Walleye Lead Core Set-ups

I’m going to buy two lead core trolling set-ups (rods and reels). Does anyone have recommendations for make and model of the rods and reels?

The reel size will differ with how many colors of lead you plan to fish with. I can get 8 colors on my shimano tekota 500s.

Joel Ballweg and John Schultz would be good sources for recommendations. I think it would be helpful to know body of water and average depth range.

Price range also helpful

There are a lot of options out there. I have Cabela’s, Diawa and Okuma reels and I use Scheel’s and Cabela’s rods ranging from 8’6″ to 10’6″. They all catch walleyes equally as well and even the less expensive Cabela’s combinations work just fine. What ever you buy just make sure your setups are matched.
If I was just getting started running lead core, I wouldn’t break the bank because there is no need. Everyone has their opinion, but I’d probably get two 8’6″ rods and two size 30 reels. A 10 color spool of standard lead core will fill a size 30 reel perfectly to the top. I’d just put a 10 color spool of lead core on each reel with the leader of your choice and you’re ready for any depth you may want to fish. It’s simple and I’ve never found any good reason to splice in a section of lead core or put any backing on a reel by doing it this way. Your two rods will be set up exactly the same and they can exactly be duplicated.
I’ve been fishing with lead core setups this way for years. It works well.

If you can swing it, the Tekotas are widely known as the Cadillac of all reels for this presentation. The 500 and 600 series both work well depending on how many colors of lead you’re planning on keeping on the spool. Other reels will work but the durability of these reels are second to none and the precise drag adjustment is the best I’ve found which is a huge benefit when pulling lead in my opinion.

Rod preference varies widely but I personally like the Tony Roach 9’4” Telescopic Leadcore Rods that are manufactured by Wright & McGill.

Thanks for all the replies thus far. I mainly fish the St. Croix and Northern MN lakes. I fish Canada too but don’t expect to troll much up there. So, I’d say I’ll primarily use it on the Croix. Depths would range from 15′-30′. I was hoping to not spend more than $150/set-up.

I see Cabela’s has their Depth Master combos on sale for $50! That seems really cheap but they get varied reviews. If I were to go this route would I get the 9′ with the size 30 reel? It says it’s a planer board set up but I imagine I could use it for lead.

Thanks for the help!

Yes

You might want to look at Torpedo Divers and a line counter reel

http://www.torpedodivers.com/

Use it with your walleye rod. A litter more versitile

BP wrote:

Thanks for all the replies thus far. I mainly fish the St. Croix and Northern MN lakes. I fish Canada too but don’t expect to troll much up there. So, I’d say I’ll primarily use it on the Croix. Depths would range from 15′-30′. I was hoping to not spend more than $150/set-up.

I see Cabela’s has their Depth Master combos on sale for $50! That seems really cheap but they get varied reviews. If I were to go this route would I get the 9′ with the size 30 reel? It says it’s a planer board set up but I imagine I could use it for lead.

Thanks for the help!

Those will work, I and many of us used them for a couple of years. The drags aren’t great, the line spool adjustment is either tight or free spool meaning you can’t just flip them open and deploy line without worrying about lead tangles, and the line counters, well they may or may not work and you have to reset or fiddle with them.

They eventually anger you enough and turn into back ups or #3 and 4 rods in a spread, or the reels end up in the garbage and you replace them with Sealines or Tekotas. If you are going to use them more than once a week and not have to replace in a year or more I’d save up and bite the bullet and buy a better reel.

Just my 2 cents.

I pull a lot of leadcore for walleyes so I will give you what my setup is. I predominantly fish water 30 feet or less, so my walleye rigs are setup with that in mind. I run two 8’6″ Jason Mitchell leadcore series rods, and 2 5′ cabelas shorty leadcore rods. I used to run shorty Jason Mitchell rods, but since clam bought the JM rod line, they no longer make the shorties. I’ve tried using other rods that weren’t leadcore specific, and you can get by with them, but you can’t typically read the baits very well. It’s critical that you have the ability to read if you picked up crap on a bait.

