**NEW JUNE 2012**  Blood Run Tackle is proud to announce the new “Super 45” copper trolling wire that is a much smaller diameter .033 inches compared to standard .037 inch 45 copper trolling wire..but the same weight per foot!   Realizing the huge impact of smaller diameter copper for ease of use and packing more copper on a reel, the new small diameter heavyweight line is revolutionizing the copper wire fishing industry.   The “Super 45” wire is even MORE pliable and user friendly than the original 45lb copper, and with it’s slim design virtually flies of reels with ZERO backlash.

**New July 2012** – Blood Run Tackle Co is proud to introduce it’s new Walleye Wire Super Copper.   This thin weight super copper braid is specifically designed to target suspended Walleyes off inline planer boards or ski board systems.   Common segments of 40-60-80 and 100 feet are used with Crawler Harnesses, Spoons and Crankbaits to target larger sized suspended and bottom hugging walleyes.   40 feet will fish approx 8 feet down, 60 feet 12 feet down, 80 feet 16 feet down and 100 feet 20 feet down.  Paired up with Blood Run’s premium fluorocarbon leader material in 20lb test is a proven deadly stealth tactic for targeting wary Walleyes! 

SUPER COPPER fishing line from Blood Run Tackle Co. has been extensively field tested in order to ensure the best fishability and fish catching characteristics.   When we developed our Super Copper fishing line, we tested numerous different types, twists, weights, diameters to develop what we believe is the best copper trolling wire available.

Blood Run Tackle Co. super copper is a tin coated copper wire that allows for more pliability in the fishing wire itself.   This allows for smoother payout and retrieve.

Product Review “The Science of Copper” 

100% Fluorocarbon Leader material from Blood Run Tackle Co is cutting a path through packs of fish from Montauk to Minnesota to Mexico. From stealth ice fishing fluorocarbon in 2lb test to 5lb test to heavy duty kingsized fluorocarbon leader in 100lb test and 130lb test for Musky, Tuna and Billfish, Blood Run Premium Fluorocarbon is the only true leader material for the job.

Our fluorocarbon leader material is not the same as fluorocarbon fishing line which is typically fluorocarbon coated monofilament line. What this means is, if you are going for true stealth fishing in clear waters, you defeat the purpose by using anything other than 100% fluorocarbon leader material.

Fluorocarbon leader material has minimal stretch, it does sink (unlike monofilament), and is virtually invisible under water (unlike monofilament). 100% Pure Fluorocarbon leader material from Blood Run Tackle has the same refractive index as water, is UV resistant, scent resistant, does not retain water and maintains it’s tensile strength in cold conditions. Water absorption in any line ultimately weakens the line, this includes monofilament, braids, hybrids and fluorocarbon line. Blood Run 100% Pure Fluorocarbon Leader Material is completely non-absorbent. This is key in cold and freezing conditions where memory retention is an issue.

Fluorocarbon leader material is the ultimate in line for tying trolling flies, squids or tuna jigs. What most trolling flies, squids or jigs lack is the stiffness of fluorocarbon to assist the whip action without using a heavier pound test.

Blood Run Fluorocarbon Leader material comes in several popular sizes…For ice fishing and panfish, 2lb (.12mm), 3lb (.14mm) 4lb (.16mm), 5lb (.17mm), 8lb (.23mm) . For larger game 10lb (.25mm) 15lb (.35mm) , 20lb (.41mm) , 25lb (.45mm) 30lb (.50mm) , 40lb (.60mm), 50lb (.68mm) for Great Lakes fishing, and 60lb (.77mm) , 70lb (.85mm) , 80lb (.92mm), 90lb (.12mm), 100lb (1.02mm) , 130lb (1.20mm) test for Saltwater applications.

Minimum bulk fluorocarbon leader spool orders for 2-8lb test is 33 yards. Minimum bulk fluorocarbon leader spool orders for 10-130lb test is 200 yards. Please contact us at info@coppertrollingwire.com for a custom quote on bulk fluorocarbon leader material.

BLOOD RUN  7 STRAND stainless fishing wire is a proven leader in stainless wire fishing technology.   Blood Run .015 inch diameter 30lb stainless breaks up to an incredible 43lbs, the strongest in its class!

