Leaders

[Dew_Man]

Hey guys,

What have you found to be the best leaders? My buddy makes his own and seems to have better luck than I ever do.

Also, I have a rod with 50# Power Pro braid. Do you think I would even need a leader? Would I be able to just re-tie after a few catches?

[JPenny]

I make my own out of coated seven strand wire. I have some friends who make theirs from flourocarbon, but they fish pressured waters. I don't have those problems and would not trust any flourocarbon under 100# test. I'm sure you'll hear from folks that strongly disagree with this, but I'm very concerned in keeping fish as healthy as possible and worry that when my line breaks, it will leave a lure stuck in a fishes mouth, possibly pinning it's jaws shut so it dies from starvation. And no way will I ever fish without a leader or pike or muskies.

[h8go4s]

Hey guys,

What have you found to be the best leaders? My buddy makes his own and seems to have better luck than I ever do.

Also, I have a rod with 50# Power Pro braid. Do you think I would even need a leader? Would I be able to just re-tie after a few catches?

Maybe your buddy is a better fisherman than you are, and it's not about luck at all.

Jack Penny is right. It's irresponsible to intentionally fish pike without a leader. One swipe across a tooth will cut 50-pound braid like it's butter.

[20lbSloughShark]

I'm sure someone will come on here and talk about how they never got cut off on their 4# braid, but they are wrong. All the tests I can think of, and personal experience is that braided line is the weakest of lines against sharp edges. While braid handles abrasion against things like stumps, weeds, ice, etc., it will cut instantly against anything sharp. That can be docks, certain rocks (although they come in all shapes and sizes), and teeth. The best way to tell is simple. Try to cut it with a knife. While you can easily bite a piece of mono off, it is really tough to take a knife and slice it. Braid on the other hand is next to impossible to bite with your teeth, but will slice like butter with a knife. Really what your looking at is two actions, slicing and shearing. Slicing is what a pikes tooth will do to your leader. A knife slices line. A scissors is a shearing action. I am not certain where fluorocarbon fits in, but I see little difference between it and mono, assuming both are "leader material." Mono/fluoro made for casting are softer to make handling it easier. Leader material is much harder, and is much harder to cut. IMO if you are to use a fluorocarbon or mono leader, 20# is about the very minimum. Even then I would not use it when bait fishing. Last year I really gave 50# fluorocarbon a try, and I had 3 bite offs. While I probably got well a few hundred pike all year, 3 is too many for me. This year I'm going back to my home made steel leaders as much as I can. The 50# fluorocarbon will only be used in really clear water when casting. When bait fishing, It will probably be 80# mono. The other problem with mono/fluoro is in these higher strengths, they don't like to flex. Its not a problem with quick strike rigs, but things like circle hooks it can be a huge problem. The other thing is while I had good success with circle hooks and live bait, they were also the rigs that got bit off. The reason I use circle hooks is to have a little more stealth vs a quick strike. The only real way to still use them without a bite off is to use a steel leader. If I do that, I might as well use a quick strike, which is more reliable for me anyway. Anyway that was kind of a lot of rambling. Long story short, do not tie directly to your braided line. Steel leaders work fine. Home made leaders of steel, mono, or fluorocarbon are even better. I use cortland toothy critter for my steel. Either 15#,20#, or 35# is fine. I prefer 20#. Jack Penny has a great tutorial on how to make them in his book. In the past I have used duo-lock snaps, and while I have had no problems, I'm trying quicksnaps this year, and love them so far. I use a spro power swivel on the other end. I've never used a solid wire leader, but those can work fine too. Out of everything I have tried, I keep coming back to my flexible wire leader.

[RumRiverRat]

Tieable Titanium.......no reason for anything else.

[20lbSloughShark]

I never really gave titanium a shot, but I don't like using crimps. Lots of guys use a crimp, sometimes two on leaders without issue. The biggest problem I had was the crimp picked up all kinds of weeds. Honestly, I just don't like the way they look. I use the thinnest wire I can get, and I hate having a big bulky crimp on there. That's why I prefer coated leaders, I fuse the ends. I also use uni knots to tie my fluoro/mono leaders. If you like crimps, I've heard great things about the terminator tie-able titanium.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

For heavily pressured muskie waters I only use Thorne Bros. 120lb or 200lb fluorocarbon leaders. I've been using them for 15 years and never had a problem. I have caught lots of pike on gin clear waters with these leaders.

The other options for pike that I like are Cortland Toothy Critter tie-able stainless, TyGer Leader tie-able, or a 80lb Thorne Bros leader.

On the junk side, I will never, ever use a single wire titanium leader with crimps. Everyone I ever used broke.

[RumRiverRat]

No need for crimps with tieable Titanium.

Just tie a knot to connect to your mainline and another knot to your lure.

[tolle141]

Whether I use flouro, single strand, or seven strand wire is dependent on what I'm using and a little on water clarity.

Braid is composed of lots of braided fibers. This is why it is so strong. Unfortunately, those fibers cut very easily. That's why northerns wreak such havoc on braid. Spool with braid, but always have a leader.

[20lbSloughShark]

I never understood using those huge 100+ pound fluro leaders. Just looking side by side, I feel the 20 pound steel leader is going to draw less attention. Not to mention with a line that thick, it really puts a damper on lure action, where a steel leader has little effect.

[tolle141]

I never understood using those huge 100+ pound fluro leaders. Just looking side by side, I feel the 20 pound steel leader is going to draw less attention. Not to mention with a line that thick, it really puts a damper on lure action, where a steel leader has little effect.

For typical pike fishing, 30lb wire or 80lb flouro work great. For big fish (muskies), we use those heavy leaders to ensure we don't lose a $25 lure and, more importantly, to ensure we don't break a lure off in a the mouth of a fish that takes 12 years to replace. That's basically a death letter for the fish.

[JPenny]

I tested some of the tieable leader material at the request of the manufacturers several years ago. I'll say this, it is very convenient being able to tie leaders on the go and it is very strong. However, I have problems with the knot...actually the tag end of the knot. It cannot be cut flush with the knot. This tag end not only gathers weeds like a garden rake, it can also be harmful to your fingers health. Years ago, while fishing jerkbaits with a solid wire leader, I hand landed a big pike by hand. As I guided the pike to where I could grab it, I was holding the wire leader in my left hand when the pike decided to leave....quickly! It drug that leader (which had a tag end sticking out) through my hand, nicely slicing through 4 of my fingers. I still have the scars from that lesson. I won't say this stuff is all bad, but if you're going to use it beware! That tag end is as sharp as a razor.

[Hawg]

Lots of pike were being caught in our area with sucker minnows on some variations of a Lindy-Carolina-Texas Rig style. What do most people use for the connection from the swivel to the hook?

[20lbSloughShark]

Texas rig? I'm not sure why or how you would fish a live sucker on that, but I'd just tie a swivel on one end, slip your weight on the leader, then tie on a hook. If you were looking to troll a live sucker, I would prefer a lindy rig, or better yet, a modified quick-strike with a weight in front. I like a swivel, about 1' of leader, then a 3/0-6/0 single hook, then about 6" behind that a #6-#2 treble. I then used rubber-core wights in front of the sucker to keep it down. I hook the single hook through the nose pointing up, then the treble in the side or through the back behind the dorsal fin. Keep is slow enough so the sucker can actually swim side to side.