For reels, I run Diawa Sealine size 47 or Shimano Tecota 600s. I also prefer linecounters so I can repeat the exact amount of line out rather than counting colors. You could get by with smaller, but it will cost you spools of line in the long run. You can also go with cheaper reels if you don’t plan to fish it 50 days a year, but make sure whatever you get has decent drags or replace them right away with carbon fiber drag kits. I fish in areas with a lot of sunken logs, so snags are part of the game. If you snag up on rod, you need to pull the other three while letting the snagged rod spool. For that reason, I run a as much braid backing as I can fit under my leadcore. If you just fill the reel with core, you will spool it before you can recover the rest of your lines.

I’ve experimented with all the different types of leadcore line. I tried the suffix 832 as I was intrigued by the supposed 7 feet of sink per color, but I found it to be more like 6. The line is complete crap in my opinion. If you are pulling baits where you are making bottom contact, and your baits periodically roll over, or you pick up weeds and your bait spins, you will twist that line up and ruin it. You have to run a swivel, which lessens it, but doesn’t eliminate the problem. I now run the Tuffline micro lead, which so far I like. Still run a swivel between the lead and my leader. You can run regular old leadcore, which I did for a long time, but can get more backing with the micro lead.

One other thing I’ve started doing is running snap weights on my two shorty rods. If you run 4 baits just on leadcore, they will all be running roughly the same distance back from the boat, and very close together. One bait out of tune or with some grass on it, and you will experience the great joy that comes with leadcore tangles. Two 3 ounce snap weights 30 feet in front of your bait on the shorties will take about 30 feet less line to get where you need it.

If you have questions, let me know. Pulling lead is one of my favorite ways to fish. I’ve got hundreds of hours of experience.

BP wrote:

I see Cabela’s has their Depth Master combos on sale for $50! That seems really cheap but they get varied reviews. If I were to go this route would I get the 9′ with the size 30 reel? It says it’s a planer board set up but I imagine I could use it for lead.

I would avoid the Depth Masters as many people have had various problems with them over the years, me included. The build and component quality just isn’t there to provide any sort of reliability.

Better budget reels would be Daiwa Accudepth Plus B, size 47 -or- Okuma Magda Pro, size 45. Hope this helps, good luck.

I certainly can’t be the only one that doesn’t have trouble with Cabela’s Depth Master reels am I? I clean and lubricate the reels annually or more often if needed and occasionally lubricate the line counter reel reset button with a shot of silicon spray if it gets sticky and I can honestly say I have never had any trouble with them at all.

Just for the sake of a differing viewpoint, I don’t see the need for a line-counter reel when running leadcore line that’s already metered & color-coded. Know how much line per color and use your tick-marks for the intervals. Much more reliable than a LC and no calibration required. Just my 2 cents. I find LC’s to be bulky, heavy, and not accurate enough to rely on consistently.

I run KastKing Rover round baitcaster reels. They’re very competitive price-wise and feature carbon fiber drags & aluminum/brass/stainless construction instead of composite plastic junk.

When buying a rod, the most important thing in my limited experience is having a tip that’s sensitive enough to tell you if your lure has been fouled.

BP wrote:

Thanks for all the replies thus far. I mainly fish the St. Croix and Northern MN lakes. I fish Canada too but don’t expect to troll much up there. So, I’d say I’ll primarily use it on the Croix. Depths would range from 15′-30′. I was hoping to not spend more than $150/set-up.

I see Cabela’s has their Depth Master combos on sale for $50! That seems really cheap but they get varied reviews. If I were to go this route would I get the 9′ with the size 30 reel? It says it’s a planer board set up but I imagine I could use it for lead.

Thanks for the help!

This is exactly how I started leadcore fishing and I would recommend it as a practical starting point for if you’re unsure about leadcore fishing and want to give it a try. In that case they will definitely be adequate.

If you’re looking at getting a more long term setup I think you should definitely also look at the Okuma Coldwater reels. Last year was my first experience with them and I was very impressed. IMO their performance was very close to the Tekotas but at a much lower cost.

Will

Will Roseberg wrote:

If you’re looking at getting a more long term setup I think you should definitely also look at the Okuma Coldwater reels. Last year was my first experience with them and I was very impressed. IMO their performance was very close to the Tekotas but at a much lower cost.