Stainless fishing wire, a long time staple for large saltwater gamefish, has revolutionized diver fishing on the Great Lakes for Salmon and Trout and Striped Bass across the country.   No other type if line produces more effectively and efficiently than stainless wire on diver rods and saltwater leaders.

Stainless fishing wire allows divers to “cut” through the water a true angle rather than producing a “bow” in the line as monofilament or some braid lines.   This “true” angle in the water allows for more precise diver positioning within your spread and can also create a unique “harmonic” to your trolling dynamic.   In addition, it will not collect as many water fleas as other types of line, and are easily cleaned when fleas have attached to the line.

Bloodline Super Braid fishing line is a zero memory 8 strand premium braid possessing better abrasion resistance than “slick” braids due to its denseness of fibers and lack of “coating” found on Spectra’s. The oval shape of Blood Run braid compared to that of the rounded shaped Spectra allows for greater resistance to spiny water fleas found in the Great Lakes.

Available in standard black and hi-vis yellow for copper backing material, and multi-color for vertical jigging.

Bloodline super braid has a weight lighter than water, which allows it to float, which is perfect for centerpin float style fishing in lighter pound tests.

Custom spool sizes and lb test are available as well for bulk spooling applications.

Blood Run Super Hard Monofilament is a premium line, designed for extreme abrasion resistance and strength at low diameters. Our custom resin mixtures, specifically designed by Blood Run, are designed for strength and durability against chafing across wire line, cable and nets.   We know what your thinking…but all monofilament fishing line is not created equal.

Monofilament lines have come a long way since the origination of the fiber, and Blood Run Premium Monofilament is a prime example.   Special resin mixtures and coatings have added valuable properties such as UV and abrasion resistance creating a much tougher line.   Both our standard and backer material monofilaments possess these durability features which can significantly increase the life of your line under extended periods of tough conditions and exposure to harmful UltraViolet rays.

In addition, Blood Run Super Hard Premium monofilament has the fastest sink rate of any monofilament available on the market.   Removing the positive or neutral buoyancy characteristics of typical monofilament fishing line allows your baits to sink and swim according to retrieval or trolling rate, rather than being dictated by line buoyancy which can negatively impact the action of your baits.

Blood Run monofilament lines are available in standard clear color, but custom colors are available via special order. Custom spool sizes and lb test are available as well for bulk spooling applications, please contact us for a quote.

Walleye Harness Leader Material from Blood Run is a custom 100% Fluorocarbon resin leader material for tying crawler harnesses for walleye.    Our crawler harness  fluorocarbon leader material is manufactured differently from our standard fluorocarbon leader, and stands up to toothy walleyes!  Clevis, Blades and walleye all wear and tear on harness leader line in a different manner than typical leader material which put us to the test to design this line specifically for this application.

The new Crawler Harness Leader Material from Blood Run puts the best qualities of our unique fluorocarbon manufacturing process to make the perfect crawler harness leader at the right price.    Available in clear 15lb test 100 foot wrist spools.

A frequently asked question by anglers both experienced and those new to the trolling scene is what copper line to use?   There are a variety of options available, most often referred to light (32lb) and medium (45lb) and heavy (60lb™) copper.

32lb is a great copper for the following scenarios.    Small Reels with low line capacities (45 Convector, Daiwa 47, etc), and shallow water setups (50, 100, 150 and 200 foot segments).

45lb is great option for both top water and mid range fishing, particularly if you have large reels with big line capacity.

45lb Copper and 32lb Copper have virtually the exact same dive curve despite the different in diameter and weight.   45lb copper runs on average only 3-5 feet deeper than 32lb copper…all the way out to 600 feet of copper being deployed.

32lb shines on small reels for obvious reasons, biggest is overall line capacity (or lack thereof) and small levelwinds.   Many forget that you have to get your copper knot or swivel through the levelwind on your reel, and most small reels will not allow for large copper knots to pass through.   32lb passes through with ease.

