For dual purpose, I would run the strength up from 18….24?
You’ll still need a 100 yd spool, but you’ll put it on a reel with a LOT of backing as those salmon can pull off a ton of line in a heartbeat. I don’t think your garden variety Sealine 47 is the answer here, I’d consider running it on a larger reel which will work for Salmon but be a little unwieldy for eyes.
We ran 18 out on Michigan. We were using the big Cableas Depthmaster reels. One spool of lead will be fine with some backing like Jason mentioned. Any reel large enough to hold 300+ feet will work. Just make sure it its not a cheapy. It needs to have a good drag system. 
I agree with Jason you would need aleast a sealine 57 because I couldn’t get 10 colors on my 47’s with alot of backing. Another think to try instead on lead is jet-diver or dipsy divers you can run that on your planer boards & you won’t need to get the big reals. But if you are Salmon fishing alot go get those big reals & strong arms.
WOW. Thanks for all the quick responses. I plan to use my four downriggers on my boat, but I recently bought two Church boards and I thought of either getting some leadcore or some dipseys to use during the daylight hours for out salmon fishing.
Here is another question then. If I bought dipseys instead of lead, what brand, size of dipseys should I buy for salmon fishing only. As you can see I don’t own any.
Which method would you guys suggest doing, the leadcore or the dipseys?
I run 47’s with no backing, is that bad? Backing just uses up space. Its not like I would ever use the full spool but having the extra lead on the 47 in case of a tangle is good.
Dont forget leader lemgth, and mono VS. super lines,
I know On Bays Denoc I was running 20′-30′ leaders of mono.
Great lakes I thinking would be different.
eyedoctor
SOOOOOOO…… what would you do. Buy two dipseys or lead core? Question do you still need something like weights, lead core to get the lures down 75 feet with dipseys or do they dive down? 
My dipsey experience is pretty limited. I will say this: I enjoy the elegant simplicity of leadcore for getting baits deep (25-35 ft). You’re going to be using your riggers for getting your deep baits deep….if I were you, I’d set up some segmented leacore on your high lines and use your boards to get those lines out to the sides.
Final Question. I bought the two Church planer boards from Cabela’s that they sell as a set (port and starboard) for about $45. Since I don’t know what size they are, will these be fine to run behind lead core or will they get pulled under. I know speed and size of waves are a concern, but I don’t want to plan on using them and then find out that the lead core pulls the board under right away. Thanks again to all of you who have helped.
P.S. I see this was moved to the walleye and sauger topic, but it was a salmon question when it started. Oh well. 
You just gave me an idea mark. leadcore and a 30 jet diver i have to test this combo out and see how much a church or offshore board will take before sinking…. I bet i can get to 50 ft with 4 colors.
My apologies for moving this to the walleye / sauger forum. I saw lead core and got carried away. It is in the Salmon / Trout forum now.
A couple more hops and we could be playing Where’s Waldo with this thread. 
First off, I would use 27# LC. Once you have 16#-23# salmon rip off 500+ feet, you will understand why. I use 50# Power Pro for backing. Depending on the amount of rods and reels you have at your disposal, you could
1)Split a core, to run on two rods, one with say 4 and the other 6 colors. Generally expect to get 4-5 feet of depth per color. Your boards will have no problem pulling this, even if you want to add snap weights to get deeper.
2) split a core and run a 2 color SWR, and a 3 color, and a 5 color.
3) As stated above you could run a full core. The boards should handle it.
Do what the fish want. If you only have 3 rods (fishing solo) I would start early with a Downrigger, a SWR on a rigger, and a Dipsy or Pump Handle. After the early bite, if the riggers slow, switch out the standard rigger to a core on board.
If you run 6 lines. Early run all the downriggers you have, probably only one SWR though. Then run dipsys and pumphandles to close out your spread. After the early bite, put the core on the boards, run one regular dipsy, maybe a SWR, and some pump handles. Good Luck
WTA:
My brain is having cramps today, could you please define a SWR???
Thanks!!!
Mark
27lb test for sure when after trout or salmon.. For a full core, 10 colors.. Penn 330GTI reels are great for salmon fishing. Way overkill for walleyes, because of the amount of backing you can get on before the lead. But it is much needed for screaming kings.. Shimano Tekotas are also a good reel to look at.. Or Okuma Convectors/Catalinas in the 45 size…
But if you go to half cores or smaller, Daiwa 47’s will get the job done..
And Mark, the SWR is “secret weapon rig”. two colors of lead run off your downrigger sets, gives your spoon or whatever you have set-up a whip like motion from the surge of the lead. Works great!!!
