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Leadsled Crank Baits
Author: Kirt Hedquist NPAA 292
When most people hear Leadsled they think of a custom low riding car, well fishing has its own definition of Leadsled, we’re talking low riding crank baits trolled behind a lead covered line, with some custom additions.
Trolling for me has become a huge factor in my fishing arsenal, at one time I was strictly a live bait rigger, and unless I had a hunk of meat on a hook I didn’t do it. Fishing various bodies of waters such as rivers and reservoirs has forced me to learn trolling with lead core; I would like to share with you some of the details that I have learned to help you shorten your learning curve. You can virtually troll any kind of crank bait on lead core, stick baits, shad style baits, deep diving stick baits or shallow style baits. The biggest variable is trying to find out what the fish want. The time of year, water temps, forage base and depths at which the fish are holding is where a good piece of electronics comes into play. For me it is Hummingbird, in particular the 998SI and 1197SI units. The beauty of Side Imaging is you can scan out to the side of the boat to find fish! Just imagine a huge trawler net gathering in fish; now with Down Imaging and Switchfire it makes for a dangerous weapon in your fishing arsenal.
The other key components are your rod and reel choices, on lakes and rivers that allow you to run 2 rods per angler; 2 anglers 4 rods give you the option to mix up baits. The rods I like are a 10’6” and a shorty in the 5’ length giving you a nice spread. I use the trolling rod made by Scheels; you want a rod with some give, not a buggy whip but a rod with some shock absorbency because lead core does not have any give to it. The reels I use are line counter style and sized to take all 10 colors of lead core line. When looking for a reel I look for the larger sizes. Speaking of lead core line, what is it you ask? It’s a long thread of lead wire coated with a Dacron covering for strength. I use 18# test; this is where the no stretch factor comes into play. The other component is the leader material which I prefer to use Fireline Crystal in 14# test, with a leader length of 20’. The reason I chose Fireline Crystal is to telegraph back to the rod tip what the crank bait is doing, such as fouling with weeds or skipping across the bottom, helping to find the perfect position.
The way I prefer to connect the Fireline Crystal to the lead core is the Uniknot shown here. With lead core, you need to push the Dacron covering back about 8” and break off the inner lead wire, use this tag end of Dacron with the Uniknot. Some folks like to use a small barrel swivel in place of the Uniknot, and then use a snap to connect to the crank bait.
Now that you have the basic setup down, you need to get your boat setup; holding on to one of these rods could get tiring. I run a Tuffy 1890 Osprey boat equipped with side rails. I like rails because you eliminate the need to drill extra holes in your nice boat and after installed, you can slide the rod holders around to suit your needs. You are going to need a nice and stout rod holder with some adjustability; I prefer to use these rod holders from Cannon. When you are trolling between the occasional snag and some of the vicious hits a big Walleye has, these holders are built tough.
My main trolling propulsion is provided by a Mercury 9.9 Pro-Kicker, this engine is an ultra reliable workhorse. I can troll down to .8 or up to 3+ mph with a twist of the handle; it’s an ultra quiet and smooth running kicker. Another great feature; built in stow, deploy and centering straps.
A powerful tool that I often use in conjunction with my kicker is my Terrova by Minnkota. I often deploy my Terrova to assist in tight contour trolling by bringing steering to the bow, helping to make those tight swings. Another bonus is the assistance of keeping you going the right direction with the Auto Pilot feature. When you are fighting that big fish, you can stay on track!
Another feature that has come out is the Minnkota I Pilot. The I Pilot is awesome for contour trolling. The I Pilot is a GPS based guidance and control system, so you will be able to drop way points on a break line, then go back and troll that line with precision, all controlled with a handy remote.
Another thing you will need to utilize is Off Shores Tackle Planer boards. They are used to get a wider spread out of your presentation; keeping the lines away from the boat and the lures away from each other.
Now we’ve gotten you set up with a rod and reel and your boat rigged. Let’s talk about putting these lead sled crank baits in the water and start catching fish.
The first thing to keep in mind is the depth at which lead core will bring your crank bait down to. Due to the larger diameter of the line, the depth is speed dependent; the faster you go, the higher your crank bait will run. Slow down and it runs deeper; speed up it rises up in the water column. You can let out more line to fine tune the depth at which your baits run. There is no consistent dive curve, after some time on the water you will get a feel for this. What speeds at which to run? I typically find myself in the 2.0 to 2.8 mph range, but here is where you need to let the fish tell you the speed that they want it at. One thing to keep in mind, it’s easy to let out too much line! The lead core line itself will start dragging on the bottom, be sure to watch the rod tip for vibration, indicating that the crank bait is doing its “dance”.
My “go to” crank bait is a Berkley Flicker Shad but any other style of crank bait can be used. If I have 4 lines out, I mix up colors, styles and sizes, such as #5 or #7. Once again you need to let the fish tell you what they want for a meal
.
Make sure you check your drag. I run mine on the loose side due to the low stretch factor of the line. This helps to prevent hook tear outs. The shock absorbency of a good quality trolling rod like the ones I use from Scheels is critical.
Make sure you check your drag. I run mine on the loose side due to the low stretch factor of the line. This helps to prevent hook tear outs. The shock absorbency of a good quality trolling rod like the ones I use from Scheels is critical.