If you are only going to run short segments for top water fishing (less than 40 feet down) 32lb copper again wins hands down.   Leadcore lovers can complain all they want, but copper fishes completely different than leadcore.   Leadcore snakes and winds and cannot track straight into currents or penetrate any kind of significant temperature or current layer.   In fact, in recent depth testing, traditional leadcore could not attain depths any deeper than 37 feet down from 10 colors and beyond.   Once you master the current and trolling angle game, this will become more than obvious as to the importance of that factor.

Many fishermen have only small inline planer boards as well, and the 32lb copper barely pulls them back.   This is particularly nice when you want to have a nice wide spread rather than dragging heavier copper behind rather than outside of the boat.

60lb copper begins to take over around the 300 foot segments and beyond.   Denser and greater overall weight make this copper ultimately pull deeper, though depending on speed and current the difference is often negligeable  between the lighter and heavier copper.

Heavier copper with a larger diameter and greater “drag” can create a rising effect in certain current situations and this is where we find 32lb and 45lb fishing very close to on another.   In most other situations, 60lb copper gets the job done and gets your gear down deep into the current and below the current where target species may be laying low.

It is recommended to pull larger inline planer boards with the 45lb and 60lb copper™ and longer copper segments, the shorter smaller boards have a tendency to pull back way too far and tangle with other gear.

45lb copper and 60lb copper™ also tends to fall quicker on the turn, so again if you frequently turn instead of straight line troll….watch your inside coppers on turns for snags on the bottom and crossovers with other gear.

Either way, all three catch fish.    It is not important to know exactly where these line types and segments are fishing, the only thing that matters is that they are catching fish and you can put them right back out there and not worry about an exact number on a line counter or lead length from weight or diving planer.

Pro Staff Capt Ross Robertson sneaks out on Erie in early April to lay it down on some pig walleyes….cranks off walleye copper.    It’s going to be  a very very very long season!

Author Kenny Darwin with Saginaw Bay ‘eye on Blood Run Copper.

We have been fielding many calls recently regarding the introduction of our new 20lb Walleye Super Copper Trolling Wire.    Plenty of good questions and probably far too much information to cover in a single blog entry.   Here is an attempt to lay down some basics to this ultra-effective approach to catching both many and large walleyes.

First, copper trolling wire is designed to sink to depths based upon the weight of the wire itself while trolling.   Copper trolling wire can be pulled straight off the back of your boat, or deployed off to each side via planer boards.

You do NOT need to purchase new reels or special rods to fish Walleye Copper Trolling Wire.    The trolling wire itself is very soft and pliable, and slim designed to fit on standard Daiwa 47H, 47LC, Accudepth or any of the Okuma or Shimano series reels of that same size.   Many of our customers pull Walleye Copper Trolling Wire with Penn 209′s with great success.

The beauty of Walleye Copper Trolling Wire is that it is suitable for any style of walleye trolling, whether you are  a hi speed 2.5-2.9 SOG troller pulling small spoons for suspended fish OR a .5-1.5 slow troller pulling crawlers suspended or on the bottom.    It is as equally deadly for the super suspended walleyes off crankbaits fishing up to 60 feet down in the deeper depths of Lake Erie, Lake Huron and western reservoirs.

A simple way to rig up a reel that you already have is to purchase a 200 yard spool of Blood Run Copper Backing line, which is Hi-Vis fluorocarbon coated for multi season use.   Then grab a 100 yard spool of the 20lb test Walleye Super Copper and a leader spool of 20lb fluorocarbon.

You will probably have to give some thought as to the water depths and target trolling depths you will find yourself going after walleyes and then rig up the appropriate amount of copper line to achieve those depths at your preferred trolling speeds.

As a rule, the faster you troll the more “lift” in your copper you will have…which means shallower running depths.    This would require longer lengths of copper on your reel to achieve those desired depths.

If you are a “slow” troller, the copper will have a greater tendency to sink…meaning deeper running depths…with less copper line on the reel.

We will be publishing some more exact depth measurements based upon trolling speed by the middle of May which will help you get a good idea of what length copper setups you will rig up for your particular style of fishing.   As a rough estimate, at 2.3 GPS speed, Walleye Copper Trolling wire will sink approximately 10-12 feet for every 50 feet of copper.    These numbers can be greatly influenced by even small incremental changes in trolling speed, and are also effected by underwater and surface currents.

