Small Cranks for BIG walleyes – Go Angling E10

On this episode of Go Angling, James Holst and Pat McSharry share insight on trolling small cranks for walleyes using lead core.

In this episode, James and Pat were using lead core line. Do you tie the lead core directly to the crank? Is the full spool lead core? I love the idea of getting my SR-5s down to deeper depths.

Most people run a mono leader and some type of backer behind the lead core on the reel.

AnotherFisherman wrote:

In this episode, James and Pat were using lead core line. Do you tie the lead core directly to the crank? Is the full spool lead core? I love the idea of getting my SR-5s down to deeper depths.

At the end of the video and you’ll find links to two shorter videos that go into further depth about the gear they’re using, including how they tie the leadcore to the flourocarbon leader.

One thing they don’t cover is how they attach the leadcore to the mono backing. For the leader they’re using a swivel but I doubt they’re using that same method to tie from the backing to the lead?

I personally use the Willis knot on both, but it can be a tricky one to tie and takes patience and practice.

You brought the net this time! Lol

tangler wrote:

One thing they don’t cover is how they attach the leadcore to the mono backing. For the leader they’re using a swivel but I doubt they’re using that same method to tie from the backing to the lead?

We use a uni-to-uni knot to tie the leadcore to the backing or to the leader material any time we don’t want to use a swivel. Strip out some lead from inside the 832 outer sheath as we demo’d in the supplemental video and you can tie with it as you would any braided line.

On the low profile reel you used, how much backing did you put on prior to spooling the 833 lead, and also how many colors of lead did you spool on / will it hold?

holstc wrote:

On the low profile reel you used, how much backing did you put on prior to spooling the 833 lead, and also how many colors of lead did you spool on / will it hold?

We didn’t use any backing on either reel. We rolled on six colors of sufix 832 advanced and it look like there was room for at least one more color. So I guess the answer is six to seven colors of lead which will give you the ability to hit 40 + feet of depth with your cranks.