Thanks for sharing Brian – this is a great reminder to all to thank those who fought for our freedom and it certainly puts the meaning of Father’s Day in perspective.

Thanks for the report Jon and I’m glad to hear that you’re having some success! Now will you please work on warming up those water temps?

Gill nets should also be banned from 10pm-6am!

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Anyone know which size Tekota is needed to fit 10 colors of 18lb lead and backing? By comparing specs it appears the 600 has about the same capacity as the Daiwa lc47 reels – is that right?

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Yes it’s about the same line capacity.
TEK600LC = 20 lb / 300 yards
DiawaLC47 = 20 lb / 280 yards

So the big question is how much backing should I put on reel and still have my TEK600LC be calibrated? Keep in mind your line counter reel doesn’t actually measure feet – it measures revolutions of your spool. So if your reel is only half full in will measure more like 14-16 inches versus 12 inches. A fully spooled line counter reel usually measures correctly – 12 inches per revolution. You can calibrate your line counter reel by measuring out 100 feet in your yard with a tape measure and then pull your line off your line counter reel to that 100 foot spot and see what your line counter actually reads. Add or take away line and measure it again until it reads accurately.

OK – now back to how much backing you will need:

The easiest and most accurate way to do this IF you have two reels is to put the lead core line on first and then add your mono backing until your spool is full and then go calibrate it before you cut your mono line. Once your reel is calibrated – now move that line to your other line counter reel so your backing goes on first followed by the lead core line.

If you only have one reel it get’s a little trickier. In order to figure out how much backing you need – there are 3 things you need to consider:
1. the amount of lead core line you are wishing to add
2. the line capacity of your reel
3. and line diameters

Now let’s do the math:
1. you are wishing to add 100 yards of lead core line
2. the TEK600LC line capacity = 20 lb / 300 yards (keep in mind this capacity is figured for mono).
3. the line diameter for 20 lb. mono = .018
3. the line diameter for 18 lb. regular lead core = .025
The difference is .07 or 39%

Now add 39% to your lead core line: 100 yards * 39% = 139 yards

Minus that from your TEKLC600 line counter reel capacity: 300 – 139 = 161 yards

Add 161 yards of 20 lb mono backing and then add your 10 colors of lead core.

Check out the “Tie-Fast Knot Tool”. It’s a great tool for tying fluorocarbon leaders to braid and I love it. It makes it so much easier and faster to tie and the knot has excellent strength – it’s very similar to a back to back uni knot.

Here’s a YouTube Video on it: YouTube LINK

And you can buy it at Cabelas for $7.99: Cabelas LINK

Good job figuring them out and congrats on your big girl Mike!

Baby Mallard – I think you are missing the main point. State anglers (you and me) are not the root cause why Mille Lacs is in it’s current state.

There’s a lack of small walleyes in the lake – not large ones. Open water trolling with big deep diving crankbaits targets big walleyes and it’s very rare that we catch walleyes under the slot limit. I can also count on one hand the number of walleyes that I have knowingly killed while fishing the open basin. I’m going off of my own data – not speculation.

Also, promoting not to fish the lake really hurts the local resort owners and businesses. I plan on being more vocal and make my presence known on how I feel about the fishery and what needs to be done. I’m not just going to go away and ignore the problem.

As I already stated above, we all need to do our part – but our focus should be on how to stop the gill netting versus talking about hooking mortality.

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So Brad, do you still plan on yanking numbers of walleyes from the deep in the summer? Just because they appear to “swim away just fine” doesn’t mean they live. Just saying and there are a lot of guys like you doing it.

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Yes – this summer I will try and catch walleyes while trolling large crankbaits in the open basin of Mille Lacs. I will continue to promote this type of fishing for the following reasons.

1. T-Bone is right – open water trolling with large crankbaits does not target small walleyes. About 4% – 1 out of 25 walleyes caught out of my boat is under 20 inches. This data has been pretty consistent over the last 13 years.

