Digging around trying to get some sort of strategy on the lake trout fishing at Isle Royale and came across this. Interesting possibilities even for walleye trolling in Canoe country.

I wouldn't be surprised if these guys are at Isle Royale.......they mention Michigan and there are already quite a few Utube videos about slob laker fishing there. Not sure what I do once I get hooked up though. Tough to lift one of those Supertankers into even a big canoe. I guess I will worry about hooking one first ;-)

Anyway......this was entertaining and informative. I have the rod and reel for the line already. This will be another option.........plus I love spoons and hate pulling a dipsy. Really hard work, this will be better.

Lake trout with lead core

Not sure why I haven't caught onto this stuff years ago..........always sounded a bit "scary"......lead core. I always shrugged my shoulders and moved on and never even looked into it. Maybe because it was sort of old fashioned with the thick clunky line and big gear required to use it. But this new stuff is lots thinner........

I will initially be using it to troll spoons for trout but I know I will be using the 12b test stuff and 20ft floro leaders to troll for walleye. Think of the possibilities.......I wonder if a guy could fish a spoon in 20ft of water without adding a bunch of weight in the form of in-line sinkers etc. Or I wonder how deep a large Taildancer would run on this stuff? What would be super cool is to be able to fast troll a tail dancer in 40ft. Would it work? Could I get an extra 10ft of depth? Would the stuff ruin the action? I dunno but it will be interesting to try.........probably wouldn't catch lots of eyes at 40ft in August but I bet they would close/over 30" the ones that did bite.

Having lunch and digging around on Utube........

Lead core Kayak Lakers

that lead core video is really something.

i was digging hard into bottom with leadcore and taildancers in 60-70 feet before i knew it. that'll get DOWN.

quote lundojam: "i was digging hard into bottom with leadcore and taildancers in 60-70 feet before i knew it. that'll get DOWN.

Dang! Did you use the advanced Suffix? How long was your leader? Did you catch anything?

I would like to precision troll Basswood for walleye in 35 to 40 ft. At 28ft in August all the walleye seem to be cut from the same cloth all going within a few ounces of 5lbs (aggravating trying to catch an "eater")........are the bigger ones a smidgen deeper? Maybe!



























"

Been spending some time in the Walleye forums and Great Lakes forums evaluating the advanced 832 lead core. Lots of opinions and quite a diversity of thought.

A few things stand out.........Guys like the shorter lengths of line they can have out and still reach desired depths. It is also thinner and thus smaller and lighter tackle can be used upping the "fun" factor.

But all is not unicorns and lollipops in lead core land with this 832. Lots of guys have complained about the lead breaking apart and then poking through and destroying the sheath of braid. One charter boat captain who seems quite knowledgable and uses the material exclusively suspects this is due to line twist. If the 832 becomes twisted it is more or less done for. Ball bearing swivels are a must.

I will give it a whirl and see what happens but have "plan B" in my back pocket (i.e. a replacement spool of straight braid and some in-line weights). The other thing which has a bit of my attention is hanging bottom. I will probably run the heavier braid (18lb) in order to get deeper coupled with 50' of 15 or 20lb fluorocarbon leaders so snagging may be "not fun" as in hard to break off. The line counter will help coupled with a depth finder may largely alleviate that issue but lots of rocky bottom generally means snags sooner or later.

IMHO, unless you enjoy trolling for suspended LT exclusively and don't mind portaging a specialized outfit, I would leave the lead core at home. It is not responsive enough for needed depth adjustments in the varying, rocky contour changes found in the Q/BWCA. In line weights are far easier to adjust depth for contours and are good enough for suspended fish.

Never mind. Just saw you were talking about Superior.

quote AmarilloJim: "IMHO, unless you enjoy trolling for suspended LT exclusively and don't mind portaging a specialized outfit, I would leave the lead core at home. It is not responsive enough for needed depth adjustments in the varying, rocky contour changes found in the Q/BWCA. In line weights are far easier to adjust depth for contours and are good enough for suspended fish."

I beg to differ Jim.........this is not your typical lead core. The big arguments on the walleye forums is precisely what you describe. This lead core being thinner is allowing contour trolling on such bodies as Lake of the woods and other northern walleye waters.

Most objections center on cost with the advanced lead core being 3X the price. The pro side points out the shorter lengths of line to get the same depth allows for much better control. All these guys are trolling crank baits BTW and of course fishing near bottom or actually bumping bottom. The pro side also points out the smaller lighter advanced suffix allows the use of smaller gear which is of course also more sensitive (you actually see the wobble of the crank bait, are aware of twigs or other debris etc.)

I know absolutely zip having no first hand knowledge but the numerous discussions of others are quite interesting. I think the stuff has strong potential in canoe country especially late July through September. I will definitely be using it for at least a couple of long canoe trips and will become familiar with it. I can think of some 40ft basins and some deep reefs where it would probably be effective and fun to pull the lead core and a big thin spoon rather than a dipsy diver.

I can make 2 strong paddles and raise my in-line weight and crankbait 5 ft. off the bottom. You will never be able to do that with lead core.
Dipsy's? You must look like Teddy Roosevelt trouncing through the woods with all this stuff!

Hey that reminds me I have a book about Teddy and his rough riders on my nook.......probably get to it at Isle Royale.

Yea I take lots of stuff if I go alone. Different if its a travel trip with others. Alone I can go sunup to sundown and just make lots of portages to get it all across.

I took a dispy diver into Basswood on a base camp style trip. They aren't really all that big. It was pretty cool........I caught a couple pike at 40ft in the low 30's with it and a flutter spoon but then went really deep trolling for Lake Trout in 80ft and struck out pulling it for about 2 hours. It will kick your butt and really gets your attention if you snag bottom with your rod out at 90 degrees........lots of torque way out there and your boat wants to list quite substantially ("OH Momma"!).

After that I went and had lunch, decided to troll for walleye mid-day and caught the biggest Laker of my life right on the break in about 25ft in August so go figure. (Me thinks there is a spring there). I ended up catching 3 or 4 more in that general area right on the break line near the bottom. Sort of a weird spot..........