Downriggers were once the standard method of getting lures down deep into the cool water layer where salmon live. Downriggers are still used and are productive, but weighted lines, trailing lures 100 yards or more behind the boat, are now a favorite way to present lures to down-deep salmon. Lead-core line is one of those “old-time” presentations that has cycled back to the forefront. The nylon-sheathed lead wire has been around for years, but it’s just been the last few seasons that it has come into common use again.

Braided copper wire is more recent. More supple and much heavier than stranded steel wire, braided copper is used much the same as lead core, but it will take a lure about 25 percent deeper than an equal length of lead core.

Years ago, lead core was set out as an afterthought, more than as a primary presentation. Once all the downriggers were set and divers deployed, out would come the lead-core rod with an oversized reel capable of holding 100 yards of the lead-core line along with another 100 yards or more of backing. It would be set as a flat line and forgotten until the occasional fish would hit the lure it was trailing.

Nowadays, expect the offshore pros to set out five or more lead and copper line outfits. Capt. Mark Johnson uses a five long-line setup on his boat Reel Crazy. Using large side planers on tether cords, he sets a 100-yard length of lead core on each tether, with the release clip close to the planer. A copper line rig is set halfway down each tether and a final long-line rod is positioned directly off the stern. The lead core takes his lures to about 50 feet deep, the copper line positions lures roughly 65 feet deep.

Captain Doug Iliff of Anglers Adventure Charters out of the East Chicago Marina in Lake County told me, “The long lines help keep the bite going all day long. Early in the morning before the sun gets high enough to penetrate down into the depths, the downriggers catch plenty of fish. Past 8 a.m., or so, most mornings, the ‘riggers go flat, but the lead lines just keep on catching.”

WHERE’S THE MEAT?
In big lake slang, it’s called “meat.” In actuality, it’s a time-tested West Coast salmon-catching method that took more than three decades to catch on here in the Great Lakes. This tactic entails trolling with strips or chunks of herring. But it’s not as simple as it sounds.

Historically, a whole herring was used. A herring was laid on a cutting board and its head was sliced off at an angle, which could only be duplicated by a compound miter saw. Once a double hook rig was pinned through the decapitated fish, the bait was ready to use. The miter-cut herring would swim in a tight spiral reminiscent of something a salmon would like to eat. But getting the perfect movement out of a cut-bait herring was an art form more than a science.

Leave it to science to take the art out of the process. Less-than-artfully skilled anglers, having little success with their herring beheading techniques, developed “bait-heads” which are plastic heads in which herring filets could be inserted. The plastic bait-heads took the guesswork (or the artwork) out of getting the perfect spinning action out of the headless herring.

To pull in the salmon from even greater distances, oversized flashers are usually deployed ahead of the meat-laden bait-heads. The sparkle and vibration created by these metal or plastic flashers attract salmon from a good distance, ensuring additional attention by the hungry fish.

Bait-heads and frozen pre-filleted packets of herring are available in most tackle shops near Lake Michigan. For those who are unable to get to one of those stores (or as a backup to running short), salmon will gulp pre-scented plastic biodegradable bait strips substituted for real herring.

Anglers who are relying on diving planers to get their “meat” into the strike zone choose either a strong braided line or stranded steel wire instead of mono. Both braid and steel have no stretch, but as important is their thin diameter. Both types of line cut through the water with little resistance. This allows the divers to do their work with a minimum amount of line.

Will the August bonanza continue this year? We know where to look. We know what baits will likely tempt the fish. The best part is there’s only one sure way to find out, and that’s to go fishing! Hope to see you out there on the Big Lake this summer.