2. Based on my personal experience, I feel the hooking mortality is far less using large crankbaits than using live bait. Due to the size of the crankbait and the speed that you’re trolling – you rarely see hooks buried deep in their gullet. I also feel the DNR estimates for hooking mortality is greatly over exaggerated.

3. In regard to fishing in deeper water – due to the amount of line needed to achieve the desired depth of your crankbait (i.e. 150 feet), it takes a longer time to reel in a walleye versus vertical fishing. This gives the walleye’s gas bladder time to adjust in regard to hydrostatic pressure. Also, imploding bladders protruding from a walleyes mouth is far more common for smaller walleyes than it is for larger ones. In fact, I’ve only witnessed it a couple of times ever when a large walleye had an imploded bladder and it happened when I was ice fishing and I’ve never seen it while fishing the open basin.

As state anglers we must stick together and all of us must try and do our part. That includes writing and voicing our opinions to public officials, to the DNR, to the Mille Lacs Fisheries Input Group, to the Press and anyone else that will listen. In addition, I’m also going to:

– Personally not keep any walleyes while fishing on Mille Lacs. I will promote and suggest to my clients to do the same.

– Continue to preach and practice proper handling /catch and release methods. For example, here’s an article I wrote last summer – LINK

– Continue to NOT support any business that supports gill netting.

– Continue to promote and support the local resorts and businesses around the Mille Lacs area. They will need it more than ever.

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Does anyone catch a lot of Pike?

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As most of you know, I exclusively troll crankbaits for walleyes out in the open basin of Mille Lacs in the summer on average 2-3 days per week from June 1st through Labor Day. I’ve done this for the past 13 years. In a typical year I would only catch 1-2 pike total for the year. Last summer, I was averaging 1-2 pike per day and all of them were between 32-40 inches. I believe this is in direct correlation of how the lake is being mismanaged. More pike have either relocated out to the open basin due to the lack of the forage base/small walleyes in their typical habitat locations OR there’s simply too many mature pike in the system.

Thank you for the update and I’m glad to hear that everyone is healing well. If you ever have the desire and courage to want to take your family fishing again on Mille Lacs – I will be happy to accommodate and there will be no charge for the trip. Every family deserves a great memory of Mille Lacs.

I’m sorry for your loss. I never had a brother and I always wonder what I was missing. Your statements about Al made me realize how special a brother can be. May your memories of him last forever.

Thank you Mark for the memories. Your silly jokes always made me laugh simply because they came from you. You were always there for me especially in trying times and I thank you for that. I’m proud to have known you and honored to be your friend.

Rest in peace Marky and I love you.

Big congrats Dan to you and your dad! A 7th place finish plus winning the bonus pot is certainly something to be proud of. You guys made a lot of good decisions during the 2 day tourney and it paid off in a big way!

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Fantastic year again Brad one of these years, I need to take you up on the open basin offer

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Thanks Glen! I definitely owe you a day on the water! Next year – I promise! It’s time to get in a tree stand!

More pics…

Prayers sent to your brother, you and the rest of your family.

Glad to hear that you’ll be making a full recovery James!

The open basin bite slowed down for me last weekend as well. We were still able to catch some quality fish but overall numbers were down to about 1 fish per hour. Other anglers I spoke to on the water had similar results or even less. Most of the fish we caught were barely hooked or came off in the net. Some of them spit out some small perch and they were also crapping all over the boat – looked like mud. I’m guessing they are also feeding on the bug hatch out there. We had several strikes with no hook ups too. Bottom line is they are not very hungry right now.

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Any luck with different types of knots for the suffix 832?? the willis knot has been a tough one for me. seems to just unravel the sheath just seems to unravel when I try to feed the mono back through it!

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I use a cool little knot tying tool called Tie-Fast

Congrats to Alex and Dad! A father and a child building memories together while fishing in a boat – it just doesn’t get any better than that!

