Preventing Bite Offs

[deerminator]

Ok, so I'm fairly new to trolling and my neighbor who does it has had great success with little joe spinners and crawler harnesses tipped with minnows. He primarily catches pike and I've started trolling his "route" and doing the same. I get a good mix of pike and largemouth, at least one nice-sized one every time out for almost certain. But I also get a bite off or what I can only assume is one about every other time out. Is this just part of the deal with trolling with this set-up or should I modify the rig with a wire leader somehow. Any tips would be appreciated. One article I read said you're going to get bite offs but you'd get fewer strikes with a wire leader on such a set up.

[wmw]

I would run a super braid off the reel, the little Joe should come with it's own mono, after you catch a fish run your fingers down the line and feel and look for nick's or frays on the line.

make sure your using a good knot a lot of brake offs happen at the knot.

the thicker the line the more it will have a tendency to raise up when your moving, so if you don't have the same line as your friend and let out the same amount of line your baits may be at different levels in the water column, you may have to let out more or less line depending on what's needed. hope this helps good luck.

[harvey lee]

Braid.

[20lbSloughShark]

I'm not sure what rig your talking about, but a quick search shows a lindy rig. If you change the line from the mainline/wieght to the spinner, it should not affect how deep it runs. I personally would put on a really light wire like 15 or 20 pound, but a heavy mono 50 lb+ would work too, with very little visibility. I'm not sure what bait your using, but a bigger beefier hook might help as well, but match hook size to bait.

[deerminator]

Thanks guys. Good advice to consider and try. I'm not sure what braiding is, but I'll look it up and figure it out. : ) As for the rig, do a search on baitfish spinner harness. They mainly advertise it for walleye but I've been catching a lot of largemouth and pike on it. Essentially it's a larger spinner, followed by some beads and then a couple of large red hooks spaced a few inches apart. I go with the largest hooks I can find on that rig. They have different sizes. I've been hooking a tiger-something, forget what you call it, powerbait minnow through the two hooks mostly. In any case, the package for the harness says it's got a a 14lb bionic leader.

I think I will try some spoons with a light leader. I have some 18lb ones. And also some spoon plugs too. I've tried some rapalas witht he double treble hooks but it gets hung up in te weeds bad.

For depth, I've been using a bottom bouncer to keep the setup down low. Thoughts on that? Thanks for the advice!

[Gunflint Guy]

I make 8 inch wire spinner harnesses for pike filled waters. A good fishing store will have the components. Take single strand wire, put a squeezable metal collar on it, put the hook on, loop the wire back through the collar, squeeze the collar, add 5 or 6 beads, add the clevis and spinner, another bead, another collar, a swivel, loop the line back through, squeeze the collar.

Up side is less lost tackle, down side is the wire will kink and ruin the action after a while, and of course, line shy fish may not hit it. I have caught plenty of walleyes on this rig though.

Storage can be a pain in the tush...I use the x-change clevises so I can take the blade off and store the wire harnesses in a tube.

[TruthWalleyes]

12# Mono or Flouro works well to prevent bite offs. Take your time reeling the fish in, and when the fish gets to the boat and goes for a good run be sure to have a decent drag also. Check your mono/flouro after each fish for nicks.

[goblueM]

Deerminator - braid is braided fishing line, not "braiding".

Go to the store and get some 20 pound PowerPro. Pike will have a harder time biting thru that

Or you could stick with your current line choice and use a wire leader. But if you have mono on the crawler/bait harness, you're gonna get bit off with that eventually

[deerminator]

Ok. I will have to experiment. Any reccomendations on a) justing using the 20 lb braided line for a leader or also spooling the whole reel with it? Right now I'm using the Trilene 14lb XT. I'm assuming that's mono. Can you tell I've mainly thrown a bobber out and waited for a fish to come along, mainly sunfish, before this?

[goblueM]

Yes, you currently have mono. You could spool up the reel with 20 pound braid. It doesn't stretch at all, so you can feel bites, weeds, rocks, etc a lot better than with mono.

