New gear, please help!

[1klrhemi]

I'm new to the group been fishing Champlain out of the Willsboro for 15 years with my brother-in-law. This year my daughter would like to fish in the Champlain Father's Day fishing tournament. I need some gear to make that happen. I would like to run 2 rods with lead core and 2 rods with slide divers.

Not sure what rods to buy, and as far as reels I'm looking at

Daiwa sealine SG47LC3B
Woodstock 18lb Metered Leadcore
Power Pro 50lb Braided Line

And help or advice would be appreciated thanks.

[Ahhspray]

I can't offer advice on the reels. Rods that I've been happy with are Shakespeare Ugly Sticks durable and less expensive than many others. 18lb lead is what I use. I'm sure some will disagree but I don't use braid as a backing for two reasons:

Visibility - I use an orange fluorescent 30lb mono so I can see where my lines are behind the boat when trolling with all the lead out. This really helps on tight turns and when moving rods after one rod hooks up with a fish. Since this part of the line is between the rod and the lead core, I don't worry about whether or not it's visible to the fish. Also, it clips into(and releases from) planer board and downrigger releases more easily/consistently than braid, IMO.

Knot tying - I've found the knot I prefer for attaching lead core to other line is the Willis Knot https://youtu.be/ge0VCeJOdc4 and through folks SAY you can do it with braid, I've tried and find the braid is MUCH too limp to get it to work even after trying to stiffen it with SuperGlue.

To recap, my lead core setup has a 30lb orange fluorescent hi-vis backing on the reel first, tied to the 18lb lead core with the Willis knot, and then tied to the 12lb fluorocarbon 50-100ft terminal leader, again with the Willis knot, and lastly a small 18-24lb bearing snap swivel at the terminal end.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[1klrhemi]

I've been looking at the Okuma rods and Ugly Stick, more specifically I'm looking for a model, length and weight. From what I found something around a 7' medium for the lead core and a 9' medium for the slide diver. There are so many different sizes lengths and weights I'm not sure what to get.

Thanks for the help on backer and knots.

[dickbaker]

I agree with ahhspray's ideas for backing and knot. I fish only Ugly stick rods. Not only cheap but almost indestructable. I have only 8" medium action and they work for everything. I know many fishermen use long leaders with only 20 or 30 ft. of 8 lb. Trilene mono. A few feet of fluro probably wouldn't hurt? I hope you are a successful father/daughter team!
Dick

[JDK]

I have switched over to Tuf Line microlead and it seems to be OK. I have 12, 15, and 18 pound test set up on a variety of reels with 1, 2,3 5, and 7 colors. For whatever reason, the 12's colors bled pretty badly and within a season was all about the same color. The 15 and 18 isn't anywhere near as bad. I do not believe you can tie a Willis knot with the microlead as it is very thin so a small Spro swivel connects the backing to the core and the core to the leader.

I run 1-2 colors on older Daiwa 27H's with 8'3" Ugly sticks. Great reels that are no longer made unfortunately. Longer colors I use either Cabelas Depthmaster, Daiwa Accudepth, or Starfire rods. I like the 8'6" Starfire rod for the price. Reels are older Penn 209s or Okuma Convectors. The older Penn reels are virtually indestructible and can be picked up for just about nothing on fleabay. They are SLOW however. I had a few Cabelas Depthmaster reels (Gold and II). They are fair at best. Buddy bought a new Cabelas Depthmaster reel and already destroyed it this season. Pretty bad considering our ice went out last Monday.

[Hairbone]

8'6" is an ideal rod size and the ugly stick downrigger rods can work well in Ontario also even though a little light. Fish 307 rigger rods are the nuts for land locks. Same ugly stick works well for lead core. The 7' okumma lead core rod is a waste of money.