reef runners

[eyebob]

Looking for couple suggestions. Planning on fishing more reef runners this fall. To get them to 40 feet, would you use leadcore or snap wieghts? Thanks for any tips.

[Ed Fiore]

It would depend on where you’re fishing,
If you’re fishing 70 feet of water a snap weight is a very simple device and can be added to any line , You can use the equipment you have. You can also get very fast vertical swim when slowing down and speeding up.
If your fish in 41 feet of water and want to hug the bottom then Lead Core is the way to go. If you slow down with a snap weight it will drop to the bottom (a single pivot point). The lead core weight is distributed over the numbers colors you have out and will take a longer time to drop. Simply speeding up will lift the line back up.

Good Luck
Ed Fiore
Xtreme Tackle

[eyesgotu]

Depending on which reef runners you use, snap weights or lead core would work fine. Deep little rippers can get to about 25 ft. or so, but that's with about 150 ft. of line out. That's alot of line. If you use fireline, the dive depth increases much more then using monofilament. I would use snap wts or leadcore or fireline when using the deep little rippers when trying to fish 40 ft. down. The bigger reef runners i have to believe can achieve close to 30 ft. There a much larger bait then the little rippers and can really get your bait down. You might not need a snap wt, but leadcore or fireline would be a good choice. The reef runners really shine in the fall.

[fishhoggunlogged]

If you are using the big deep reef runners, they will go to 40' on 10lb. fireline if you want to put out at least 200' of line. Try using a 4 oz snap weight 100' ahead of your reef runner, figure dive curve from there and let the fun begin. This will help even out the pivot point. If you have a crankbait bite going in 40' of water you might try using a dipsey and spoon or crawler rig, it is way more effecient and maybe I am just getting old, but I don't want to reel in a football field worth of line anymore.

[Silentsixty]

If your comfortable with leadcore go for it. If not, I'd lean towards Fishhoggs 4 oz program or narrow diameter line if your set up for it:

120 ft lead with 2 or 4 lb diameter & a 1 oz snap weight 20' in front of a reef runner (deep diver) will get you 40 ft.

The Big Water Trolling Edition and reg PT book together will shorten the heavy lead learning curve, but you can figure it out on your own fairly quickly. Let the bait out X feet, add whatever size snap weight you want and keep gradually letting more line out til you hit bottom in 40 fow. Bring it up a little and repeat til your confident. Write the number down so you'll remember when you get old (trust me on this).

Remember what Ed said about vertical swim and what Fishhogg said about the pivot point, the closer the snap weight to the bait, the more there is.

For general purposes:

A 200 ft lead with 10 lb diameter & a 1 oz weight 20 ft in front of the reef runner will be a few feet shy of 40. Presumably, this is at 2 mph.

1-3 mph - Deep little ripper will reach 21 ft with a 225' lead on 10 # and 26 ft w/the same lead using 2 or 4 lb dia.

Good Luck,
SS

[eyebob]

thanks for your help.