Little trick

[BobT]

I haven’t been able to pinpoint the reason for this but I thought I’d share a little something I experienced recently. Last week we went to Canada for our annual week-long walleye fishing trip. In the ten years that we’ve been doing this our typical daily catch exceeds 150 walleyes per boat per day so this is a great opportunity to test theories.

On day three my fishing captain for the day began out-fishing me rather quickly. We were using 1/4oz. jigs tipped with a minnow. For some reason he was pulling them in while I sat and watched. I was using 8# smoke colored Fireline tied directly to my jigs. As I watched him hook fish after fish it occurred to me that about a week before this trip my brother-in-law shared with me how he experienced a similar situation.

About two weeks before our Canada fishing trip my brother-in-law had been fishing on Leech and his fishing buddies were all catching fish while he was not. Prior to that trip he had just spooled his reels with red Power Pro, which surprised me because he has been a die-hard mono user. In fact he always gave me a hard time for using Fireline. Noticing that his buddies were using mono line he decided to tie on about a two-foot leader of mono to his Power Pro line and immediately began to catch fish. When he told me about this we tossed around a few ideas about why it worked but never really came to a conclusion.

So here I was watching as my boat captain caught fish. I decided to give the mono idea a try so I tied on about two to three feet of mono and immediately I too began to catch fish. Since it was my first experience with this I was slow to embrace it and figured it was a fluke. I used the mono leader until I caught a rock and broke off at the blood knot. At this point I began to revert to my old ways of tying directly to my jig with the Fireline. Well, the next day I got another opportunity to test the theory as the same thing occurred. Again I tied on a mono leader and immediately began to catch my share of fish. I am now convinced that it works and with only a couple feet of mono I don’t seem to sacrifice feel.

At first we thought it was the red Power Pro color but I was using smoke colored Fireline. I’ve read that braided lines are easier to see than mono lines because mono is more transparent…maybe it is a visual thing. My thought was that it might be line buoyancy and that affects the action or fall rate of the jig.

All I have to do now is find the best knot to use for tying the two lines together while maintaining as much line strength as possible. I don’t like the idea of using a swivel so I’m trying to find the right knot. The blood knot does not appear to work very well. The one I’m trying right now is a double uni knot and we’ll see how that goes.

[OnAFly]

I've found the uni-uni knot to work best for this. Since it's two knots pulling against each other, there's less chance of the smaller diameter Fireline to shear the thicker, less strong, mono line.

Eventually I gave up on Fireline for jigging (but love it for casting) and went to light mono. I'll use it with a leader if in deep water, but it's a pain to tie on leaders all the time while jigging shallow rock points in the spring.

[ozzie]

look up Animated Knots by Grog and they show a nail knot....that looks like the knot to use

[solbes]

I use Fireline 10# smoke or cystal (doesn't seem to matter). Last year I ran one rod with 15# Berkley 100% Fluoro leader. I caught more fish on that rod. This year all of my rods have a leader. My casting rods have 2.5 foot leaders and my trolling rods have about a 7 foot leader. I use a uni uni knot to connect the lines. I have tried barrel swivels in the past, but I feel like there is a little loss in sensitivity.

I'm not sure the fluoro is very good for jigging. For that I'd probably run main line of copolymer or a lower stretch mono like Berkley sensation.

[Fish Head]

The uni to uni knot is what I use and I never have a problem. I jig with power pro, but use a flouro leader. It makes a tremendous difference.

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[DTro]

I think water clarity plays a major role in that success. Here in the muddy waters of the MN river we never seem to have issues with line diameter, color, or style. Heck a lot of guys don't even use paint on their jig heads.

[BobT]

The water on the Lac Seul where we were at is stained. Can't see bottom in 3 feet of water.

[mainbutter]

I definitely believe that for certain species, and also maybe for all species depending on lake conditions, line and leader matter when trying to trigger strikes.

I ALWAYS use 20-25lb fluorocarbon leaders when I'm fishing in MN or Canada. The chance of a toothy critter is high, so I get some bite protection (never had a bite-off in 100+ pike and a 5 muskies even with just 20lb fluoro), and it's pretty darn invisible underwater.

I always thought that walleye were notorious for being line-shy, so your story doesn't surprise me.

