the 18 pound stuff is the standard, it sinks more than the heavier pound test lines. when dragging for lakers in the mud, i will change over to the 27 pound test as it is more abrasion proof. ill go 8-10 colors, but i have a three color setup that goes on the downrigger or planer board that ill go with first.my 3 color setup has 20 pound mono as a backing.

Nope, 18 sinks the fastest at 2mph. because of it's balance of lead inside and it's thinner casing.

Mid summer we run 6-10+ colors.

I will quote slipknot here with the rule of 100 i heard from him, start with 100 foot leaders and for every foot you go down shorten leader by 1 foot so surface fishing use 100 foot leader and for 25 feet down a 75 foot leader and 50 feet down a 50 foot leader.
that is a general rule.
personally i run an 87 foot leader when fishing up to 3 colors a 65 foot leader when fishing up to 5 colors and a 40 foot leader for 6 colors plus.

You put as much backing on as you can while still leaving room for 100yds (or 10 colors) of leadcore. Obviously all reels are different as to how much you can put on them. (example: you need a reel that can handle 300yds of 20lb mono to fit on 50yds of 20lb flyline backing and 10 colors of 18lb lead.) you can also use spiderwire backing and fit more on if you desire more yards of backing.

The daiwa accudepth 47 will leave you with room for about 50 yds of 20lb flyline backing and then 10 colors of 18lb lead.

My leadcore set-ups are
Shimano Speedmaser reel.
This is a big reel. (it holds 330yds of 30lb mono)
I put on 150 yards of 30lb flyline backing and 10 colors of lead. My thinking behind this set up is that with a smoking fast reel at 6:1 retrieve and all that backing my spool is still over 1/2 full with all the lead out and when i turn the crank i retrieve over 40" of line with 1 handle turn, even with all the lead in the water, compare that to a smaller reel when all 10 colors are off and you are looking at a pencil sized spool and a 4:1 retrieve you get about 6-8 inches per turn. that kind of sucks reeling for 20 minutes and having the fish fall off cuz you can't keep it tight.

If you decide to go the route of a bigger reel like my speedmaster don't go the cheap route bacause the drag may not respond down as low as you need it to when fishing 6-8lb leader. Shimano reels are famous for great drag systemas and even with this big reel all spooled up i am comfortable with 6 pound leader and the drag setting staying good.

Also with a bigger reel you don't have to adjust the drag mid-fight because of the absence of a drastic change in spool diameter and it's result on drag pressure. Not all fisherman know that when a big fish takes a run and your spool gets thinner and thinner you have to back off on your drag because the mechanical advantage gets less and less and the drag gets tighter and tighter. (no there are no salmon in winni that will do this to you, but by letting the leadcore out you do it to yourself) If you set your drag and then let all your line out and don't check your drag and re-set it you are in danger of breaking the line.

YoAdrien Great post.Every thing you said makes so much since.Thanks you have been a great help I need to set up a couple of lead cores for the lake but was going to go with the 27 lb core but 18 lb it is I will also look up the speed master reel I know where your coming from I use SG47LC for my wire dipsey set up at lake ontario and at 4:1 reeling in 500 feet of wire and a 20 plus lb king it takes forever I wish they would make a good linecounter that has 5:1 or better ratio.Thanks again for the post.

Erin

weeble. did you just mean Mono line?

No, there is non lead, weighted line. Not sure if this is a new alternative to lead line. Looking for advice on lead line or non lead line. Rod/Reel and advice I would think would be the same for both.

Thanks

So much me thinking i could facilitate the discussion.


Floydo....Embarrassed and humbled.

Don't be embarrassed Floydo, I was thinking that's what he meant also.
Cal

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Replying to:

So much me thinking i could facilitate the discussion.


Floydo....Embarrassed and humbled.

thanks, Cal. You made me feel better.
Good to hear from you.

ive never used the non lead, i dont think it sinks as fast as the leaded kind. 18 pound lead line is my choice. i like big fly reels for full lead setups, its slower to wind, but i like the drags better on the fly reels.any flyrod 6 or 7 weight works fine. for conventional reels i use old penns and like the okuma blue diamond rods for down riggers over the yellow eagle claws. they feel a little more responsive, and the gimbal mount on the handle works better for me with the planer board setup on my boat. aj's has a nice setup for a lead core flyrod, see if you can get an 18 pound setup.

I use 18lb leadcore line also on redington 11/12 +13/14 weight fly reels on 7 weight eagle claw fly rods . the fight on the fly rod is alittle more work but when theirs a good fish on and you get it to the boat it's a great feeling. I put 100 feet of 12lb ice fishing line ,then double spool of 18lb leadcore to a swivel and usually 40 feet of 8lb vanish or berkley iron silk depending on the time of year and conditions. have had 12 colors out before and caught salmon and had 10 colors out and hit bottom at 45 feet. " reel it in"