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Posts: 38
| I'm a young guy and I'm fairly new to walleye fishing. I've been reading all the in-fisherman magazines. I have always fished but never really got into the thinking side of fishing until last year when I got my boat license and the parents let me take the boat out nearly everyday of the year. Anyways, there's a snad bar on my lake and it gradually drops from about a foot of water into about 25 feet of water and since most of my crankbaits only dive to about 19 feet with 10 pound fireline, I was considering the idea of using leadcore. I'm only 18 and in college, so I don't have alot of money to be spending on multiple rods and reels. I have an Abu Garcia c3, 6500 series baitcasting reel and it says that I can have about 245 yards of 14 ound test.
I was wondering if I were able to fit a backing of about 50 yard of fireline then put all of the 18 pound leadcore onto my reel. But I guess I might even have to fork out the money for a linecounter reel and another rod because I with also use that reel for casting. And also if I werent going to use planer boards, would I really need an 8'6'' rod for trolling? I just bought a 7 foot medium light baitcasting rod and Im wondering if thats good enough?
Sorry for the long post but I theres so many things to know about these damn fish that you cant just read up on it in magazines, you gotta ask the seasoned pros!!!
Thanks,
Ross Restoule
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Member
Posts: 171
| Ross,
Great to see you taking up the sport and being so enthuisiastic about it. As far as reels go, you don't need a line counter with leadcore, it's colored in 30' increments. You need a high capacity reel though, that leadcore and backer gets awfully thick with 10 colors. You might consider a different backer too, if you use leadcore/fireline/w a fireline leader there is no stretch making it a possibility of pulling the hooks from a big fish.
The 2 most important features of a leadcore rod would be a soft tip to see the action of the lure and big eyes so the line will run through them easily, you don't need 8'6" of rod for that.
My favorite rods are Berkley 7'10" Gary Roach models with stainless eyes.
Good luck, let us know how you finally set up and how you do.
Rob
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Member
Posts: 38
| thank you very much. |
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Posts: 526
Location: blue mounds,wisc | i dont see a need for backing for ten colors of leadcore. a soft rod is a must though. i use a 10-20foot leader of fireline, when its snaggy,plus you have a better feel of your crank.when the water is clear i use a leader of vanish fluorocarbon . i also like to use a linecounter reel so i can get the same amount of line out and not have to guess how far into a color i am.to be a diversified walleye fisherman you have to have alot of different rods and reels for different presentations. then mutiple set ups so you can run more than one line. i myself have around thirty different rod and reel combos for everything from jigging to trolling leadcore,dragging three-ways,so on and so forth. |
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Member
Posts: 171
| Larry,
He's only 18. I'm sure in the no so far future he will have a huge amount of money to spend today he doesn't. We all have to start somewhere. |
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Posts: 2300
Location: Berlin | All great advise so far. The only thing I might add is that you won't need anywhere near 10 colors to get to 25 ft. 5 colors will be more than enough even at high speeds. You won't believe how fast that reel will fill up with leadcore. I don't use any backing unless I will be using most of the colors I have on the reel. If you need to use 4 colors and only have 5 on the reel, you will definately need backing.
As far as a line counter, to each there own. I have 6 rods with leadcore. 4 linecounters and 2 without. Even when I use the linecounters I never look at the dial. It is real easy to keep track of the line out by the colors. If you do start to run more than one rod with leadcore, make sure you spool both reels with the same color order. It will get real confusing if the colors don't match up.
If you are planning on hitting your cranks on bottom where there is debris, run a superline leader so you can rip it free without having to reel it all the way in. If the bottom is clean or you are targeting suspended fish, I like to use Berkely Vanish. 10 or 12 lb test works great.
The soft tip Rob mentioned is a must so you can see when your bait is hitting bottom. It also helps because you can see the tip vibrating when the lure is running correctly. If the tip stops vibrating give it a rip to try to free the bait from debris. I like to use a long rod like an 8'6" because of the no-stretch. When you long-line this stuff and get a 6lb'er on it will bend a shorter rod over easier than a longer rod. Soft tip with a strong butt like the BPS Walleye Angler rods work great.
An advantage of leadcore compared to a snap weight is that leadcore snakes around your trolling pass. Lets say you are contour trolling a piece of structure that has a lot of bends to it. As your boat weaves in and out, the leadcore (because of its diameter) follows your boat path keeping your bait in the desired depth. A snap weight will cut the corner as the boat turns.
There are a lot of time the fish are just not active and the big billed baits have just too much action. With leadcore you can run small shallow running baits to whatever depth the fish are at. Another big advantage is that you can long-line leadcore right next to mono and never get tangled no matter how sharp you turn. I use it for that reason even when depth is not an issue.
My advise is start small and use the rod and reel you have. Leadcore lasts forever or atleast until you cannot seee the colors any more from the sun fading them. It is a one time only cost. If you like it then buy another rod more suited for leadcore and use the original rod for casting. I hope this helps,
Rich
Edited by Rich S 3/12/2005 8:53 AM
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Member
Posts: 83
Location: Isle MN. | My personal preferance is to have two reels and one rod! You can switch reals relativly easy! I like line counters for lead. You can pick up a Diawa 47 Sealines pretty reasonable! With the line counter you can put your baits in the same spot time after time after time. I don't like to remember what color I was supposed to stop at expessialy if you fish alone and trying to run the boat and do everything else. I just write the number on a piece of athletic tape and put it on the counter. I also second a mono, or flourocarbon for a leader, it has a bit more give when the fish smacks the bait hard, torn lips don't catch fish! Just remember that Lead has A LOT to do with the speed of your presentation. You can vary quite a bit in depth with just a few tenths of a mph. Don't try to learn lead by crankin over tree tops!! It gets spendy!  |
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Posts: 200
Location: Lake City MN | Trent, you really don't even need a leadcore rig to work a drop like that effectivly. Use your current ABU rig and try useing a three way rig with a stickbait. Tht way you can troll a zig zag pattern along the drop and have constant contact with the bottom. Just a thought for someone on a tight budget.
Loren Waalkens
http://www.walleyefirst.com/waalkens |
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| trent i use the gary roach rods 7'-10" telescoping also
a c3 6500 will hold 90 yards 18lb leadcore
o backing and a 10' leader
good luck
no need for a line counter with lead for me |
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