steel leaders vs titanium

[budiva]

I know this issue has probably been discussed in great detail in the past. But what style of leader (material/lbs/length) would you recommend for average size pike fishing mostly 4"-8" lures. I don't have a lot of money to spend, and I am hoping to spend what I do have on one or two big bucktails or a bulldawg.

[10,000 Casts]

Just about every leader I have for Northerns is an 8" or 12" mostly 12". 20lb or 30lb will work. They make a 24" and a 36" but I don't really see the need and casting could be a bit of an issue.

It really depends on the leader. Although I would spend the extra money and get the Titanium. They las quite a bit longer than the steel and it should be cheaper in the long run if you are like me and catch a lot of little ones

I good titanium leader will cost, guessing off the top of my head $5-$7

A package of 3 steel leaders will be around a $2.00 so figure 9:1

John

[MuskieMojoTackle]

Stay away from Titanium. It will get brittle and will fail with no warning. Titanium will not last forever, and it will not show any signs of wear before failing.

You will be better off with steel or floro, IMO.

[troyfideldy]

Personally never had a titanium fail, but not saying it is not possible. I seem to lose them or something happens, so occasionally they are replaced. Lately I have been making my own leaders out of Fluorocarbon. Kind of a pain to make but they are alot cheaper. They also seem to provide good action and handle up on multiple decent fish... big muskies are yet to be tested.

[Keith_MN]

Quote:

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Stay away from Titanium. It will get brittle and will fail with no warning. Titanium will not last forever, and it will not show any signs of wear before failing.

You will be better off with steel or floro, IMO.

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Mojo is absolutely correct. My experience with titanium leaders is that the loop at the end of the leader will fray and then snap unexpectedly.

Titanium is great because it doesn't kink like a steal leader, which is why I like to use titanium. (But losing a $20 lure when your leader unexpectedly fails is enough to make a preacher swear.)

So buy the cheaper steel leaders and don't feel bad about throwing them away when they get a few kinks in 'em.

PS A 9" leader is plenty long.

[RK]

Hiya -

I gotta agree on Titanium not being a perfect solution. Titanium does wear, it just wears differently than steel. I tried it when it first came out. Loved the no kink, but I did have some leader failures. What concerned me about that was that there isn't any visible sign of impending failure. They just up and break. With steel, when you have wear (or, obviously, if you have a kink) it's pretty evident that you need to replace the leader.

If you want the most economical option, buy a bulk spool of single-strand wire, and make your own leaders. A 1/4# spool of wire will run you about 8 bucks, and last half of forever. Then buy swivels and snaps as you need them, and attach them with a haywire twist. For pike, 69# or 90# would work fine, in lengths from 9-12 inches.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[10,000 Casts]

I guess that when I used the titanium leaders I never had the problems that you guys had. I didn't really use them for Muskies but for northerns I would catch quite a few without having the problems mentioned above. Does it depend on the brand or the way that they are made?

John

[mrmanners]

that makes total sense on the titanium leader. On eagle this last year I had a 54"+ on the guide could not beleive how big the pig was and about two feet from the net I lost her. Something snapped and I couldn't believe it, dreams shattered and deperession set in. I have gone through everything I had on 65" power pro, Titanium lead, Giant jack pot and now hearing what every one is saying maybe it was my leader. I bought them two years ago and they sat around quite a bit before being used last year then got a lot of use. I sure did like the non kinking but maybe it's time to go back to old faithfull.

[traveler]

MM; wasn't it obvious what broke after losing the giant;ie, half a leader...broken snap, etc? The guide couldn't pinpoint the failure either? On titanium, I tried some cheaper ones early on and actually noticed some fraying before failure, tossed those and bought a better brand, no problems so far with them.

[TECK]

I had a bad crimp on a titanium leader. For that kind of money I can't see it. I still have one but won't use it.

I'm goning to give fluorocarbon a try.

[mrmanners]

Traveler,

At first I thought it was the line but I have never had power pro fail. The line was just waving in the breeze, now that I see the posts ealier I'm wondering if the loop swival or something to that effect snapped and the rest fell off. I have a floro leader 100lb and wondering if any one has had luck with those?