walleye divers work with leaders?

[mrpike1973]

hi i'm wondering if wally divers will work with steel leaders for pike. i just dont want to buy them if they dont work with leaders. not knocking them i just know some lures will spin out or wont track with leaders. thank you

[tunrevir]

They will work but you probably won't get the action you would normally see out of them. One thing you could do if fishing for pike is tie on 5' of superbreaid and direct tie to the lure. Pike typically aren't very line shy and 30# power pro or similar line would be an easy way to prevent bite offs and keep the lure running true.

Tunrevir~

[matthothand]

Or you could try picking up some tie-able leader material. A brand I've heard a few times is Tyger. You could tie your mainline to an "ant" swivel and from that you could direct tie the leader material to your Wally Diver. I'd stick with something more cut resistant than 30# pp. Heavier flourocarbon is being used more for leaders but I think the diameter of 80#+ flouro would kill the action.

[Gunnin4fish]

matthothand +1 I have several of my "go to" cranks on Toothy Critter tie-able wire tied with a Rapala (or Loop) knot and on the other end a barrel swivel. About 4 to 6 inches of wire in between. Plus it affords greater crankbait action than attaching it directly to a snap swivel.

[tunrevir]

I don't think that a smaller walleye crank would sufficiently run using a tieable leader material. Thinking of most of the metro pike 30# pp is sufficient and won't retard the action of the bait. I fish 30# pp direct tie to most of my cranks when fishing pike and muskies and have never had a fish saw me off. That heavy of a line fluro, tieable whatever would retard the action of the bait. If he is gonna fish for huge pike and skis then I'd definately go that route but most pike aren't going to give 30# pp a problem and the bait will run true like it was tied to 6# mono. Just my opinion but wally divers aren't a bait that i think you can run the heavy leader material and still get action to the bait.

Tunrevir~

[harvey lee]

I never use a leader while fishing eyes pulling cranks. I have caught many pike while trolling and caught the majority of them.

Last Memorial weekend I also landed a 24# pike on 6# test mono and no leader.

If I was solely trolling for pike with cranks, then I would try a small stretch of wire and also check to see how the crank runs.

[Gunnin4fish]

Good points tunrevir and Harvey. I attach the tieable wire to heavier cranks for casting purposes. It helps with a quick change of cranks too. The heavy pp leader idea is something I've been meaning to try.

[mrklean]

i have used steel leaders on wallys before and caught pike, but like they said the action isnt as good, most of the pike i caught were on the smaller end 5 pounds or less