TOPIC:

Looking to add a few copper set-ups to my always increasing arsenal of rods and reels. I already have multiple rods dedicated to 3, 5 and 7 color lead cores and would like to add a few setups of copper to try out. Wondering if anyone on the Southend of the lake here can give me an idea as to what copper lengths they seem to find the most productive. I'd like to start out with purchasing 4 rod/reel setups dedicated to copper and am looking to get the most use out of them. Thanks in advance. Nick

Nick it will very fro one fishermen to another. I like to be Somewhere in 3 ranges ,150, 250, 300. On one side I will have those out and the other side pretty close to the same but I add a couple of colors of lead core to the end of my copper then leader.

I founds that some days the Copper with lead core seems to out do the straight copper. Has to be that the leadcore added gives a different action. It also helps big time in deploying copper lines.. Once the few colors of lead are in the water the copper plays off very easy on its own.

Thank you sir. Thinking I’ll range between the 100’ and 300’ ranges. Interesting on the copper with added leadcore. Can’t say I’ve ever read about or seen that.

I have 2-300’s, 1-400, 2-150’s, 1-175 and 1-225. 150-225 seem to be great for catching Silver fish in the summer offshore months. 300’s and 400 can get deeper Kings and Lakers. I don’t have any shorter coppers because I use lead core nearshore with 2,3,5,7,8,10 colors being used. I keep spooled reels in a storage compartment in my boat and rather than having rods for each reel I change out the reel for shallow / deep fishing. There just isn’t enough room on my boat for that many rod / reel combos. Seems to work well in conjunction with riggers and divers. Covers the water column well on the South End.

My 4 most productive copper rods throughout the entire offshore season are 100,150,200 and 250

Well it kind of depends on the water you plan on fishing. If your fishing Michigan you'll need longer coppers than if your fishing Indiana waters. We are out of Portage & mostly fish water to 150. In saying that we use leadcore on 1 side & copper on the other. We have a 100', 125' 150' & 200'. These seem to do just fine for the water we fish most often. We also carry a couple of pre measured pieces of copper so if we really want to we can just add the extra 50' or 100' to get our baits down a little deeper.

Thanks gents. That’s the information I was looking for. Much appreciated for the direction.

300 copper is my best producer most days when the fish are below 50 feet. Some days fish want copper vs core and vice versa so I always start with both. If the fish are a little deeper, add a 2oz dive bomb to your core after you let out a couple of colors. That way you get depth and it cuts out the amount of line you need to reel in. Remember copper sinks fast so watch your turns or you can drag bottom.

Anything more than 300 takes all the fun out of fishing in my personal opinion unless you have some eager kids on the boat that are full of energy!

The 300 always gets handed to the newbie on my boat

We hand off the 10 color to the new people too.