lead line for downrigging

[Eddy62]

anyone on the forum use this line? and what is your opinion on it was fishing the shuswap this past weekend and this fellow stated its the best way to go now? instead of using downriggers.

[Peace Meal Farm]

i fish with this almost exclusively when i'm in at my ontario hunt camp. it does a very good job of getting down - 5 feet for each colour. to augment i also use a lake troll. i throw a minnow on a leader using a baiting needle and a double hook and things are good to go (ontario regs - no idea of the legalities here). it's a very successful setup.

the down side is it's heavy tackle. get anything less than a ~2 lb trout and you're just bossing the thing into the boat.

[Bigdad013]

The problem with lead line, you never really know your exact depth, down riggers and a fish finder you know exactly where your line depth is in relation to the fish on the screen. Don't get me wrong, I used it before I could afford all the gear and it worked, but for it to be the way of the future, I don't think so.
Was at the Shuswap last weekend. Saturday morning in short time, had 7 beauty rainbows to the boat. I really don't think using lead line would have produced the same results as we were chasing those fish from 80'-25 ft.
JMHO

[RavYak]

With the reasonable cost of downriggers it makes zero sense to use leadcore line in this day and age imo.

[wildwoods]

With the reasonable cost of downriggers it makes zero sense to use leadcore line in this day and age imo.

Exactly^^

Downrigging is a ton of fun. I wouldn't want to be fooling with leadcore myself. I have always used the hand crank ones to avoid a high initial cost. 1 crank per foot, very dependable. You can view the cannon ball on the sonar and set depth perfectly.

[EZM]

.......... and ........... if you can't (or don't want to) install a downrigger .... you can always run a dipsy diver off a line counter reel.

[huntsfurfish]

And for the other side of the coin.

Some walleye guys still use the line, as well as laker fishermen.

Some advantages are:

(1) Contour following.

(2) Easy to raise and lower lure while traversing points. Just speed up then slow down.

(3) No releases, no downrigger to mess with, no dipsys to mess with.

(4) Little to no stretch in the line.

Probably missed a few others.

That said, downriggers and dypsy divers are better alternatives in most situations.

All 3 require some what specialized gear.

Downrigger: Specialized rod(downrigger rod) and reel(might as well get a line counter-helps with setting out a consistant lead/length of line from canon ball or wire to lure). Line counter can be usefull for other trolling scenarios (dypsies and others). And suitable line. Also require downrigger and releases.

Dypsy Divers: Specialized rod(Dypsy Rod) and reel(Line counter) and suitable line, plus Dypsy Diver.

Leadcore: Specialized rod may not be necessary(but are available) and reel(Larger line counter-line is thick takes lots of space) and leadcore line.

Line counters are optional but I would recommend.