Common copper lengths for “mid – speed” trollers targeting walleye in Saginaw Bay for example are 30, 40, 50, 65 and 75 foot segments.    Often walleye are scattered throughout the water column, but different copper segments will take different classes of fish based upon where they are fishing.   A great trick out trolling the Slot in Saginaw Bay is to tie on a Reef Runner Rip Shad 400 size bait and drag the bottom of the Slot with a 65 or 75 copper.   Hawg Walleyes hang here all the time, and while you are pulling plenty of eater size ‘eyes up higher in the column on your shorter coppers, your long copper rod will always take the bigger fish with this setup.

The technique for spooling up a Walleye Copper setup is simple, and will be covered soon in a video segment.   But the object is to get your reel filled about 3/4 with the Hi Vis Copper Backer line, then tie a Blood Run Twist knot to your copper and wind on your desired length (50 feet for example) and then Blood Run Twist knot a 20 foot leader of 20lb fluorocarbon leader material.   An easy way to measure the copper if you are not using a line counter reel is to purchase a snap on line counter from Berkley. They are super accurate in telling you exactly how much copper you are winding on your reel.

We will have several follow up segments on finer tips of tuning your walleye trolling presentation utilizing copper, but without much more information than presented above you can be rigging up a couple of reels and hitting the water with one of the most productive open water presentation methods available.

One of the most successful tactics on shallow water Coho in the spring is 50′ of 32lb copper.   You can pull any type of bait, thin fin, mini silver streak…but the best seems to be the 00 Orange dodgers with a Pnut fly.   There is something about the copper pulling down the dodger with a short leader of about 20 feet that just gives it incredible action!  The small section of copper pulls fine of a small sidewinder style planer board, and fits easily on your old Daiwa 47H size reels.

Thank  you to everyone who participated in our facebook contest!    We appreciate your shares and likes, it helps us connect and spread the word and we value your participation!

Stay tuned this summer for weekly contests featuring some of our popular and newly revived custom Blood Run Spin Doctors and paddles.   These flashers are only available to Pro Staff members and weekly contest winners!   We will decide the contest, you just need to ‘like us’ to be notified of when the contest starts and the rules.

Below are the list of  winners for the website grand opening contest!

Shane P – Grand Prize $150 store credit

Shannon W – Grand Prize $150 store credit

David C – Grand Prize $150 store credit

Winners of gear/sticker giveaways:

Chris J, James M, Ken B, Travis M, John V, David F, Bryce S, Dave D, Jason M, Kyle J, Josh R, Ed M, Matt P

One of the best things about starting off each season is grabbing the lure boxes, a couple of sticks and putting the old standby’s on the line once again.   So we started the 2013 season officially last week, and I remember going through a few possible scenarios about what the program was going to be the  first time we rolled out there.

Of course we found ourselves heading out after a week of torrential rains blowing out every river and creek, and gales from every direction.   So the inshore program was all but wiped out, and running out to no mans land was not a high percentage call.

So we took a shot and slid to where we thought some structure might break up the nearshore chocolate milk water and we found a slot of clear water….50 foot.    Thinking this might be where we would find this, we had rigged up the standard rigger and wire diver rods, but the question was where we were going to pull our long lines.

Lot’s of guys will look at the calendar and say it must be flatlines or super shallow cores with stick baits looking for coho and maybe a brown or steelhead.   We put one rod up there and decided to work the middle to bottom area of the water column..knowing its not likely that after recent weather anything will be feeding high.

This is where the copper game defines itself.    We stagger our coppers in 50 foot segments, always.   So out went the 100, 150, 200 and 250′s which would pretty much cover us from 20 down to the bottom.

It did not take long until at 150 went, what a surprise.   Probably the highest probability copper to go in any situation is the 150 32lb copper…it cannot be denied.

But…the only fish we where marking were right on the bottom, nothing up higher where the 150 was.

So we think that 30ish down is where we might want to slide a couple of other rods into just to see if there are more active fish feeding up there despite not marking them on the screen.    Up come the outdowns to 29 and 25, and low divers up to 60 on a 1.5 dial.    Bang bang…game on.

