Bass with a leader?

[Alan]

I am well aware that when fishing for Bass with spinners, some jigs, topwater's etc that there is always that chance that a Pike is gonna come by and take your lure. I have lost plenty of lures from this.

Now, I just purchased some top water Bass lures. I don't want to lose them to a pike. Trust me though, I am all for catching a pike, I just don't want to lose my lure. So, do Bass really care if I have a leader on? I have the thin black titanium 12" leaders.

Or for even jigging or using spinners for Bass, can I be using a leader just in case a Pike wants to take a shot at it?

I figure that the thin black titanium leaders are less visible than the thick plastic coated steel leaders. Right?

Your thoughts on this?

[Ralph Wiggum]

I prefer not to use leaders, but my dad uses leaders on quite a few lures and he still catches his share of fish. I think you'll find with topwaters, a leader will negatively impact the action of the lure.

[SledNeck]

I use a leader for every X-Rap, Spinnerbait and buzzbait. I'll keep doing that until I become a billionaire and dont care how many 9 dollar xraps I lose. Doesnt seem to hurt my catch rates at all.

[ocf1]

If your worried about losing lures you COULD use braid but you would have to be very patient on the hookset.

[Ralph Wiggum]

If your worried about losing lures you COULD use braid but you would have to be very patient on the hookset.

Unless you go real heavy on the braid, pike teeth cut through it like butter. Better off with 12-17lb mono or fluoro.

[hhguide]

Pike cut anytime like butter except wire. I dont know if i would use a leader because of lost of action with the lure.

[joeyquicksand*]

I am a billionaire so i don't use leaders, but even if i wasn't the billionaire oil/drug company/commercial real estate/entertainment tycoon i am, i wouldn't use a leader unless its like a x-rap or something other than top water that is just as likely to catch a pikeski. I guess its just a risk you have to take... but maybe i would if the lake is known to hold more pike than bass... jeeze i guess its just what your comfortable with.

[RK]

Hiya -

Topwaters and leaders IS kind of tough unless it's a buzzbait. Wire sinks, so it can hose up topwaters badly.

If you use mono, you might try a short piece of 17# or 20# mono and see if that messes the bait up. Fluoro is a no-go for topwaters for the same reason wire is - the stuff sinks like a rock.

For jerkbaits and jigs that tend to get bitten off a lot (I fish some lakes with LOTS of small pike, and they absolutely love bass jigs) I use a short (4 inch) leader made from Cortland Toothy Critter wire. It's soft, thin and doesn't mess baits up at all, plus you can attach it to your line with a back-to-back Uni-knot, and tie lures on just like you would if you were using mono or braid.

I use braid for a lot of my topwater fishing (Fireline - I fish smallie topwaters on spinnign gear), because it floats, and when I do get pike, they rarely bite through it.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Duffman]

SledNeck was the first thing I thought about after losing my a x-rap to a pike a couple weekends ago. I had noticed that he uses a leader with his x-raps when he posted pics of hawgs.

The next day the 'ol lady was reading in the boat while I was searching for the elusive bass . I had caught around a dozen more pike since losing the first x-rap, and I was still leaderless when I let out an ARGGHHHH!!!. The wife didn't miss a beat, without looking up from reading, she just muttered "$7."

[SledNeck]

Sometimes you can go all summer without losing a lure to a pike, sometimes you can lose 6 lures in one day. I think my leaders attract bass!

[Green 'eyes!]

I've lost my share of scum frogs and jigs to pike. However, I switched to braid a couple years ago and haven't lost any since. Catch plenty of bass.

[turn_in_poachers]

Sometimes you can go all summer without losing a lure to a pike, sometimes you can lose 6 lures in one day. I think my leaders attract bass!

So THATS what Im doing wrong!

D'oh!!!

[Fluker]

Quote:

The next day the 'ol lady was reading in the boat while I was searching for the elusive bass . I had caught around a dozen more pike since losing the first x-rap, and I was still leaderless when I let out an ARGGHHHH!!!. The wife didn't miss a beat, without looking up from reading, she just muttered "$7."

Hilarious!!!!!!

[SledNeck]

I wish they made jig n pig leaders, I lose all kinds of them to pike.

[EBass]

I never use a leader, but I do have braid on everything so that helps. I loose more lures in snags than I do to pike. Now that I said that, I'll loose a few cranks to pike this weekend. D'oh!

[MSRiverdog]

There are a couple places I've decided to use wire, it hurts to see a Ski roll and take the spinner or buzzer with em.

[RK]

Sledneck -

Get some Toothy Critter wire for Jig and Pig leaders. Use it all the time. Or, get some 12 or 18# Sevenstrand uncoated wire, and a little Spro #10 swivel. Haywire twist the wire to the jig, little tiny piece of shrink tubing so the wire doesn't catch weeds, same on the swivel end, and off you go. Leaders only have to be 3-4" long to prevent 90% of the bite-offs, and bass don't seem to care much. The stuff is thinner than mono of comparable strength.

2 weekends ago, I was out of TC wire, and fishing with swimming jigs, which pike positively love. I lost jigs on 4 consecutive casts.

bit off, retie, cast

bit off, retie, cast

bit off, retie, cast

bit off, melt down, change spots...

Gah...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[EBass]

Quote:

bit off, melt down, change spots...

Gah...

LOL RK - Dang pike

[Bassman55]

Kind of dumb but I was fishing a spook and got it bit off 4 times one morning. Never lossed the lure. Two of the pike swam a long ways (50-75') with it before they shook it out. The only reason I got it back that many times is that is was dead calm and the spook sits really high in the water so I could see it when it floated up.

[goblueM]

hah Bassman55, I had that happen with a Norman Little N crank a few years ago up in Ely. Lost it 3 times in 2 days on pike, each time I saw it floating down the river a few minutes later.