[Gordie]

BobT I know that story very well as I have done this on Winni several time with my Brother He was using differnt line and I was useing my favorite for eyes 4lb cajun red and he was using 8 lb mono I out fished him 4 to 1 then he spooled on some 6lb and did a bit better but still not as good as the 4lb.

we were vertical jiggin with light jigs and I know that the fall on my jig is so much more natural with the 4lb test then with 6 or 8 and that is why I like to use it. Yes I lose afew fish but the numbers that I do catch ussally make up for it. 4lb test and some drag will go a long way. and for those who say that that line is to light I disagree my three biggest eyes were caught on it in the mississippi and they were 11.2 11.8 and 12.7

[Wayne Ek]

Bob the only thing I would suggest is to put a little fishing glue on the line between the two knots before you pull them together.

[Perch_44]

well, i have to argue on this because i was always a big, clear or dark green Trilene XT user. two years ago, i starting switching everything over to Hi-Vis lines, Cabelas Pro Mono, Hi-Vis Green. and this year, i switched to Suffix Siege, Neon tangerine color.

I fish the mississippi more then anything, where the line doesn't matter in muddy water. but my first time to Mille Lacs, I was skeptical on the Hi-Vis line in a clear lake, but there has been no noticeable change in numbers of fish caught when comparing the two lines. and this is over two seasons. and different presentations too - rigging, jigging, corking, and pulling crankbaits.

and with Cajun Line, they say the red disappears under the water, then why do so many bait/tackle manufacturers market blood red hooks and lures. in fact my two "go to colors" on the mississippi are blue, and Craw Red.

just my $.02

[BobT]

Even colored mono is transparent isn't it? That's one of the reasons I thought visibility played a role. It is true that the color red becomes imperceptible as a color underwater but it is still perceptible as a shade of grey. When you consider the colors of the prey these fish go after, I'm thinking they can see grey quite well.

[BoxMN]

Me and bro have been using the uni-uni knot for years, after seeing sort of the same result. But we use flouro or Cajun Red as the tippet. Not on all the rods, but sometimes it does make a difference.

We put super glue on the knot, not to keep it tied, but so the knot slides through the eyelets better, it makes it into sort of a smooth "bullet" which doesn't catch. That is the downside, if the tippet is longer than your "Hanging" line from tip to lure. The super glue really helps a ton.

[Hory]

I spend a fair amount of time fishing Lake Pepin, and I did notice a major difference in the number of strikes between my friend and I. I would say I caught 6 fish to his one. I had on 8lb clear mono casting cranks, and he used 10lb fireline. We noticed this difference and switched to identical crankbaits, and he still ended up using a different rod with 6lb mono and did MUCH better than before. Sometimes I don't think it matters, but this day it surely seemed to. I am a fairly strong believer in mono. I used power pro exclusively my last trip to Canada...and I ended up tying on 6lb mono leaders. Without the leaders I was being outfished. I have since went back to high quality low stretch mono line on my 2 main walleye rigs and don't see much need to ever switch back. As elwood said above, drag is key in determining the size fish one can land, not necessarily heavier line.

[Flip]

I went to Eagle Lake in Ontario in 2008. I fished with Stren HiVis Gold #8 for six days and caught hundreds of fish. I seem to see more bites with the yellow line and I think this helps you catch more.

[NCLaker]

Jigging - I use double uni, 10# crystal w/ 6-8# floro leader.

Trolling - Crystal (gets down deeper quicker), swivel w/ 10# mono leader

[jigginjim]

Jigging and rigging I use a section of 10# sensation mono. For pulling plugs and throwing baits I tie direct or to a snap(for crankbaits). If hang up on rocks you still snap the mono at the knot to the fireline. been there done that.

[Gordie]

I was told that red mono will not disapear in the clear water more so in cloudy or stained water as for the hooks they will not disapear cause that is a solid and the line is tranparent. Thats how it was explained to me.

[Surface Tension]

I use a barrel swivel to make the connection from braid to mono leader. A polomar knot has never let me down for braids. Reason for the swivel, one to make that connection but just as or more important is I'll often jig to and and under the boat. A jig that is vertical will flip making a twist on every drop. My reason for the mono is I'd rather break the mono then the braid.

If I need to tie another leader on the swivel makes it fast and easy.

As for the leader out fishing the direct tie to braid.

Could be a site thing. Could be the rate of drop had changed. Could be a change in confidence too.

[BobT]

My concern with using a swivel is more related to sensitivity. I haven't tried it so maybe I'm prejudging.