Without that copper shot, we would not have known to pull our rigger and diver program up from lower down where we “thought” the action might be because we “saw” fish on the screen.    That ended up being the last shot on the 150′ copper, but it had now defined our rigger and diver program for the rest of the day which continued to go at that depth.

The next sequence of action were the 200′s and 250′s going toe to toe for pretty much the rest of the trip.   Given that action, you would think to drop the rest of your program down further because of all that action…however, they only wanted the coppers down there and nothing else.   Those fish down deeper that we saw on the screen only wanted copper, we could not get them to touch a rigger or diver the rest of the trip.

Long story short, as usual, the coppers give us so many clues of where the action is happening.   They give us options to try and duplicate on our other rods and essentially “find” the fish for us to dial in the rest of the program too.    Without all of that copper “probing” different layers of the water column, we would have flown blind relying on our other rods waiting for something to happen.   And given the way those “other” rods started off, it would have been a very very long day had we not been clued into pulling them up a bit higher by our shorter coppers.

- Capt Gregg Mariuz Profishient Sportfishing

A quick and easy knot to tie backer material to copper and copper to leader on smaller reels for Walleye Copper setups is the Blood Run Twist.

Simply take the tag end of the copper and bend in a 180 turn with about 2″ of material.   Pinch the bend with your right hand and pinch the tag end and the mainline with your left hand.   Slowly twist the pinch in your right hand while sliding your left hand pinch down the mainline.   You are effectively braiding the copper tag end to the mainline.

You end up with a small loop in your right hand.   Tie your backer or leader to that small loop with your favorite knot and you are in business!

The new updated reel fill data for 60lb, 45lb and 32lb copper is available on the Copper Trolling Wire page.   Each chart provides the estimated amount of 30lb Hi Vis Backer and copper wire to completely fill each of the listed reels.

The most popular reels are listed including Okuma 55 series, Tekota 800′s and Penn Levelwind reels.     The reel fill data is designed for the do-it-yourself fisherman who purchase bulk spools of copper and backer material.

Fill amounts of each line type are used as estimates and reference only, values may vary depending on speed, tension and lay of material during the spooling process.

For 50lb braid calculations, estimate adding 50-75 yards to the backer fill amounts listed on the charts.

60lb Copper Reel Fill Data

45lb Copper Reel Fill Data

32lb Copper Reel Fill Data

20lb Walleye Copper Reel Fill Data

Wow…you guys and gals are smart!   Quite a few of you absolutely nailed it!    The actual running depth of 60lb Copper™ at 2.5 gps speed over ground with a magnum Silver Streak spoon on a 25 foot fluorocarbon leader was…..109′.   We are accepting a margin of error at +/- 1′ so we had quite a few folks in the 108′ and 110′ guesses.

The winner, who was randomly picked from a hat with all of the guesses that were 108-110 is….Brian Konynenbelt!   Congratulations Brian, you won the reel!

All of the other names below are eligible to win a free hat/stickers or some other prize that we come up with.   You need to register at the link below so we have your mailing address information to send something to you!

https://bloodruntackle.gostorego.com/customer/account/create/

Regarding the rest of the actual numbers, we have them for 60lb, 45lb, and 32lb.    We only ran a single test speed with a spoon for the data, but it is interesting and will be released soon.

For observation purposes, here is what we can tell you about our findings.   32lb and 45lb run within 3-5′ of each other always…from 0 to 600 feet of copper.   We always suspected this, and it was the case.

Different brands of coppers with different “twists” do not run significantly deeper.   We tested one other copper brand with a tighter twist and it ran between 1-4′ deeper on average, within the margin of error on the depth calculations.

60lb Copper™ runs slightly deeper than 45lb copper until about a 250′ segment, then it really starts to break away to the deeper side.   A 300′ 60lb Copper™ runs the same as a 400′ 45lb copper, etc.

We are going to have another guessing contest or two coming up this week so stay tuned!