Sorry for your loss – the pics you posted certainly shows why he was your best friend.

Thanks Dan for your response and for your extra care when handling fish that you CPR. In MN, there are designated lakes and rivers in which you can not cull or practice live well sorting. I once asked a MN DNR Officer to explain this to me and he said, once you put it in your live well – you own it and it goes against your possession. The laws are vague and poorly written so it leaves us state anglers trying to interpret laws. Again, thanks for sharing your well thought out CPR process with us and I hope you get to practice it on some more big fish!

Happy Belated B-Day Eric!

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If using boards, it is ok, and an accepted norm to clip right on to the lead as well ????? Any issues with the line getting damaged?

Safe to assume flags on the board don’t work with lead core do to the added weight?

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Over time, attaching your leadcore line to your planer board will damage the line (especially when using Sufix 832 lead core). Regular lead core is a little better but you’re limited on how far you can put it away from the boat because the line sags due to the weight between the planer board and your rod tip. When I want troll with lead core on a board, I will use a segmented lead core application. Basically it’s your leader, then so many numbers of lead core depending on how deep you want to place your lure, then mono or braid back to your spool. You then simply attach your planer board to your backing right after your leadcore ends. The downfall is that you are now locked into that depth because you only have that many colors out. So…. what I do now is splice in a 3 foot section of mono or braid in between the colors. For example, working from my lure to my reel, I have a leader, 3 colors of lead core, a 3 foot splice of heavy braided line, another color of leadcore and then mono or braid back to my reel. That way I can fish with either 3 or 4 colors.

I also like to use the Offshore OR-18 Adjustable Tension Release on my planer boards. You can tighten or loosen the tension by simply turning a screw and it helps secure your line better.

Welcome to IDO! We’re glad you joined us!

I’ve been trolling with lead core line for over 14 years and I like you, had many questions when I first started.

Here’s a few things you should know..

– A full core of lead core line is usually 10 colors (they also make 20 color spools now)

– Each color is 30 feet long so a full core of lead core line is 300 feet

– When someone says “put out 3 colors” – what they mean from your rod tip to your leader.

– You must attach a leader to your lead core. Here’s another thread that tells you how to do that: Best Lead Core Knot to Use

– You add and calculate your depth curve for your crankbait in regard to your leader length and then add the correct amount of lead core to achieve your desired trolling depth.

– Regular Leadcore line has a thick diameter due to the lead inside of the nylon sheath so you need to have a bigger reel to accommodate the lead core. How much you will want to put on your reel depends on how deep you plan to fish.

– Regular lead core (most guys use 18 lb) sinks 5 feet per color when trolling at 2 mph. The faster you troll – the higher your lead core line will raise up in the water column and the slower you troll – your lead core line will sink. A .2 mph difference in speed can raise our lower your leadcore line approximately a foot when fishing with 3 or 4 colors. Simply put – leadcore line is speed sensitive.

– The new Sufix 832 lead core line had a thinner diameter than the regular lead core line and therefore sinks faster – 7 feet per color when trolling 2 mph. Most guys like me are using 12 lb test.

– So…. if you’re only going to be trolling in water up to 25 feet deep – you only have to put 5 colors of regular lead core on your spool. If you plan on fishing deeper water – you will need to add one color per 5 feet of depth. If you’re going to be using the new Sufix 832 lead core line – the you can achieve 35 feet of depth using 5 colors.

– I recommend that you use some cheap mono backing on your spool before you apply your lead core.

– You do not need a line counter reel when using leadcore. You can simply count the colors. However, I use line counter reels for all my lead core set ups because it’s easier to put out 100 feet of leadcore line versus counting 3 and 1/3 colors to acheive a depth of 17.5 feet of depth (regular lead core). It also allows you to be more consistent and a line counter reel is not that much more money.

