This report is a week old, but one thing I wanted to share was how well leadcore works. I came from the old days of fishing a couple of tournaments each year our of Algoma and Kewaunee…a long long time ago. back then, it was dipsy divers, downriggers, a couple of flat lines and mostly j-plugs with some spoons mixed into the mix.
Fast forward nearly 20 years and the techniques have surely changed. I just got back from my second trip out to L.Michigan and this time fished between Bender Park and Milwaukee, and armed with more leadcore knowledge.
I did not realize why, at least from what I read and what people tell me, was how invasive species, especially zebra mussels have made the water so much more clear. This was obvious as on a calm day, we were in 20-23fow and I could see the bottom of the lake as clear as day. A long story made long…we did so much better on this trip than the first trip as I was well set up with many rods holding leadcore. Approximately 90% of all fish fired on a leadcore rod; it was actually difficult to get downrigger to fire.
I ran a total of 6 Offshore planer boards on each side. Depending upon the depth of water in, each side of the boat had a rod with 2 color, 3 color, and a 5 colors of leadcore. If we were fishing shallow or were in colder, deeper water, I ran a 0 color, 2-3 color and maybe a 5 color (water depth and temp dependent). With the three planer board rods/each side I was running, the furthest one would be the shallowest, the middle and the inner board would have the leadcore running the deepest. The theory was that if the outer rod fired, it could be played in manner that it could be let back and over the top of the two inner lines an avoid a massive hairball. In five days of fishing, I only had one time where two board got tangled..due to my mistake. Otherwise, it worked awesome.
The first day was slow. We ran from 45-130fow mostly washing spoons. It wasn’t until we went to R&R tackle shop, and when I Was asked “How can I help you”, I responded, “Well, you can tell me where the kings are!”. Our conversation went like this:
R&R: where are you fishing”?
Me: Anywhere from 70-130fow, we cant find them.
R&R: your too deep
Me: Well, we did come into 45fow for a while…
R&R: Too deep
Me: well, there was a bit of time we snuck into 30-35fow
R&R: Too deep
Me: What?
R&R Too deep, try 10fow, all the shore fisherman are getting there limits
Longer story longer…we bought glow in the dark spoons, and went out in the afternoon and fished into the evening where it was the best fishing..even had a couple of doubles and hit our largest king of the trip. We ran pretty much in 23fow and did well. The westerly winds for the past few days had pushed the warmer water out deep which got replaced with colder water near shore. We ran 4 planer boards with a 2 an 3 color and two inline divers. It was a blast. In the five days we were out, we caught most all of our fish in 23-45fow…with some deeper throughout the five days as the colder water started slipping further and further out from shore.
I guess from what I read, with the crystal clear water…the fish do not care as much for the ‘zinging’ of the steel downrigger cable and the big ball whipping by them. The leadcore/planer board option gives them ‘free-air’ lures, away from the boat and in undisturbed water. Of the downrigger fish we caught…a couple were on the upper stacker…but most were on the bottom where I also ran 2 colors of lead to push the lure 10-12feet below the ball…again putting it in free-air water where the fish do not get possibly spooked by the ball.
Anyway…hopefully it helps anybody going out for Slammin’ Salmon next week. I cannot wait for my trip in August.
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Thank you very much. Sounds like y’all had a great time and had things dialed in. You just gotta love when a plan comes together. 
