HARD‘CORE’TROUTFISHING

WHAT’S MY LINE CHOICE? THINK LEAD CORE IS OBSOLETE? THIS HYBRID RIG WILL CHANGE YOUR MIND – AND LUCK

By Cal Kellogg

Sometimes true cutting-edge innovation drives the fishing world. Scientists working in labs, probably wearing those dorky white smocks, come up with something new like PowerBait or fluorocarbon line, and fishing changes. What was common practice on the water yesterday becomes a mere memory of the old days tomorrow.

Before Berkley’s famed PowerBait, most bait anglers I knew wouldn’t think of hitting a trout lake without a block of Velveeta cheese in their coolers. They formed that cheese into balls, teamed it with marshmallows and fired it out into the zone. Then along came jars of PowerBait, and the only place you’re likely to find Velveeta is in a frying pan and then sandwiched between two pieces of bread!

At other times innovation is more

Some folks assume author Cal Kellogg doesn’t use downriggers. The fact is, he’s an enthusiastic downrigger troller, but given a choice he’ll utilize his hybrid lead core rig over a downrigger if the fish are in the top 30 feet of the water column. (CAL KELLOGG)

subtle and as simple as taking an old product or approach and revamping it to solve a real-world problem. This is how the hybrid lead core rig was born. I didn’t invent the rig, but I was front and center when it came to perfecting it and popularizing its use on trout and salmon waters all over the West Coast.

If you aren’t running a hybrid rig, you should be because it will help you catch more and bigger trout, kokanee and landlocked kings.

WHAT?!? BEFORE I EXPLAIN how to set up

a hybrid rig and why you want to, let me tell you about my first exposure to the rig. About 15 years ago, I’d really immersed myself into the trout and salmon trolling world. I was a good troller, but I wanted to master the finer points.

To achieve this, I fished with many of the best trollers in California. I picked their brains and watched how they fished. Some of them were top guides and some of them were just outstanding anglers.

During this period a guide invited me to power troll for landlocked kings and patrol shallow to mediumdeep structure early in the morning. Once the sun hit the water the kings would disappear into deep water.

The guide was pulling homemade spoons – similar to Speedy Shiners – at 3 to 4 mph and drawing reaction

Lead core line, braid backing and fluorocarbon top-shot material represent the heart and soul of Kellogg’s stealthy hybrid rig.

(CAL KELLOGG)

Kellogg slides a trophy-caliber rainbow toward the net after fooling it with a fly trolled on a hybrid lead corerig. (CAL KELLOGG)

Kellogg and his pup Lucy roped this pansize rainbow while pulling a threaded worm teamed with a small blade 15 feet deep using a hybrid

lead core rig. (CAL KELLOGG)

strikes from kings ranging up to 5 pounds and more. By trolling fast, he was able to hit as much structure as possible before the salmon dropped in the water column.

When I met him on the designated day, the downriggers still wore their vinyl covers and the only two rods I saw were somewhat chunky Ugly Stiks mated with vintage Penn 109 levelwind reels. I picked up one of the rods for a closer look.

“We are going to need to drop the spoons down and move them up constantly as the depth changes and we are going to be moving fast,” my host advised. “The downriggers don’t work very well for this sort of work. Instead, we are going to use these light lead core rigs. They have some 8-pound mono backing, three colors of lead core line and a short leader. With these rigs we can make quick depth changes and we can also add additional action to the spoons by working the rods.”

Lead core? That was something grandpa used on a stiff rod balanced with a massive reel spooled with 10 colors of lead core. I was a modern trouter. Why would I run lead core when I could be using electric downriggers? But I followed the advice my father had given me years before. I kept my mouth shut and my ears open, and what I learned was an absolute game changer.

The rigs were nimble, depth changes were quick and easy, and we caught fish all the way down to 20 feet deep without the distraction of downrigger weights, clips and such.

When the trip was over my mind had been opened. I kept thinking about the utility of the lead core rigs we used and started playing with rigs of my own. I played with different rods, reels, line diameter, top shot length and more. A decade later I’d perfected the hybrid lead core rig I run today.

WHY? PICTURE AN OLD-SCHOOL traditional

lead core outfit in your mind. The beatup tuna stick-style rod fitted with the

sturgeon reel. It’s rigged with a 5-foot string of soda-can-sized Cowbells trailing a No. 4 baitholder waiting to be armed with a whole nightcrawler..

Now delete that image from your consciousness, because that rig has nothing in common with my slick and nimble hybrid lead core rig.

The hybrid rig is direct drive, so to speak. On the water, all you need to do is spool the rig out to X distance and you’re fishing.

