Copper depth question?

[Paulywood]

Since so many of you are copper lovers I want to experiment running copper on one side of the boat and lead on the other. I am keeping my 300' but plan on spooling the rest up new with 45# copper and want them to run the same as my 10 color, 7 color and 5 color. What lengths do I need to run these depths.

[Legacy]

as a general rule of thumb, Copper has a sink rate of 22' down per 100' deployed with spoons and a sink rate of 20' down per 100' deployed with spoons with 8" flashers. Something comparable to 10, 7, and 5 colors would be 200', 150' and 100' coppers.

[southtrollsouth]

Since so many of you are copper lovers I want to experiment running copper on one side of the boat and lead on the other. I am keeping my 300' but plan on spooling the rest up new with 45# copper and want them to run the same as my 10 color, 7 color and 5 color. What lengths do I need to run these depths.

You would likely be looking at a 100, 150 and 200 copper to fish similar to your short lead setups. We will be testing with the new smart troll device in the coming months and reporting back on how close they are.

[Paulywood]

Thanks Rob, thats kind of what I was thinking but wasn't sure about 32# versus 45#.

[JWheeler]

I figure 7-9' of depth per every 30' of line out on the 45#.

[Legacy]

Thanks Rob, thats kind of what I was thinking but wasn't sure about 32# versus 45#.

Surprisingly 32# and 45# both have about the same sink ratio but 45# gets there much faster then 32#.

[ekbelt]

You would likely be looking at a 100, 150 and 200 copper to fish similar to your short lead setups. We will be testing with the new smart troll device in the coming months and reporting back on how close they are.

I'm real interested to see the results on the smart troll testing. It's too expensive for my wallet but I can see how it would be awesome for divers and copper. Should help load the box quickly if the fish are stacked up in a certain depth.

And... If the results show the 32 goes as deep as the 45 I'm switching for sure.

[Whoopee Tyee]

I just bought a Fish Hawk with depth (first one I've owned) so I will not be buying the smart troll system right away. I think it would be great if guys who buy it can report on the depths achieved with copper & lead core under various conditions.

[Eyefull]

I run all 32# except for the 350' rig. Just not enough difference in depth for the shorter lengths to justify the 45#. With the Blood Run wire, it isn't so much about the pliability of the copper in the different weights, it is that the diameter of the 32 allows for smaller framed reels with ample backer in the shorter lenghts of 250' and less.

[landingzone]

The conventional wisdom seems to be 22' of depth for 100' copper out. I assume you are aware that copper is famous for major changes in depth with changes in speed & in turns, which is probably part of why it is productive.

[SeaCatMich]

For both leadcore and copper the biggest determinant for depth is speed. Slower speeds get you a lot deeper than faster and it is quite dramatic. I have found that at 2.1 mph on my X4 a 300' 45# hits bottom in 95 FOW. At 2.4 mph it hits in 75 FOW and at 2.6 mph it doesn't hit until 65 FOW. On turns the lines on the inside slow considerably and will drop quite a bit as well, with the opposite happening on the outside rods.

The second most important factor with bot leadcore and copper is density of the line (weight per inch of line). More density equals deeper depths for the same line out. I personally don't run the 32# copper because my whole reason for running it is get deeper quicker and all of the 45# I have seen is denser than the 32#. I believe that I heard that Blood Run's "new" 32# copper is supposed to be denser than others. If I ever need to replace my current copper setups I will take a closer look.

I also had a pretty extensive discussion on this with Mark Romanak at the OutdoorRama show a few weeks ago. His testing has confirmed what I had concluded/observed about speed and depth. Plus he noted that while running a flasher type presentation does make the rig run a little shallower than a spoon, his measurements show that a diving lure does not run any deeper than a spoon. I had always assumed that the copper would sink its "normal" depth and then a diving plug like a Deep Thunderstick with a big bill or even a #5 J-Plug would dive deeper off the end of copper or core. Mark says no -- the pull of the lure actually appears to add buoyancy to the weighted line and makes the presentation run the same depth as a spoon with no diving property at all.

[southtrollsouth]

We too have spent considerable time speaking with Mark and others who have swam behind copper and leadcore. At this point, all of which we believe, hypothesize and presume is conjecture. The closer to the truth information will come out here shortly.

We plan to go all in on a 6 probe system and pull multiple copper and leadcores (traditional vs "new") of the same length very early this spring in as close to "no current" situations as we can to get a baseline on different speeds, reaction to speed changes, reactions to turns and different bait types (spoons vs flashers).

As is known, 90% of the fishing most of us do are in significant current situations that are present on most great lakes during summer months. We expect to see wild fluctuations in running depths based upon current bands in the water column and temperature gradients throughout the day. This should present stark contrast to data pulled in very early spring offshore in zero current.

Once we can get those observations it should be pretty obvious to most that there will be no definitive depth chart that will be accurate in all situations. Most of know this now, still some hold on to the thought that their X copper runs at Y depth all the time regardless of speed or direction...which is not true.

It will all come back to fishing zones in the water column that have active fish, and putting as much gear into it as possible...regardless of how many feet of line you have let out.

[Nailer]

The conventional wisdom seems to be 22' of depth for 100' copper out. I assume you are aware that copper is famous for major changes in depth with changes in speed & in turns, which is probably part of why it is productive.

Dick, Welcome to the site.