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Leaders & Bass?


ScottND

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I am a reforming walleye fisherman originally from central ND. I've just started bass fishing in an Ottertail area lake known for muskies also. So far in my 3 trips to this lake I've caught several bass with my best being a 19" largemouth. My problem is that I'm losing a lot of lures (biteoffs)and bending a lot of #2 crosslocks on what I think is muskies. I have not seen the culprits yet.

The question is...will a leader throw off the effectiveness of my texas rigs or buzzbaits for bass?

If not, I'm going to wire-up and see what is stealing my tackle.

[This message has been edited by ScottND (edited 09-18-2003).]

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Hey Scott,

I have no personal experience to report on this issue, however a friend of mine who targets musky on Lake Vermilion has told of smallmouth bass hitting on his large surface baits that are being dragged by a heavy leader. shocked.gif I don't know if largemouth would be as aggressive. I believe Berkley used to have a leader that was not made of steel but of some hybred plastic. Something like that might not eliminate all of the bite offs, but may save you a few bucks in lures.

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Lew

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we use leaders on most of our lures when bass fishing in waters that have pike or muskies. ( jigs, spinners, buzz baits, cranks baits) and still do quite well. for spinners and buzz baits that have an open loop in the wire; cut some small pcs of rubber tubbing ( car vacum hose, tubbing for peep sights on bows ets.) and slip one over the loop in the wire . this leaves a nice little closed loop in the end of the spinner to clip a leader and not have it slide down the spinner.we don't use a leader on plastics usually. not nearly as exspensive as other hard lures. when fishing in heavy grass, a leader will catch the grass. for this you could go to the type of wire where you tie the lure to the wire so you have no snap to get caught. del

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Fireline works pretty good for leader material as well. We tie up a bunch of 30 lb. fireline leaders and use them when needed. They aren't 100% effective obviously, but they do a pretty good job without sacrificing too much action.

We've tested them a lot in Canada and have caught a lot of pike on one leader. You do get bite offs, but the percentage is much lower. Try cutting that stuff with a knife that isn't razor sharp once, it is tough. Also, the fact that it is braided helps. You need to replace those often.

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Catch-N Tackle Pro Staff

[email protected]
"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
- Henry David Thoreau

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Try 12# or 17# sevenstrand wire leaders you can make yourself with nothing more than a forceps and a line clipper. Wire has a smaller diameter than same break-strength mono, and is bronze in color so it doesn't "bulk up" your presentation, even with T-rigged worms.

It's a bit tough to describe w/o visual aid, but here goes...

Run the wire through your crosslock as if you were going to tie on regular line - leave about 6" or so of tag end coming through - clip your forceps onto the tag end of wire - while holding the crosslock and the spool of wire, use the weight of the forceps to "spin" the forceps around the wire going to the spool until you have wrapped the tag end up the main wire about 3/8" or so - cut the tag end off tight to the main line with your clippers - spool about 14" or so of wire off of the spool, then clip it off - repeat the wrapping process on this end, attaching it to a small barrell swivel - you're done - instant stealthy (very inexpensive) 8" long wire leader! With a little practice, you can do this in less than a minute. Try making up a bunch at home...it's much easier than this sounds.

A simple variation for plastics is to skip the crosslock and attach directly the hook. You'll need to remember to slide your worm weight on prior to putting your swivel on for T-rigging. I really like this set-up while fishing a jig/pig combo. Pike and bass both love to eat them, and you don't get bit off.

I also believe that it's easier to tear your crankbaits free from weeds with a small wire leader to slice through them with a good rip of the rod tip, which keeps you in the water more.

Good Luck,
FLB

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For the spinnerbaits and buzzbaits with the open loop i always just put a braces rubber binder on ahead of the swivel snap....i am not sure how hard they are to get but my brother has a couple packs of them lefteover from his braces and i took one.

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the former.
-Albert Einstein

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Scott, I normally do not use leaders, I believe it cuts down on my bite ratio. I do use quite heavy line. Lightest mono is 12 for jerk-baits. Otherwise its 17 mono and 50 braid on everything else. During a day of fishing myself or clients do get bit off once or twice, but thats fishing. I use cross locks for cranking, mainly because of the ease of changing lures, every other presentation is a direct tie. Good luck

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Wayne
Agape Fishing Guides
www.agapefishingguides.com

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Like you said I would definaitley try and catch whatever is taking your tackle.

But like some said, when I use cranks or spinners in areas were there are alot of northern/muskie, Ive learned my lesson and now use leaders. Unless Im fishing with plastics or jigs, then Ill tie directly.

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WOW...you guys are AMAZING and a whole lot of help. You can bet I'll be busy trying, tying (or not), and figuring out what is stealing my tackle and biting me off. Seriously, I've lost over 50% of my strikes to some toothy culprits.

Once I get that figured out then I'll get my Walleye-tournament-winning son converted if I can pry him away from those North Dakota lakes (he's really kicking butt the past few years)

Now for my next post it's time to learn some more!

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I have also pondered this question on whether to use leaders for bass fishing, but have kind of set some guidelines for myself. I always use them when throwing crankbaits and still catch a lot of nice bass, and bring in the toothed critters too, but at least my lure is saved. I, like most anglers, have some cranks that are have some stories behind them that are irreplaceable. I have fished some gin clear waters and it just does not seam to matter to bass if there is a leader on or not.
For spinnerbaits, I do not use a leader. I think you get way better action and control w/o one and northerns "usually" do not crawl up the bait to snip off the line on a spinnerbait.
Plastics and jigs I tie directly to the lure. Better action, better feel, and if you get bit off, pretty easy and inexpensive to tie on another.
Oh, and just for your info., I fish Minnetonka (highly pressured bass lake) w/ a guy a lot. He uses his muskie gear when he bass fishes, big leaders, muskie braided line. He seams to do just fine w/ what he uses.
Coach Dog

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