Leaded Line = Deeper Diving Lure?

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I have had lures crack and water log when fishing deep, mostly for Mac but most of the lures we used would eventually crack. They worked well and caught fish until they failed then they would not run correctly.
 
We fish later in the fall and winter trolling leaded line with good success. The guys who taught me to do this were going out 250 plus feet at 3 mph to get to 45 ft. Mainly we fished Bullfrog Bay by dome rock. We used deep Thundersticks and similar lures.
 
With the water in the80's you will notice most of the fish will be down below the thermocline at 40-50 ft. So it makes sense to me to use whatever you have in order to get your lure in that zone. There are some videos on youtube, of guys using lead line to get there lures to bounce tree tops around 30 ft deep for largemouth bass. In any case I would use the deepest diving lure you have to help get into the 40 ft range and still keep the speed in the 2.5-3.5 mph range. I'm sure it will get some good results, once you dial it in. Good luck and let us know how you do.
 
Dworwood said:
I have had lures crack and water log when fishing deep, mostly for Mac but most of the lures we used would eventually crack. They worked well and caught fish until they failed then they would not run correctly.
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I’m a scuba diver so I understand the crushing pressures at depth are very real... but it never occurred to me a lure might crack or crush! I’ll do some research on the ones we have (Bomber Deep Fat Free Shad) and see if that’s a concern. I think they’re painted balsawood which could and probably would crush at some depth since it’s a spongie wood to begin with.
 
The only way your lure could be crushed is if was hollow, and at extreme depth, many hundreds of feet . A much bigger concern at Powell, is losing the lure by hanging it on a rock. The bottom structure can and does change very fast at Powell , and until you get familiar with what ever area you fish you probably will get hung up. Most of the time I've found that backing down on the hung lure, and beyond where it hung on the bottom, it will come loose.
 
The other item to be aware of when trolling deep is that quagga mussels attached to the top of a shallow ridge in deep water can cut the line even before the lure arrives at the ridge. Its just a quick > snip > lure gone. Watch out for ridges. When trolling shallow I use a floating lure. If it gets cut off I can go back to where the ridge was and find the lure floating on the surface at least half the time.
 
CHRIS MCBETH said:
I’m a scuba diver so I understand the crushing pressures at depth are very real... but it never occurred to me a lure might crack or crush! I’ll do some research on the ones we have (Bomber Deep Fat Free Shad) and see if that’s a concern. I think they’re painted balsawood which could and probably would crush at some depth since it’s a spongie wood to begin with.
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I kind of misunderstood the meaning of your question at first. Of course I have used leaded line to get deep, I fished fish lake and years ago we would run quite a bit of leaded line and run it out there lots of colors to get down there. My first thought when you said “rated for” was wrong! I tried to research the pressure rating instead of the running depth rating, I never found a “how deep” you could go and since we started running down riggers we were going past 100 feet regularly. I went through a lot of DB 06 lures that are a little spendy before we figured out that the pressure was cracking them. Not really what you were asking but some times I get side tracked! Thanks for not chastising me for a dumb answer to your question!
 
I agree. I use downriggers as well. Only cracked lures I've seen were sideways in a striper mouth. Getting the hooks out cracked them.
 
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Dworwood said:
I kind of misunderstood the meaning of your question at first. Of course I have used leaded line to get deep, I fished fish lake and years ago we would run quite a bit of leaded line and run it out there lots of colors to get down there. My first thought when you said “rated for” was wrong! I tried to research the pressure rating instead of the running depth rating, I never found a “how deep” you could go and since we started running down riggers we were going past 100 feet regularly. I went through a lot of DB 06 lures that are a little spendy before we figured out that the pressure was cracking them. Not really what you were asking but some times I get side tracked! Thanks for not chastising me for a dumb answer to your question!
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No worries my friend. I thought your response actually had some merit and was worth considering
 
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