Tail dancer

I normally troll leadcore with #5’s and i’ve got a pretty good handle on how much line to let out to get to the correct depth. I just ordered some tail dancer 11’s. I’m using suffix leadcore with a 30 foot braid leader going 2mph. Am i on the right track here?

2 colors + leader will get me to ~18-20 feet, 2.5 colors + leader will get me to ~21-23 feet, 3 colors + leader will get me to ~23-25 feet, 3.5 colors will get me to ~26-27 feet, 4 colors + 30 foot leader ~28-30 feet, sound about right or am i off? Thanks guys

You can run the 11’s without any led and get down 30+ feet. I ran them directly to 15 lb hard line last year, and could get up to 32 feet out of them. I added a 20’/15 lb fluorocarbon leader to them this year, and noticed about a 3-5 foot drop in running depth. I have no idea where they would end up trying to pull them with lead. Also, it depends upon how long and what type of leader you are pulling as well. Those two factors alone can change the depth by several feet.

When I have a specific setup and am unsure of where the baits are running, I will troll along a break line and slip up the break until I start hitting bottom.

-Drew

yea drew, i’ll be pulling lead.

so my question is:

how much line should i let out to get a TD 11 down to 20, 25 and 30 foot with a 30 foot braid leader at 2mph?

The easy answer would be to get in 20 feet of water, run out line, and when it starts hitting bottom bring in a few feet until it stops hitting bottom. Then write it down. Then move to 25 FOW and repeat the process, and again in 30 FOW. Hard diving baits on lead behave a little different IMHO and from my experiences.

What Schultz said. Hard to beat the old pull test, and “write it down” is important. Lots to keep track of out on the water, esp. among multiple baits!

Joel

i realize there is no hard and fast rule, just through maybe based on your experience you could tell me about how much line will get me to 25 feet at 2mph with a TD 11. if there are too many variables, no worries, i can head out to the lake and figure out when i’m ticking bottom.

I don’t have a ton of experience with lead core and tail dancers, but it looks like your numbers shouldn’t be too far off. I always used fluorocarbon leaders and not quite that long of a leader so that’s going to change your depth quite a bit I think. If anything you might not have to put out that much line for that bait, but like everyone says I would definitely test you numbers to get full confidence in your setup. Its amazing how much little changes here and there will affect the depth of your bait by a substantial amount.