Ok, so lines are out crank baits are doing their thing, FISH ON!!! You have Minnkota in the water keeping you on a steady course allowing you to focus on the fight. You don’t need to set the hook, I actually let them fight for a bit before I grab the rod out of the holder which helps tire them out. Grab the rod out the holder (no need to pump the rod) applying a steady and slow pace when reeling. If the fish wants to run let them, don’t horse them in, you WILL tear the hooks out!
And that’s how you can get your crank baits down to where the fish are, using the Leadsled Crank Bait trolling method. This method helped me to win the 2009 FLW Walleye League Championship and I’m sure these tips will help you too!
New water jigsaw puzzle?
Author Kirt Hedquist NPAA #292
Where do I start fishing? What do I use? I often asked myself this before venturing to a new body of water. I started fishing Walleye Tournaments 4 years ago, this required me to learn how to break down a new body of water if I wanted to catch fish and this process can be adapted to everyday fishing and most bodies of water. There are many factors in this process, time of year, water levels, predominant forage base, is it a lake, reservoir or river? I view this process like a jigsaw puzzle laid out on a table.
I would like to share with you my process of taking this puzzle and laying the pieces on the table and putting them together to make a complete picture.
Piece # 1 Getting Started
The first thing I do is to find any maps that are available, check the DNR website, bait shops, on line map stores, or one of the electronic maps available on CD/ROM. One thing I have done if a decent map is not available is to make my own map in a much larger version, this makes it easier to read. I have made my own 2’x3’ maps by printing off sections from a C/D and blowing them up and them piecing them together and laminated it. Now I have a water proof, easy to read and mark map.
DNR websites typically have a creel surveys, stocking and lake data this can be valuable information on the average size of fish you are targeting, forage base, clarity and bottom make up. Stocked fish will typically fish different then natural fish, stocked fish typically are more weed orientated fish. Talk to the regional fisheries manager, ask them questions about seasonal movements, forage base and big fish spots.
Check out fishing websites, look at fishing reports, they usually have the past couple of years available, take note of water levels, temps and techniques used. There are a number satellite views available on the internet, these can be helpful by giving an angler a satellite view of a lake, for example Lake Oahe in South Dakota an angler can view lake structure when the lake was low and take notes of these areas, Lake Erie an angler can get up to date views showing mud lines vs. clear water. Also available from many of the electronics manufactures is the ability to use a computer and a software program that will allow looking at a lake, waypointing areas of interest, then transferring this data to a GPS via a media card. Another valuable tool is a quality high definition mapping chip, which gives bottom details while on the water.
Once this data is collected, sit down with a map and start arranging this data. This will give a good picture of what the lake will look like before arriving. Also utilize the local bait shops, they can be a good source for lake info, make sure to look the brag board, noting the date’s fish were caught, make sure to buy any bait locally to build a relationship with area bait shop and they made provide some information.
Another critical factor is weather, past, present and future forecasts that surround fishing dates. Stable weather patterns leading up to and during will lead to a fairly predictable pattern fish will typically be active and feeding allowing you to go with a faster presentation trolling crankbaits or pulling spinners. Unstable weather, this will greatly affect the pattern of the bite, it may shut down, creating slow presentation conditions such as Lindy rigging or vertical jigging, spot on the spot presentations.
Piece # 2 on the Water
This is where a good quality graph comes into play, a unit that will see all the underwater details, another awesome addition introduced by electronics manufactures to make time prefishing more efficient, and gives an the ability to view objects out to the side of a boat, such as Humminbird’s Side Imaging. It gives the angler the ability to see items out to the side of your boat with picture like clarity, such as rock piles, underwater humps, and enter a waypoint on those spots for further investigation.
The first day on the water is a scouting day, taking info from puzzle piece #1 and applying it on the water, fine tuning the information gathered by adding additional waypoints and taking notes on details. Things to look for are transition areas, weed lines, subtle bottom irregularities, little rock piles, small humps in main lake basins and break lines, and noting them on a map and entering waypoints on my GPS. Things to note along with structure, is water clarity, type of weed growth, water flow if there rivers, water temperature, bait fish, if you find fish, are they suspended or tight to the bottom? I will drop a line in the water if I do see fish verify if they are the species of interest to get an idea what the mood of the bite might be.
Piece #3 Fine Tuning Presentations
Take puzzle piece #1, and puzzle piece #2 and put these two pieces together; I will now see a picture starting to form. This partial puzzle will affect the color, presentation style, speed, location needed to get started with.
Puzzle piece #3 will be going to these areas to find fish, pick them apart, if I don’t see any fish, I move to the next area, and when I locate fish on my graph, I will then spend time on these spots and fine tune the presentation needed, looking for that “spot on the spot”. It sounds funny, but “Let the fish tell you what they want” how do I listen to the fish? With my presentations, I may start out trolling crankbaits such as the Lindy Shadling and switching up colors, sizes and speed or pitching jigs tipped with artificial bait such as Berkley Gulp, and if they are listening to this presentation life is good. But what if they are not listening to this presentation? They are still talking to me, I need to change up presentations, and possibly switch to slow presentation, such as a Livebait rigging or vertical jigging presentation, again looking for that “spot on the spot”. What type of live bait? Again, I will let the fish tell me what they want whether it is a leech, minnow or crawler fine tunes the presentation to their language.
The Completed Puzzle
When I put these 3 pieces together, I will have a completed puzzle, things will become clear on how and where to catch fish. I pick out my most productive spots, rank them accordingly to the quality and quantity for fish caught. I then set up my fishing arsenal based on my findings, unload the boat of unnecessary gear and clutter, making the boat a more efficient tool, and saving fuel with less weight.