Mike Vandermaas 110
James Edwards 108.5
Jason Wheeler 110
Al Schroeder 109
William Swenson 109.3
Colby Riner 109.1
Justin Case 109.3
Devin Hiemstra 109.4
David Hiemstra 109
Michael Fuller 110
David Anderson 110
Loren Curtis 109.3
Pat Strait 108
Scott Fletcher 109.8
Jason McEvers 109
Roger Drake 110
Brian Hietala 109
Brian Noecker 109.3
Victor Rowcliffe 110
Brian Konynenbelt 110
Matt Wisse 110
Jason Russo 109.33
Adam Wakefield 109.3
Chris Currie Son 109.33
Jason May 109.33
Mike Beckett 109
Steve Rondeau 110
Becky Sierkowski 109
Dave Maynard 109.6
Tim Drag 109
Josh Koch 109.33
Titus Shaffer 110
RJ Sokolosky 108
Gino Stirpe 109
Jason Hamilton 110
Mike Black 109
JOe Bolsega 110
Doug Griffin 110
Steven Davis 109
Tracy Davis 109.33
Manning Orgeron 110
Nathan Ford 109.3

Nice intro to planer board options from Church Tackle by Pro Staff Ross Robertson for walleye trolling.     Do the exact opposite for salmon or larger species when using copper….slide the weight all the way forward on the Walleye Boards.    TX-44 are self balancing and ideal for pulling long coppers or 60lb Copper™

The cat is out of the bag! We pulled dive curve data this past weekend on all of our coppers, competitors coppers, and also leadcore and some interesting results were found.

The testing was done on a glass calm day, zero current, starting at 12 miles offshore and proceeding to 24 miles offshore off Saugatuck Michigan. There was no thermocline present, with gradual temperature readings at a low of 41 degrees down 110 feet up to 44 degrees on the surface.

The testing was performed utilizing a Smart Troll device which is a small streamline probe device attached inline to your fishing line and transmits real time temperature and depth data back to a transducer on your boat.

The readings were very consistent, with no wild card readings observed at all. The boat movement was at a consistent 2.5 gps speed with no turning occurring. The “bait” of choice was a magnum Silver Streak spoon with no hooks.

Click Here  to download a pdf version of the data, along with some copper rigging basics and a handy reel fill chart for loading different types and amounts of copper on a variety of commonly used trolling reels.

Data will be collected at 2.0 gps speed in the next couple of days, and will be presented as well for reference.

New York

All Season’s – Pulaski, NY

Salmon Shop – Oswego, NY

Jon’s Salmon – Mexico, NY

Screwy Louie’s – Fair Haven, NY

HVS – Finger Lakes, NY

Narby’s – Waterport, NY

Slippery Sinker – Olcott, NY

Ontario

Grimsby Tackle – Grimsby, ONT

Tight Lines – Pickering, ONT

Pennsylvania

Fish USA

Ohio

Jann’s Netcraft

Michigan

Anderson Pro Bait – Port Huron

Franks Great Outdoors – Linwood

MC Sports – Traverse City

Big Bob’s Outfitters – Frankfort

Tangled Tackle – Manistee

Captain Chucks – Ludington

Pentwater Angler – Pentwater

Ray’s Mini Mart – Muskegon

Shoreline Bait – Muskegon

Fish On! – Grand Haven

The Outdoorsmen – Jenison

Gold Coast – Port Sheldon

Big Lake Outfitters – Saugatuck

Pyles Porthole – South Haven

Fishn Hole – St Joseph

Brett’s Place on the Bay – St Joseph

Clear H20 Tackle – Michiana

Indiana

Calumet Marine – Calumet

Illinois

Lake Michigan Angler – Winthrop Harbor

Wisconsin 

The Bait Box – Port Washington

Anglers Avenue – Sheboygan

The first layer of the onion has been peeled back and now we are looking at some pretty raw flesh.   The new copper depth chart data (and leadcore) has surfaced with first speed readings at 2.5 gps speeds.

There is quite a bit to take away from this testing, even more so than the numbers.   Here are the keys for me..

