekend, but we ended up having enough luck to stay entertained with spinners and slip bobbers out on the mud flats

Might have to think about it this weekend, though

David Buehler wrote:

I never have trolled with lead core but I wondered why people don’t just use downriggers?

I’m not all people, but:

Leadcore line, maybe 30-40 bucks, spool it in a reel you already have and fish.

Cheapest manual mini-riggers are about twice that, plus the balls, plus the install. And those are probably not great quality?

Also think deep trolling is not something a lot of people do frequently enough to invest in down riggers. Great Lakes boats would be a different story of course.

Used to downrigg out there all the time.It works well,pretty much just pulled stickbaits.I wouldnt set up a boat just for downrigging Mille Lacs,buddy had them on his boat for Lake of the woods,superior,michigan

David Buehler wrote:

I never have trolled with lead core but I wondered why people don’t just use downriggers?

I’ve used downriggers out there for both pulling cranks and spinners. They worked almost equally as well as LC as far as number of hits. I will day though I always caught bigger fish on LC. I can’t begin to try and understand why.

I will say one downside if you plan to run your lures long distances away from the ball you have the inevitable slack upon release which can cause you to lose fish. Because of a few more moving parts and variables, you might be better off with LC.

All good reasons for lead core! I’ve got downriggers that I’ve used on Superior and Michigan trout and salmon but haven’t tried them on walleyes