And for dipsys.. Wire dipsy set-ups rule the roost for salmon fishing… That hum of wire produces 10 times better then a superline dipsy IMHO.
Quote:
And Mark, the SWR is “secret weapon rig”. two colors of lead run off your downrigger sets, gives your spoon or whatever you have set-up a whip like motion from the surge of the lead. Works great!!!
What Jim said. Core will get you down below the line of the ball, and also gives it the rise and fall of core. Try it, you will like it. Good Luck, WTA
Great post guys!
I’ll second the wire line for the dipsey’s! Used wire for the first time last year and will never go back to mono or braid. Two weeks ago, we had periods of time where dipseys were outfishing the riggers 2-1 (have also seen that historically…even with mono). To answer the question of which is better (dispsey’s or lead core, it sure seems to me like the answer is both, depending on conditions. The more tools in the tool box…
I have to say that I’m rather intrigued by using lead core for salmon fishing. I’ve sure heard a lot about it in recent months and have learned a lot in the last week or two from Capt. Jim’s report (also in this forum), as well as this thread. Seems like most guys are running a certain number of segments, underlain by backing (which requires a greater number of reels depending on the depth you want to achieve). Are many of you spooling up completely with the lead core to give you some flexibility to adjust that (and minimize the number of reels), or is it too difficult to secure lead core to the planer board releases?
Thanks,
Jim
><(((>
P.S. Great tip on the SWR.
So it sounds like most guys have
LF,
That is a good question. I would say more than 50%, are using segments. Be it 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 color. The problem with having a full core spooled, but only using a partial of it, where it clips on the board, it can break the lead and then wear on the sheath. Breakage is a greater possibility doing it that way. The core also tends to drag in the water between board and rod, causing some trouble. I really like the more tools in the toolbox, thought!
WTA – Thanks for the response. Couple of additional questions for yourself or anyone else reading this…
I assume that the typical 4-5 feet of depth per color assumes that you’re running a bait which doesn’t provide any additional depth (i.e. spoon). Additional depth will obtained if you’re using a crank bait, correct? Or is that somewhat “over ridden” by the weight of the lead core.
On the high end, say I wanted to run 8-10 colors to get down to 35-45 feet, would that sink the standard sized Yellow Birds (which we already have), or do you think we’d need to move up to the Big Birds?
Thanks,
Jim
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I just bought the two larger church boards and was told those clips would be fine to use with leadcore. Since I have a full core of lead on each rod, I was told that you can attach the board anywhere and don’t have to attach it to the mono backing.
I don’t know about the smaller yellow birds (I own two of them also), but I would think the lead would be too heavy for them.
Can’t wait I am leaving for Lake Michigan on Thursday.
Quote:
I assume that the typical 4-5 feet of depth per color assumes that you’re running a bait which doesn’t provide any additional depth (i.e. spoon). Additional depth will obtained if you’re using a crank bait, correct? Or is that somewhat “over ridden” by the weight of the lead core.
On the high end, say I wanted to run 8-10 colors to get down to 35-45 feet, would that sink the standard sized Yellow Birds (which we already have), or do you think we’d need to move up to the Big Birds?
Thanks,
Jim
><(((>
My findings are you don’t get much additional depth with a lipped bait. You will get some but it isn’t much, a few feet tops.
I haven’t used the yellow birds, but I am pretty sure that is going to at best be doing a big “wheelie”, but thinking it will sink them. Let me know if you have other questions. WTA
Couple of other thoughts/questions…
Lets say you’ve got “X” number of colors out, but are marking fish 10-12 feet deeper than you think that set up is running. Has anyone tried attaching a snap weight where the backing and core meet up to give you a quick fix to get the extra depth? Seems like that would also benefit guys who don’t have enough reels to keep multiple setups with varying numbers of colors.
Also, I’ve heard about using copper line in lieu of lead core. Pros or Cons?
Thanks,
Jim
><(((>
I like snap weights, that would work fine. I don’t use wire, so I can’t comment. Good Luck
For boards… Church Walleye boards rule the roost for lead… And as mentioned, it is always best to segment your core for shallower set-ups.. Attach the boards to the backing to eliminate any breakage on the lead sheath.
Snap weights are common to get deeper as well. Can kill the action a little, but not enough to fool most salmonoids.
Copper, great commodity as well in the salmon game and also the lake trout business. Check out this link for copper dynamics and to purchase the stuff. http://www.optitackle.com/copperssline.shtml These guys also produce some of the best flasher and dodgers around IMHO!!!
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