General Trolling Leader Question

[Porter64]

Hey all. I am putting together a program for Salmon on Lake O. Have fished Lake O, have friends that fish tourneys on Lake O, but love to hear back opinions from who ever is willing to share. 

DIPSY LEADERS

On Lake Erie I will run anywhere from 10# Flouro to 20# Flouro and  6ft to 12ft leaders depending on time of year, depth, etc. I would assume that more than Lake Erie, Lake O changes conditions faster, and dealing with a silver hard mouthed freight train vs a walleye is apples and carburetors. 

WHAT IS A GOOD STARTING POINT FOR FLOURO LB TEST, AND LENGTH? Should I even attempt 20# or go straight to 30# ? And would you suggest certain length for F/F. Spoon, Meat Rigs, etc. 

 

Lead and Copper

Kind of same question, LC and Copper/Steel looking for suggested weight and length ?

 

Thank you guys in advance!!!

Josh 

[whaler1]

I use 20lb fluorocarbon leaders for spoons on all rods. I run 40 with my spin dr’s and paddles. 

[spoonfed-1]

46 minutes ago, whaler1 said:

I use 20lb fluorocarbon leaders for spoons on all rods. I run 40 with my spin dr’s and paddles. 

X2

8 ft long at the most. Unless you want to hand line fish into the net.

Edited March 23 by spoonfed-1

[Legacy]

Salmon fishing leaders...

Downrigger spoon rods= 12' of 20# fluoro

leadcores= 36' of 20# fluoro

coppers 200' or less= 36' of 20# fluoro

coppers 250' or more= 36' of 30# fluoro (for flashers) and 36' of 20# fluoro for spoons

divers= 12' of 20# fluoro= spoons and 12' of 30-40# fluoro for flashers

[Big Tom]

Rob, great informative response for the rest of us.

[Super G]

Does anyone run the dipsy hack where you tie  about a foot of 40# braid to your line, then 15-20’ of flourocarbon to the 40# braid. Tie a loop in the 40# section. Add a small “S” carabiner clip to the dipsy release and the other end attaches to the loop on the 40#. You let the line with lure out then attach the dipsy to the loop on the 40# then let the rest of the line out to get your dipsy to desired depth.  Works well and gives you longer leader. But, you’ll need to release the dipsy from the line when it gets to the boat. Kind of like you would with a planer board. I use this on Erie for walleye and steelhead with good results!

[sherman brown]

if I run divers I want nothing but braid for my main line at least 30# with 50# being a better choice. braid has no stretch which makes it much better for tripping your diver. on rough days the release tension has to be set on the tight side to prevent a bunch of false releases, so with anything that has stretch makes it almost impossible to trip the diver. braid doesn't have any stretch and will trip the diver much better. king salmon can make some long hard runs and put on a show above the water at times.

 

as for leaders for kings, I want something strong to prevent the leader from breaking. 20# fluro is the minimum to use. but it's all open water so you can run a lighter line and get away with it by backing the drag off enough the light line doesn't break. for me I don't like losing so much fishing time on the fight with a big king with a light line. it takes forever to land these big fish on a light line.

 

the bottom line for me when running divers is 50# power pro braid for my main line with a leader no more than a foot longer than my rod. the best fluro I have found is Seaguar preimier fluro leader line.  this line is the best I have ever used even for walleye fishing on Lake Erie where I use 20# leader line and love using it.

[rdebadts]

For dipseys, with flashers, I use 30 lb.  Otherwise I run 20 lb  Generally I run 1 rod length of floro for my dipseys- so about 8 ft.

 

Ive often wondered how much it matters with conventional dipseys- they're pretty big, with a lot of hard ware and most guys run them close (6-9 ft) to the lure.  
 

For planer/rigger rods, in the spring I run 8-10 lb floro and then 15-20 when I'm targeting kings- usually at least 20-30 ft leader.