Leadcore catching more fish?????????

[slickwater]

Well I have used my new leadcore set up 5 times now and I can't see what all of the fuss is about with it catching a lot of fish. I have only caught 1 laker on it. I even did what i was told not to do and clip the board to the leadcore and fish all different amounts of core out.Every one says that it usually catches fish when nothing else is.But not for me.

[adrenalin]

It's not your leadcore that's not working , the fish just haven't been hitting the cores the last couple weeks like normal. Most of our fish are coming on the riggers and divers, even midday. Just wait you will see the benefits soon enough.

[joelsanders]

run the 5 color and have faith!

[Nailer]

Well I have used my new leadcore set up 5 times now and I can't see what all of the fuss is about with it catching a lot of fish. I have only caught 1 laker on it. I even did what i was told not to do and clip the board to the leadcore and fish all different amounts of core out.Every one says that it usually catches fish when nothing else is.But not for me.

Rick, if I read your totals correctly than, you only have a total of 9 salmonoids in 5 trips. It looks like your fishing areas that don't hold a lot of fish? Percentage wise how dose the core compare to the other setups?

Core really shines at low light times. Are you fishing those times?

Core is not the end all, but rather an additional tool for taking fish.

[Twill23]

Slick where are you fishing outta?

[steeliebob]

Look at my post about J Plugs. It sounds like we need to attach a J Plug to the lead core. The fish were pretty well scattered over the weekend due to the high W wind. Things will get back to normal about mid week. We were lucky to get two in the cooler on Sat night. The guys that caught fish on Sun am were out by the green bouy in the warmer water. Several boats were on the thermocline but I did not see any nets up in the air.

[steeliebob]

Rick, like I told you on Sat night we do not get the presidential motorcade of DNR hatchery trucks in the UP like they do in SW Michigan. We have to wait it out and their fish will migrate up this way. Give it another week or two and you will be surprised at the amount of action that you will have out there. I had 5 skunks in a row and now after Sat I am back to one skunk again. They will be there, soon I hope. Unfortunately the DNR trucks more fish out of the UP hatcheries to be planted in the LP then what they plant in the UP. To me it does not make sense but that is the way it is.

[slickwater]

Rick, if I read your totals correctly than, you only have a total of 9 salmonoids in 5 trips. It looks like your fishing areas that don't hold a lot of fish? Percentage wise how dose the core compare to the other setups?

Core really shines at low light times. Are you fishing those times?

Core is not the end all, but rather an additional tool for taking fish.

The steelhead are not from fishing on the boat they were from surf fishing in the spring.I guess where I fish doesn't have a lot of fish in the area right now I am fishing northern Lake Michigan and Northern Lake Huron . I would have to travel 3 hours to get to even Manistee. I have been running the full core and have only gotten 2 lakers on it, which I could care less about; the salmon have come off of the riggers.I always fish low light times always the afternoon until a little after dark.I don't know maybe I am trying to hard.

[Nailer]

The steelhead are not from fishing on the boat they were from surf fishing in the spring.I guess where I fish doesn't have a lot of fish in the area right now I am fishing northern Lake Michigan and Northern Lake Huron . I would have to travel 3 hours to get to even Manistee. I have been running the full core and have only gotten 2 lakers on it, which I could care less about; the salmon have come off of the riggers.I always fish low light times always the afternoon until a little after dark.I don't know maybe I am trying to hard.

Rick, do you have any Moonshine spoons? If not, pick up a Double Trouble, and a Flounder Pounder in the original size and run those off your core.

http://www.moonshinelures.com/colorchart.html

It's a tough area your fishing up there. It only gets better from here on.

It looks like (according to Google map) Frankfort is only 2 hours away. Why not try there. Manistee gets all the attentions, but Frankfort is no slouch.

Edited July 5, 2010 by Nailer

[Twill23]

If you seriously wanna catch a decent amount of salmon in our area forget the night bite. Get up super extra early and get lines set before its light outside. That is one thing that will not change about lake Huron. Its always been a better morning bite. Sure you can catch a few fish in the evening, and plenty of people would argue about the night being very productive, but numbers don't lie.

[Adam Bomb]

I NEVER leave the dock without my core. Its a very effective tool and on most trips it accounts for its fair share of fish and sometimes more on our boat. But, theres also times when its dead, but IME, theyre pretty rare. Anyhow, if you have limited lead core set ups that could be the issue. Tough to get fish on "x" amount of colors if the fish are not in that zone. Thats why it pays to have several set ups. A change in the wind/water could get the core going as it moves fish up and down in the water column.

[SUPERTRAMP]

Don't give up on the cores, some days it is the only thing working. I know it is a pain in the Butt but she works. I haven't always caught fish on the cores, but I always run them. I run 2 10 color cores a 7 color a 4 color and 2 300' 45# copper rigs all summer. the 7 color and 4 color are set ups specifically for Steelhead high in the water column. Speed can help too I speed up to 2.7 Knots on the GPS in the summer time.

[jatc]

I also almost gave up on cores. I first ran them about five years ago with no success. They always seemed to be more of a pain than they were worth. I always seemed to catch a few off of riggers and dipseys and would only put cores out when these were dead. Then I had my "AH HA!" moment four years ago. We had a steady pick going about 40'-60' down and for no particular reason I put a green ladderback J-plug down the chute on a full core. First fish popped it before I got the rod in the holder. I figured "fluke" but four fish within 20 minutes was enough to convince me that maybe there was something to this leadcore thingy.

Fast forward a few years and watch me set my lines early morning now and you will see my 3-color and 50' copper go out on boards right after the riggers are set. I will often forego high dipseys early light because they just get in the way of my cores and short coppers.

What really turned me on to these was how much more effective they were than my standard presentations when I had already found the fish. I think a lot of guys lose faith (like me) because they use cores as search presentations when riggers and dipseys fizzle. As has been beat into my head on numerous occasions, you have to be on the fish to catch them consistantly. You can spend a lot of hours covering marginal water with good presentations and end up thinking the presentation isn't working like it should.

Short segments before/at first light progressing to longer segments as the morning wears on generally works for me. Doesn't seem to matter what is on the end of the line as long as it is in the "zone" at least for me anyway.

What I consider "searching" is later in the day when the shallower bite seems to die and I move deeper looking for pockets of willing biters. Pull out the long coppers and full+ cores and most often they will outproduce my 80'-100' riggers and wire divers. I have had great success with standard dolphin colors and chilly wille's on these. Good luck!

On a side note my logs show my average fish per trip has gone from 7 to 11 fish per morning since implementing long lines. Significant increase as far as I'm concerned.