Segmenting Leadcore?

Bassassin

Bassassin

Well-Known Member
I have been reading about segmenting leadcore for longlining. I haven't been able to fully understand what it is and what it does. Any longliners here that can explain it to me? Walleye are starting to hit in the eastern basin, need all the advantages as this will be my first year with the right stuff. Now I need to use this stuff properly.

Thanks

JD
 
guys do it so that you can fish shallower water with say a ten colour pole without putting a kink in the lead. so all you do is cut you ten colour where you want it and put in a piece of mono so you can fish it as a 8 colour or ten colour when needed
 
I will run a 5 and 7 colour this year as a test along with other lines. As stated, you let out all your lead core then clip on your planer board. This makes sure you clip on your board on your mono after your set number of colours are out thus preventing damaging the lead core. I plan to run a 3,5,7,10 eventually to cover the depth range I will probably use on Lake Erie. Then again, Im a noob, but im sure the experianced guys can chime in with some opinions. ;)
 
I was segmenting at one time but stopped as if you segment a piece of line In between 3-4-3 to have the benefit of different colors when you let out all the line it dives a lot deeper than a normal 10 coler I was bouncing bottom a 2 miles per hour in 65 feet of water so I slowly bought more rods and reels and have dedicated lead core line to specific amount re 4-5-7-10
 
Running segmented lead core on in-line planer boards doesn't work very well at all because the heavy weight of the line between the rod and the board drags in the water & causes the board to run like crappola (unless you have all the line out that is). I found that I never used the 3 colour, seldom used the five, and 95% of the time ran a 7 & an 8 with very good results all through the season so I ditched the segmented line and just spooled up a 5, a 7, & two 8's.

The other option which I am really starting to like is a 3 colour rig with a Torpedo diver added to it. You end up with a small reel, less line out, very controllable depth and all the positive effects of the lead core. It seems to produce very well but I haven't had much luck getting it to run behind an in-line board yet due to the weight of the torpedo (others say it works but I haven't spent much time messing with it). You can also achieve much greater depths with this rig than you can with a 10 colour especially at the higher trolling speeds we seem to prefer in the Western Basin.

Here is a link to the Torpedo diver site showing the rig (down near the bottom):

https://www.torpedodivers.com/trolling.asp
 
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I am on a bit of a budget so am trying to get the most out of every rod. I currently have two long lines for down rigger, flat-lining or dipseys and two rods set up with leadcore both with different splits. One is 8 colour at the lure and 2 colours at the top. This allows me to run 8-10 colours for later in the season. My other rod is split 5 and 5 which allows me to run at higher depths early season or 10 colours as the season progresses. I have run these set ups successfully on planer boards, inline planer boards and straight out the back. I even use 7-10 colours of lead in Algonquin out of a canoe for lakers and it works great. I agree with what others say in that splits are a pain and I too would prefer to have reel/pole for each colour preference.
 
Bringing up an old post vs starting a new one. What's everyone's opinion on it now? How much line do you run between the colors? Im going to run 4 lead this year. 2 of which will be on planer walleye boards. I was thinking of segmenting at 3 and 5. As my rods are 7 color. Thoughts on how to proceed?
 
5 colours will catch fish all season for the past 3 years. No segmented line for me.
 
Last year I was running 5,7 and 10. I hardly ever put the 10 out on Erie. But it’s caught me some fish on Lake Ontario when all else has failed. This year I’ve added a 6 colour to split the difference. 5 colour was my best lead line last 2 summers, but the 7 took lots of fish. I can’t be bothered with segmenting. Seems like more trouble than it’s worth, especially if your going to run 4 lead rods. I can see guys with only 2 lead lines wanting to segment.
 
Waldo peters said:
So would you rather cut 2 colors out? Or put a segment at 5 and 7 colors?
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I use dedicated rods for different colours, big boards are out 200'. When I tried segmented it would sag and wrap around planer line if I did not have it all out. not for me.
 
So since you don't recommend segmenting. Would you dare to clip straight onto the lead? I did last year without issues... Thoughts? Example: running 5 colors back and clipping the leadcore onto the planer
 
My setup is 2 rods on the riggers
2 rods braid dipsys
2 lead core 10 color , I put out as much lead as I need clip the board directly lead! If done right ie using the the right clips it works great.
 
Slowtrull said:
My setup is 2 rods on the riggers
2 rods braid dipsys
2 lead core 10 color , I put out as much lead as I need clip the board directly lead! If done right ie using the the right clips it works great.
Click to expand...
What are the right clips and how do you do it right? ?
 
I have read some clip onto the lead, I use shower curtain rings(buck store) & elastics from staples. Cheap, still have same bag 3 years now.
 
maytagman said:
I have read some clip onto the lead, I use shower curtain rings(buck store) & elastics from staples. Cheap, still have same bag 3 years now.
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Could you elaborate how that works? And are you running planers off a mast or small inline ones?
 
Sure, let out the lead core and 50' of braid, wrap the rubber band around the braid, attach through the shower curtain hook, attach that to the planer board line and send it down towards the board. I start the same as Slowtrull with mixed lines but if leadcore is what they want then you can run multiple baits on each side, just keep letting them out to fill the gasps when you hook a fish. Fish breaks the elastic, harder lately with the small fish but a quick pull does it. Dragging even a small fish the elastic stretches.
 
I tried the elastic band method last year. With the smaller fish not always triggering the release, I found the elastic band would show when a fish was on. They clearly pull back with the added weight, stretching the band. It's a good visual que especially on days with some chop. It also helps on days when the silvers are plentiful,.... avoids dragging them for hours. It's an added step in the setup, but works well. Learned this technique from this forum. Always good idea's to be found.
 
Unlike most here, I do segment my leadcore. I have 2 rods that are 7 colour with nothing done to them but then I also have a coulple 10 colour segmented at 5 colour. For me the trick is you have to make sure your braid segemt is long enough so that the leadcore doesn’t sag or come out of your rod when attaching the 5 colour to the boards. I do this because when fishing Burwell I only ever use 5/7 colour but In August I switch to the lighthouse so some days in that deeper water I can use the 10 colour which is needed there sometimes. All depends where you plan to fish
 
Waldo peters said:
So since you don't recommend segmenting. Would you dare to clip straight onto the lead? I did last year without issues... Thoughts? Example: running 5 colors back and clipping the leadcore onto the planer
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t. Reason being again the sagging from the boat to the board and then clipping to the lead can damage the shroud, pop the lead out, and a bunch of other issues with the line. Just my opinion on that part.
 
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