Leader vs. No leader on tip up

[Mr. Pike1]

Just curious. Do you guys ever use leaders on tip up when fishin for pike. I have been using 10lb Iron silk on my tip ups with success but I do on occassion get cut off by the pike. I just am not a big fan of leaders. On the flip side I am not a big fan of having a monster pike cut my line. Maybe a 10-12lb fireline might be another option. What do others use?

[blue_healer_guy]

If it's northerns only, braided line. Walleyes, 8lb xt. I don't think I've ever caught a walleye fishing for northern and vice/versa.

[Bulldoggr]

Quote:

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If it's northerns only, braided line. Walleyes, 8lb xt. I don't think I've ever caught a walleye fishing for northern and vice/versa.

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I have. and I use leaders. i learned my lesson the hard way. Northerns can cut the Sheat out of a line in a heartbeat

[Random guy]

I hate steel leaders! Even more when I am tip-up fishing. I think they not only screw up action or movement of your live bait but pike can see them and maybe turn off a fish that was in a netural mood. This is what started me into the florocarbon leaders. I wanted the strength of steel without the visability and kinked up mess of steel. So I built a couple for winter pike fishing the clear shield lakes for a test run and relized pike couldn't chew through the stuff. I now use all florocarbon for musky and pike fishing summer or winter.

I make my own tip-up or "clicker rigs" out of 80lb Floro and have not had a fish bite one off yet, The bonus to it is fish can't see floro in the water and it stays very flexable in the cold temps allowing the bait to do its thing.

I buy a roll or spool of 80lb floro, solid steel rings, and 100lb solid ring swivels for about $60 at Thorne Bros. and I make twenty or so leaders for summer fishing and six tip up rigs and I'm good for the year.

[almosthaddabite]

I've been on a slimmer kick the last two winters and, I too, am in search of a better rig. I will try the floro.

A decent slimmer will saw through any dacron made same with mono. I hate steel leaders (I'm from MN not Iowa), however, I did come across some coated steel material at Gander Mt. that isn't as bad as factory made leaders. I'm using it now and so far so good. To tie a loop: simply put your hook on twist a loop and hold a flame to the leader, the coating melts and gives you a positive lock. After several fish you may have to switch out the rig due to kinks, but it's way better than the normal steel leaders.

The florocarbon sounds better if it's resistant to the famed "saw bill". As we know it's all about presentation.

[RK]

Hiya,

I have to disagree with the arguments against steel leaders.

If you're talking about store-bought, nylon coated leaders with snaps and swivels, then yeah, I'm with ya - I hate those things. They're bulky and miserable to use, and I've seen way too many of them break on big fish to ever want to use them myself.

I make my own pike leaders, both for jigging and for tip-ups, from uncoated, stranded wire. I use anywhere from 18 to 27 pound wire. 18# wire is about the same diameter as 6 lb mono, and not much more visible. Certainly no more visible than power pro or fireline. For tip-ups I make quick strike rigs using two trebles, a connector sleeve, a couple beads and a spinner blade. For jigging I make short (4 to 6 inch) leaders with a small snap on one end and a small (#10) swivel on the other. For baits that I use exclusively for jigging pike like airplane jigs and big jigging rapalas or jigging shads, I wire the bait direct to the leader and just retie when I want to change baits. Even under the ice I just don't think pike are that particular about terminal tackle, even when it comes to dead bait under a tip-up where they can eyeball it for as long as they want. On lakes where I'm jigging walleyes and small pike are a problem, I use these leaders on jigging spoons and swim baits, and see very little if any difference in the number of fish I catch compared to guys I fish with that refuse to use them and are resigned to getting bit off once in a while.

To make the leaders all you need to do is run the leader wire through the eye of a snap or swivel, or hook, then grab the tag end of the leader material with a hemostat and swing it around the main leader line for 3/4 of an inch or so to make a tight wrap. If you do it right, it won't come loose at all.

As far as using fluorocarbon goes, I do use fluoro for walleyes a lot. But for pike, especially with quick strikes and tip-ups, I don't have much faith in it preventing bite-offs unless you go up in size to the point where it's so heavy and stiff that the advantages of it being invisible are outweighed by bulk and stiffness. Compared to 20# wire, 30# fluoro is a lot stiffer, to say nothing of 50 or 60 fluoro. And again, I don't think visibility is much of an issue.

You can also try using some of the knotable wire that's available now. It's coated, so it's a little bit bulkier than uncoated wire, but not by a huge degree. And it is easy to work with. From the ones I've tried, Cortland Toothy Critter seems to be the most pliant, with Tyger brand a close second. I've used it some, but still prefer uncoated wire.

My $.02....

Cheers,

RK

[Guest]

I have always used heavy mono for leaders on tip ups. Strait braided does work sometimes, but I alwys have more runs on the tip ups with the mono.

A good quality mono(clear) in the #30 class works well, and it wont cut your hand without extreme effort.

I am sure Power pro would work great for a leader.. even #65 or #80 might be ideal, anything smaller and you might not have time to react before getting a finger cut off if it got tangled around your hand at a poor time.