The three guys I personally know that tried the coldwater reels for pulling leadcore are all replacing them after 2 years due to failure. You can find a better quality reel for the same price point. The coldwaters seemed like they would be more durable than the magda and convector, but they aren’t. But, if you aren’t using them a ton, you can probably get by with anything.

I was looking at buying a couple of the line counters setups a couple of years ago. I have some friends that fish Superior and Michigan and they recommended the Daiwa Accudepths. I seen the Cabelas combos for $50 and thought I would give them a try. After fishing with my friends a few more times. I will be replacing the Cabelas combos with Accudepths. I bought a couple last fall and put braid on them. I am very happy with them. Good bang for the buck. I bought some Daiwa Wilderness rods. I am happy with them also. Lots easier to read the tip on the Wilderness rods than the inexpensive Cabelas ones.

I use Coldwater reels. They are great bang for the $$. I use scheels short 5′ leadcore rods on the inside and shimano compre 10’6″ rods on the outside. Reed’s had the long rods at a great price. Not sure if they still do. I also use the same reel and a 8’6″ compre rod for a 5 color setup to run out on planer boards on Lake Erie. That’s a little deeper than you say you’re planning on fishing but you could use a 3 color setup. The 8’6″ compres are a little stiffer than I would like for LC but they get the job done.

Karry Kyllo wrote:

I certainly can’t be the only one that doesn’t have trouble with Cabela’s Depth Master reels am I? I clean and lubricate the reels annually or more often if needed and occasionally lubricate the line counter reel reset button with a shot of silicon spray if it gets sticky and I can honestly say I have never had any trouble with them at all.

You are the only one I know. I have had 2 myself an burned them up pretty fast, have buddies with the same experience. The price point is good, but the quality is poor. 1st one I got right out of the box the drag was junk, returned/exchanged it and the line counter lasted about 2 weeks. The other one I bought the following year(just because they were cheap and I had to try again) lasted about a month and again the drag went to heck, line counter stopped working and the line tension adjustment was garbage. Just my experience. I no run the accudepths and have had good luck with them and they aren’t terribly overpriced.

Save yourself the heartache and buy Tekotas right away and you will have a huge smile on your face when you hook up on a nice fish or get snagged and the drag is awesome. Buy 1 or 2 a year until you have what you want if you need to budget. I have 8 tekotas. 4 lead 4 fireline. Also knowing that you’ll have them for the next 20 years. Now that is what I call “Bang for your buck”. Most of my buddies have beat around the bush buying cheap leadcore reels for years, being frustrated and replacing them every couple years. If they would have just bit the bullet right away they would have spend less money.IMO.

In case most didn’t know, the Diawa equivalent to the tekotas is the Diawa Saltist reels.

The only difference being that the Diawa Saltis has a much higher gear ratio. Price and line capacity is about the same.

In my opinion, higher gear ratio is worth its weight in gold when fishing 100s of feet of lead core.

I have 8 okuma coldwater reels. Different sizes, they have worked flawlessly for me. I have two accudepths. Not a fan at all..

Wow. Lots of great input. I appreciate it.

So, I think I’ve decided I’ll go with the Okuma reels (size 30). But, I’m still undecided on the rods. Definitely not going with the Cabela’s. I was thinking about the Diawa Wilderness, St. Croix Eyecon, or the Limit Creek. There is a significant difference in price between the Diawa and the other two rods (Wilderness is $30 and Eyecon is $140). Any opinions? I do want a good tip so I can see if the bait is running correctly. And I’m not the type of guy to go cheap with everything. I like good equipment that will last me years. Thanks!!

Those two rods aren’t comparable. I am all for cheap trolling rods because that’s all I own but the wilderness rods are my least favorite.

If you want to go cheap go with the Shimano TDR rods. It’s my preferred cheap trolling rod. Only downside is that it doesn’t have a hook keeper.

If you pull deep diving cranks The cheaper rods work fine. If you run shallow the better quality rods are the way to go. One chunk of weeds = no bites. Quality rods help to see the wobble change.

Remember dive curves charts are not very accurate w leadcore. I live on the croix and never use core. Michigan maybe, leech seldom. Boat control most important. Better ways and its allot of frustration learning. Snap weights samo. Dipseys n rigors much better. Crank baits 12to 20 ft should be a safe start.