Rigging Copper Line For Trolling

Weep'n Willy

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For our fishing friends:

To add to the lean, mean fishing machines arsenal I got some more trolling rigs done up. Copper is used in specific lengths to achieve certain depths flatline trolled. Since copper line is an effective trolling method on the Great Lakes I got 4 new Okuma CV45D reels, Okuma Classic Pro GLT Copper/Leadcore rods and got busy.


So we have 30# Ande Monster Hi-Vis monofilament for backing, 32# Blood Run Copper, and 20# Big Game for leader line.

Reels were spooled with x amount of backer line then attached to a Spro size 8 swivel via palomar knot. The copper line was attached to the swivel using the haywire twist.



A short piece of heat shrink tubing was inserted on the copper prior to tying the haywire. Once the knots were complete the heat shrink was slid over the haywire knot and shrunk.



At the end of the copper I used another swivel attaching the same way but using the 20# line for a 25' leader.

And this is the finished product.



So I made the following rigs;
2 rigs of 75' of copper - expected depth at my trolling speed 12-14'
1 rig of 150' copper - depth expected 24-26'
1 rig of 200' copper - depth expected 32-35'

These rigs will be ran off my planer lines so this will effectively cover a lot more of the water column. Is it spring yet......I am ready to fish.
 

Weep'n Willy

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Baits ran off these are the standard arsenal for the Great Lakes salmon. Would include spoons, body baits such as bombers, flasher/fly combos and J-Plugs. Copper is ran basically the same as one would run lead core lines either off inline planers or off tether line of big planer boards.
 

Georgesalmon

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Apr 14, 2012
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Been running copper for several years now and its good to have more options. Some days the copper is the only thing fish will hit. Downside is that my old arms would much rather take a fish on a down rigger. When one hits on the long copper I just give the rod to someone younger, lol.
 

gm280

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After reading this thread and trying my best to understand what is actually stated and explained, I still have to admit, I have no idea what is going on. And I like to understand different types of fishing, but never experiencing Salmon fishing, I just don't grasp the concept shown... I've never fished that way or even in the northern areas before...but it sound neat all the same. Maybe one day...
 

Weep'n Willy

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Gm, let my try to help ya out. Plain monofilament trolled behind a boat has no weight per say so if one is to attach a spoon to it to troll the spoon would basically flutter along the surface. Copper is a weighted line and will sink in the water without the aid of sinkers, jet divers, or dipsy divers. So attaching a spoon to these weighted lines allow the lure to achieve the depths desired with out having other diving/weighted devices attached to the line. This link takes you to an article and depth chart showing the various depth achieved with different lengths of copper. http://www.bloodruntackle.com/copper-2-0-gps-depth-curve-dive-charts/
 

Teamster

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I have to admit I have considered setting up a couple of copper rigs,......

Except I primarily walleye fish and rarely anything deeper then 35 feet or so,...

I can get to that with lead core, snap weights or inline weights,......

Does copper make that much of a difference??
 

Weep'n Willy

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My trolling set up includes 4 downriggers, 2 wire diver rigs, and I run a Big Jon dual planer mast with otter boats. I run my otter boats out approx 100' off each side of the boat so I am basically covering approx 200' width of water while trolling. I can effectively run 14 lines total, the 4 riggers, 2 wire divers and highlines off the otters.

Teamster, copper is just another effective method of targeting certain depths, just like leadcore which most will agree is easier to run than copper. The benefit of the copper is it has its own unique action in the water and depending on the length of copper can reach way deeper than any leadcore. I made the short coppers (75's) specifically for targeting walleye in Saginaw Bay. This way I can run the small walleye spoons or harnesses without having to deal with drop weights, jet divers, bottom bouncers, etc attached to my line and still achieve the target depth I am after.
 

gm280

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I hate to keep asking stupid questions about this subject, but are you actually talking about pure wire copper line and not some clever name for a specific fishing line? And if it is actual copper wire, what gauge are you using? I would think that copper wire, being soft, would break easier then monofilament. I know, dumb question, but I am interested in the concept... :facepalm:
 

Teamster

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I hate to keep asking stupid questions about this subject, but are you actually talking about pure wire copper line and not some clever name for a specific fishing line? And if it is actual copper wire, what gauge are you using? I would think that copper wire, being soft, would break easier then monofilament. I know, dumb question, but I am interested in the concept... :facepalm:

This should answer some questions,..
 

Weep'n Willy

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Dingbat, copper is just another method to enhance a trolling spread. Here in the Great Lakes we try to cover the water both horizontally and vertically. Many times the fish are quite deep, in excess of 100' down but we know that the fish move up and down in the water column. Downriggers make it easy to achieve these depths and once a fish strikes give the ability to fight the fish without and devices on the fishing line.

In addition many use wire diver rigs. These are reels spooled with 1000' stainless stranded wire to which a directional dipsy diver is attached. These rigs will pull deep and off the side of the boat away from the rigger lines. Once a fish strikes the dipsy releases and again allows to fight the fish without impedance from the dipsy.

Leadcore and copper lines are usually ran either off inline planer boards or off big boards ran off a tether line from a mast. This will get the lines well away from the boat. Copper lines get deeper than equal lengths of leadcore. Copper is available in different poundage so this is a depth comparison:

? 300 feet of 32-pound copper runs at 49 feet.
? 300 feet of 45-pound copper runs at 52 feet.
? 300 feet of 60-pound copper runs at 64 feet.
? 300 feet (10 colors) of leadcore runs at 37 feet

? 150 feet of 32-pound copper runs at 24 feet.
? 150 feet of 45-pound copper runs at 27 feet.
? 150 feet of 60-pound copper runs at 34 feet.
150 feet of leadcore runs down 14 feet.

Each of these lines either copper or leadcore have their own unique advantage, action in the water, and signature in the water.

Braided lines in the Great Lakes can be problematic due to the spiny water fleas that get thick at times and will attach to the braid and can clump up so bad rendering it extremely difficult to retrieve the line through the rod guides and even more difficult to get them off the line.

Deep diving baits are also used but they too have limited depth capability. I have not seen any deep diving plugs that will achieve over 100' deep on their own.

These are all effective tactics fishing the Great Lakes for salmon and trout and a great way to provide a large spread of lures throughout the water.
 

Weep'n Willy

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Dingbat: Some people do use Monel but most find that is is not very user friendly as in kinks easier and not as flexible as stranded wire. So therefore many that had used Monel in the past have changed over to the stranded stainless wire. It may indeed be stronger but that is not really a necessity in the Great Lakes considering the size of the majority of fish caught. Referring to the above dissertation, copper is just another presentation method to further enhance a spread. Each line types have their own unique action and signature in the water. Some days the riggers are the hottest rods on the boat, some days it is the wire divers, or the leadcore or copper. A savvy Great Lakes troller uses several different presentations to capitalize on the water.
 
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