It'd be cheaper to get some cheapo wire leaders and use those with your current setup though

[20lbSloughShark]

If you want to prevent bite offs, your going to have to make your own rigs, adding a leader in front of your rig will do nothing. Heavy mono line 50 lb +, or steel leader is the only way to go, other wise you will get bit off quite often. I use 80 pound mono for my trolling sucker rigs (basically a big version of what you have).

[Nick Kuhn]

Braid would not be my choice at all. Even a small pike will cut through 30lb braid rather easily. Which can also be read as "small pike really need to stop biting when I'm froggin for bass."

[wmw]

braided line. sorry miss spell

[20lbSloughShark]

Braid would not be my choice at all. Even a small pike will cut through 30lb braid rather easily. Which can also be read as "small pike really need to stop biting when I'm froggin for bass."

lol I am sick of catching bass. Since the water got above 80 degrees, My bass to northern ratio has been like 25:1

[OnAFly]

Try 25lb flouro. I've only had a handful of biteoffs after many pike with 25lb. It's not tooth proof, but if it's prevention you;re looking for, it's an option.

[Nick Kuhn]

Braid would not be my choice at all. Even a small pike will cut through 30lb braid rather easily. Which can also be read as "small pike really need to stop biting when I'm froggin for bass."

lol I am sick of catching bass. Since the water got above 80 degrees, My bass to northern ratio has been like 25:1

I know, I've actually tried for pike my last 2 outings. Got a 32" and a 31" over them, but nothing spectacular. I can mark them on the side imaging, but they won't budge even if you put the bait on their nose.

[fishadb]

You can buy single hook little joe spinners that are made out of wire. Also you could try pulling plugs with power pro, or spider wire they seem to be a lot better than suffix or fire line, I like to troll plugs and cut and retie every few fish.

[Ufatz]

There are several types/brands of nylon coated wire on the market these days. You can tie the same knots in it you probably use in mono or braid by taking your time. We use about 10" or so of it at the end of our mono line and then you can add a snap swivel or just tie the lure directly to the wire using one of several kinds of knots. No more bite offs from Mr. Exox Lucious.

[FutbolGuru]

If you're looking to keep your presentation light/natural, do yourself a favor and start tying up your spinner rigs with flouro. When comparing 10 lb flouro to 10 lb mono to 10 lb braid, there is no contest; flouro is the hands down winner for least likely to be "bit off". I feel like a lot of people just assume that braid prevents bite offs... it doesn't. If you're pulling suckers on your spinners consider a lightwire rig the guys mentioned in previous posts. Otherwise, if you're throwing fatheads down, keeping it light/natural will benefit you; you'll be amazed at how much more durability you'll get out of flouro.

[OnAFly]

American Fishing Wire makes a great 'tieable' wire. It's not easily tied, but you can tie it. The company that makes the stuff also makes the same stuff repackeged as Beadalon wire, at about 1/3 the cost if you can find it. It can be found at some craft stores.

[Hoffer]

The bottom line is if your using a little Joe spinner rig as your terminal tackle you will get some bite offs.

Changing the line on your reel wont have any effect. Just stick with your mono you are using now.

You can either continue to use the Little Joes and put up with a few bite offs here or there (thats what I would do) or you can make/modify your own terminal spinning rigs. The advice from the above posts to choose fluorocarbon as the line for any home made spinning rigs is spot on.

The Little Joe rigs arent that expensive. i would just stick with those. Much easier and probably less expensive than buying and making your own. (although that can also be a lot of fun...) Then dont buy the ones with the multiple hooks...they are for using crawlers. Buy the ones with one hook on the end and then hook the minnow bait you are using through the lips. When you feel a hit - give a little slack and then set the hook. You will hopefully prevent the fish from taking in too much line into the mouth where the teeth are waiting to break the line.

I would prefer that method over fooling around with steel leaders etc...

Yes, they will help prevent bite offs but I also think they will result in fewer fish being caught overall.

Good luck!!