Spinnerbait ? for RK or others

[Cooter]

What are you using for leaders with spinnerbaits? I've read a time or two about either not using a leader at all or not a certain kind to get better performance - as in running true consistently. Thanks.

Little side note, I've caught muskies on spinnerbaits a bunch of times when I'm not fishing for them and have caught about everything except a musky when fishing for them. Go figure.

[Scoot]

I'm not RK, but I'll give you my answer...

I use a 174# single strand or floro- either one works just fine for me. I will not use a spinnerbait without a leader and I believe it's a mistake to do so.

I've caught a bunch of fish on Radd Dogs and I love 'em. Thanks much to RK for turning me on to the single spin model of them- they're really a great all purpose lure.

[john skarie]

What "Scoot" said.

Rad Dogs and Flouro for me.

Try the new 4 oz. Rad Dogs with a magnum blade for deep thumping action.

JS

[RK]

Hiya -

I use a single strand wire leader. I think it's 174# - something like that anyhow. I'm not all that picky. Might be 140#... Ball bearing swivel and a big ol' cross lock snap.

I don't use fluoro for cast all that much, but know many that do with no problems...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Cooter]

Thanks much, I fish 174 single strand about 90% of the time so I'll stick with that.

Might it be Bucher that talked about not using leaders or a certain style of leaders? Know I've read it somewhere.

[Scoot]

I saw a show a number of years ago on TV that advocated for that with pike and spinnerbaits. I thought it was a mistake then and still think that. I'm not sure who has said this in the past, but I'd have to disagree with them if they said it was a good idea.

[Nick Kuhn]

I think the concern with leaders and spinnerbaits is simply fouling on casts, not how they run (is there a wrong way for them to run?). With flouro casting them if you let them sink when they hit the water they foul fairly often.

Cooter I find that intermediate sizes often work better than either those for bass or muskie. Like a northland reed runner is a good size.

[MikeEiden]

Hey Cooter.. I recall Bucher talking about tying direct also but for the life of me I can't remember his reasoning for it. I know he swore that because of the design of spinnerbaits that the line rarely if never gets inside the mouth for bite offs.

As for leaders I've been leaning towards flouro for most applications just for the simple fact they don't kink. I've had to many wire leaders get ruined from a fouled lure.

[Bassinbob84]

Bucher said to put a split ring on a slopmaster and tie direct for heavy cover. It will slide through milfoil and such with less snags. No clasp or swivel for weeds to hang onto.

[RK]

Hiya -

I for one would never advocate not using a leader for muskies.

Even if they don't get the whole thing in their mouth (which they can - had more than one fish completely eat a Rad Dog), if they are hooked on the outside of the mouth or corner of the mouth it's pretty easy for them to get the line through their mouth during the fight - not to mention running the line across their gill covers, which are probably more likely to cut line than teeth are frankly.

If you're worried about weeds, there are some really simple things you can do with your leaders to minimize fouling.

- Use a solid ring on the front instead of a swivel. Thorne Bros carries them, they're 100x cheaper than ball bearing swivels, and they don't hang up on anything. I use them for just about everything but bucktails.

- Use a split ring instead of a snap.

- When you make your leaders, learn how to break off the tag end rather than cutting it off so there's nothing sticking out. (This also prevents your hand from getting sliced up if you hand land fish like I do...)

- Cover the wraps (or crimps) with shrink tubing.

Do even some of those things, and the only fouling you'll have is from filamentous algae - and nothing comes through that crud clean..

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Musky Buck]

Interesting, I'm fairly certain I watched Bucher last weekend using a spinner bait and he had a leader on so.......I would gauge it on do I really think not running a leader I'd get bit more ? If it's a miniscule I'm going leader for sure plus I don't have to retie or lose any line as I want my spool maxed out.

[10,000 Casts]

It's not worth fishing all day then finally hooking into one and getting bit off. Use a leader.

The bigger spinnerbaits seem to get fouled up more than the med sized ones like rad dawgs. I use mainly flouro or 7strand. I hate the kinks that you get with solid wire.

You guys may be thinking of spinnerbaits for bass and using a swivil vs no swivil. I have seen that brought up quite a few times. Then I think they are talking more about feel and weedlessness.

[Comit 2]

A few years back when I first started trolling with 14lb fireline I had more then a few occasions when a good size Northern Pike would do a death roll, twisting the line around itself and then dart away. The thin line would make nice parallel cut on the fish. Sometimes when I see this the fisherman say something like,” Look at that! another fish took a bite at it!”. Just another good reason for using a leader!