– When using a line counter reel – you must make sure that it is reading accurately. It does not count feet. It actually counts revolution of your spool and line is going in or out. So… if your spool is not full – it may be reading 14 -18 inches versus 12 inches. The way you can check it is you measure for example 150 feet in your yard and then pull off your line on your line counter reel and see what it says. If it says more than 150 feet – you need to add more line to increase the diameter of your spool so one revolution is 12 inches. Usually on most reels if your spool is full – you’re close.

Which lead core line you use (regular lead core versus Sufix 832 lead core) and what leader line you use (fluorocarbon, mono or braid) depends on your trolling scenario. Are you going to be trolling structure? Are you going to be trolling for suspended walleyes out in the open water? Lake or river?

Thank you Jeff for your kind words above. I’m happy to hear that you’re having some success out there! That is the very reason why I do these trolling clinics!

I was on the pond walleye fishing over the weekend Thurs – Sun. Many good walleye anglers have been struggling over the last two weeks while using live bait and there were just a handful of boats on the lake over the weekend. Long story short – there’s a lot of bait out there and some of the walleyes that we caught were coughing up 2 inch perch. Your best bet is to troll crankbaits out in the open basin targeting the mud areas. My boat is averaging between 15-20 walleyes per day using this method. Deep Tail Dancers and Deep Thundersticks trolled deep in the water column are taking the majority of the fish. I’ll be back at it on Sat – so if you see a black and white skeeter with Yammis on the back – say hi!

Thank you Jerry for providing us an update on your family. I can’t imagine going from a hopeful day of fun fishing and then ending up in the hospital with 2nd degree burns. I wish you and your family the very best during the healing process. Hopefully someday, all will have the courage and strength to go out together again and catch some fish.

Two awesome walleyes! Congrats to your brother! I’ve always wanted fish the Columbia River!

Please don’t take this the wrong way… The picture shows 2 walleyes at the same time. It also states the length, girth and weight of the bigger fish and you stated that both were released. I would not recommend if you’re practicing CPR that a walleye angler keeps fish out of water for an extended amount of time. Did he catch both of them? If so, where was the first fish when he caught the 2nd one? Then he measured the length of both fish, the girth of the bigger one, (maybe even used a scale to weigh of the bigger one or did he calculate the weight?) and then posed for a picture while holding both fish. Common sense tells me that takes quite a bit of time to accomplish all of that. Again, I’m not trying to be a debbie downer but I would not even attempt such a feat due to the fear of killing the fish. Do you understand my concern? Hopefully both walleyes lived and all is well but I just wanted to point out my concern so everyone can enjoy catching such a beautiful trophy. Congrats again to your brother and I hope he lands some more big walleyes.

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I have suffix 832 leadcore and I am wondering what knot you guys are using with the swivel. I have been using a knot of myne but it is hard to get a good clean knot. Any replies with a link that shows how you can tie a good clean know with leadcore would greatly be appreciated.

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It is highly recommended that you use a swivel if you’re going to use the Sufix 832 lead core line. The reason being is if your lure happens to spin, the spins will work their way up to your lead core line causing the lead to break and start shooting out the nylon sheath. This does not happen when using regular lead core line.

To attach your swivel to your Sufix 832 lead core line: Peel back the nylon sheath away from your leadcore and break off the lead (about 6 inches). Attach your nylon sheath to your swivel by using a Palomar Knot .

To attach your swivel to your leader using mono or fluorocarbon. Attach your mono or fluorocarbon leader to your swivel by using an Improved Clinch Knot

To attach your braid leader to your swivel – same as above by using the Palomor knot.

To attach your mono or fluorocarbon line to your leadcore line (Reg Leadcore). I use a tool called

Tie-Fast It’s easy and fast especially when you’re on the water.

While trolling the open basin of Mille Lacs, I use both lead core lines (regular lead core and Sufix 832 lead core) for a variety of reasons. I also use fluorocarbon and braid leaders on my lead core lines for different trolling applications. There are benefits of each.