With my rig I can reach down to depths of about 25 feet. If I’m working fish holding deeper than about 30 feet, I’ll go with downriggers, but at times when the fish are from the surface to 30 feet deep, lead core gives you a tremendous advantage.

While simplicity is a core attribute of the hybrid system, it also offers anglers an added level of stealth. Downrigger weights and cables make a lot of disturbance when they come through the water. I’m convinced that sometimes this disturbance is good because it attracts fish. At other times, I don’t think it helps or hurts, yet I’m certain there are times when that disturbance puts fish off.

Lead core allows you to reach moderate depths with a lot less disturbance than you can with a downrigger. Lead core isn’t invasive. Its weight is distributed over its length, so it glides through the water very quietly.

Guiding full time, I’ve spent a lot of time fishing hybrid lead core rigs head to head with downriggers. If the fish are in the top 30 feet of the water column, the lead core almost always outperforms the downrigger. Are you a skeptic? Try it yourself and you’ll become a believer.

HOW? LET’S BUILD A hybrid lead core rig. The first thing you’ll need is a rod. I’m such a lead core fanatic I developed my own rod, but there are other rods on the market that will get the job done.

First, I like a fiberglass or E-glass rod. My rig utilizes braid, fluorocarbon and, of course, lead core. All these materials are low stretch and that’s why I choose an E-glass rod over a graphite rod. The fiberglass cushions the headshakes of the trout and salmon and prevents you from losing fish. This is the same reason bass pros often use fiberglass rods when fishing crankbaits.

The rod should be 6½ to 7½ feet long. It needs to have a soft sensitive tip followed by a bit of backbone to handle both the weight of the lead core and the big trout you are going to hook using the rig.

I match my rod with either an Abu Garcia 5500 or 6500 linecounter levelwind reel. I like a reel with a quick gear ratio and a smooth drag.

With rod and reel in hand it’s time to spool up. This step is the heart and soul of the hybrid rig. I’m going to give you approximate line lengths, but since diameters vary by brand, you’ll need to dial your recipe in with some trial and error.

First the reel is spooled with about

Client Ed took a guided trout trip with the author and nailed this 10-pound rainbow while trolling a plastic grub 10 feet deep on one of Cal’s hybrid lead core rigs. An outing with another guide helped Kellogg develop the setup: “I kept my mouth shut and my ears open, and what I learned was an absolute game changer.” (CAL KELLOGG)

200 yards of 20-pound braid, which has a very fine diameter. To the end of the braid, I attach three colors of 15- or 18-pound lead core. To the end of the lead coreI attach a 20-foot top shot of 20-pound fluorocarbon line. The top shot is ultimately tipped with a bead followed by a trolling snap.

All my gear runs off the snap. If I’m running a naked spoon, for example, I’ll tip the snap with a 48-inch, 8-pound-test fluorocarbon leader. If I’m running a dodger, I run it right off the trolling swivel.

I experimented with a lot of different knots for linking all the lines together. For security and simplicity, I’ve settled on a double uni knot. To tie that knot in the lead core you’ll need to slide the woven sheath back about 4 inches, snap off the lead core and then tie the knot using the sheath. This brings us to the brand of lead core you want to use.

There are some high-end lead core lines on the market today. They are great quality lines, but I don’t use them because the woven sheath is bonded with the lead so well that it’s tough to slide it back in order to tie your knots. Instead of the high-end stuff, I run with the cheapest stuff I can find. The sheath slides back really easy and the line works great out on the water.

Lead core is metered by color; every color is 30 feet long. There are 10 colors per 100-yard spool of line, so you’ll be able to spool three reels with one spool of line.

The number of knots involved in setting up the rig is the reason I use a 20-pound-test top shot. If I snag the bottom, I want the leader to snap long before another part of the rig breaks. It’s a lot easier to replace a leader than other parts of the rig requiring multiple knots.

WITH YOUR RIG SET up, how do you

fish specific depths out on the water? Rule of thumb is that one color of lead corewill get you down 5 feet at a trolling speed of 2 mph. If you spool out all three colors, you’ll be about 15 feet down. Go faster and it’s going to run shallower; slower and it will get a bit deeper.

How do you get down beyond 15 feet? This is what my experimenting has taught me. If you put out 25 feet of braid backing beyond the lead core, you’ll be 20 feet deep. If you put out 50 feet of braid, you’ll be 25 feet deep.

I was running a hybrid rig at 1.8 mph pulling a naked spoon with 50 feet of backing out and snagged the bottom in 27 feet of water. That’s about as deep as you’re going to get running three colors of lead core. As I mentioned earlier, if the fish are 30 feet deep or deeper it’s time to deploy the downriggers.

The hybrid lead core rig is sleek, simple and effective. It will help you catch more and bigger fish in 2023! CS

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