High Fish

Apparently, presumably and assuming the depth data is correct (of which I believe it is) we now know what many have known for years….we catch a ton of fish up high and out of temperature.    We can really thank the leadcore guys for this who will take their fullcores, 7 colors and halfcores to the grave with them because of their fish catching ability.     No doubt about it, the heralded 300 copper is floating around in the 50-60 foot down range despite insistent protests that it fishes 80 feet down.  Put a flasher on it and I would not be surprised to see this thing floating around in the high 40′ down range…seriously.

Before you run off and try dragging your divers and riggers around up high all the time, stop and think that the distance behind and off to the side of your boat has something to do with why fish are more likely to grab the copper offering rather than a presentation directly under the boat.   Copper is it’s own presentation that cannot be duplicated by a downrigger or diver.

Relationships

My favorite myth of all time, different copper fishing lines of the same diameter fish at different depths because their “twist” is tighter. There is less than 1/8 difference in “twist” rate between all major copper brands out there today, and when you put a 3000′ spool of everyone’s copper on a scale they all measure within a single pound of one another.    Whoever came up with that conclusion needs to head straight back to junior high and spend some time working on simple math.   The numbers don’t lie, they are all within a foot or two of one another at various depths.

Relationships Part II

Why bother with 32lb copper when leadcore does the same thing?    Leadcore runs 10 feet shallower per 50′ than 32lb copper.

Relationships Part III

If you are going to pull copper around, and the whole point of it is to get deep, why would you mess around with 32lb and just use 45lb?    Wrong again…the delta between the two is 3-5 feet of difference the whole way out to 600 feet of copper.

Relationships Part IV

It was really interesting to see the linear dynamics of all three weights of copper as each had more line let out.   They run surprisingly close at shallower depths.   There was a major panic by most when 60lb copper™ was introduced, apparently guys envisioned this dropping to the bottom like a rock as soon as it hit the water.    Wrong…it looks like it has a nice flat transition out into the water column and only really picks up significant steam ahead of 45lb and 32lb once you get beyond 300′.

What now?

Before you sell all of your existing copper setups to chase some new depth data, lets all remind ourselves of how many hundreds or thousands of fish we have caught with what we have.   Just because our dreams are shattered because we actually thought a 300 45lb copper could get down 80-90 feet, does not mean it is not going to catch fish anymore.

Gameplan moving forward

It is clearly apparent that if you are interested in doing the deep game, you are going to be mothballing the 400, 450, 500+ 45lb coppers and cutting back into a 300, 350 or 400 60lb copper™.    That is just simple math, and your fishing buddies will thank you for it!   It personally think the 32lb is the real winner in all of this testing.   Long heralded as much easier to use, and obviously much more can be put on a reel…I can see 32lb finding it’s way on to more and more reels of the smaller variety.     Personally I think the 45lb is a more durable line for chasing salmon day in and day out..because it is.    But if you are a casual fisherman and wan’t to get into the copper game…32lb is a fantastic place to start.

Long 60 Coppers

The reel fill data chart speaks volumes at this point.   Every “normal” size levelwind reel in the 800/55 capacity can realistically only hold up to 300′ of 60lb copper™…which is the depth equivalent of 400′ 45lb copper.   If you feel the need to go deeper, you have to look at different options.

If you want to stay in the levelwind game, the Okuma Solterra 50L is the only game in town outside of the Penn 345 (discontinued) that can hold the long 60′s.    We have already moved on, always a believer that levelwinds pretty much stink for long coppers, and we have been crossing over and testing “conventional” non levelwind “saltwater” style reels like the Shimano Torium, Penn Senator, et al.    The early look out is that the Penn Senator 15 is going to be the one with the best price point and largest capacity to hold the long stuff.     The great thing about the 60lb copper™ is that it’s fat, and naturally levelwinds itself across a conventional reel.    You will never experience a backlash with a conventional style reel either.

Still Confused?

Wait until the 2.0 gps numbers come out, then the flasher numbers.    2.0 is going to be deep, flashers are going to lift somewhere in the 10-20 foot range.   Your head will spin,  you will cry, feel deflated and confused..but we bring you back to the most important point.    Do not forget how many fish you have caught on your existing setups having not known the actual true running depths….and just go fishing.    Let the fish tell you what they want and where, then duplicate it with another copper rod, or two, or three….or more.

It’s going to be a fun ride to the bottom on all of this!