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Do I Need A Leader?


wymberley
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I do not agree with pretty much everything said above and very much doubt another guy on here (of experience) who has commented already will. 80 lb mono will not stand up to a Pikes maw as an equal to 30 lb wire and will effect nothing in a positive way over wire. I am not about to come the big I am but trust me I do know this game pretty much inside out back to front

 

Fair enough.. I respect your opinion..each to his own...Use what your comfortable with. I've never had a pike eat through 80 lb mono though and I've caught literally hundreds up to 34 lb. The welfare of the fish is paramount at the end of the day though which is why I always use barbless.

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Bass have changed, in the South they are caught year long though numbers change and size class, even up in Morecambe bay Bass are still taken by Cod seeking anglers off the beach. This past 4 weeks I know of two separate 6lb fish. One November maybe 10 yrs back there was a monster Bass taken off Rossal beach Fleetwood that pushed close to our UK shore caught record. Pretty much wasting your time in the North still but speak to the guys South and its a different story__

Maybe but I still think it will be very hard going trying to catch one on a lure.

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Fair enough.. I respect your opinion..each to his own...Use what your comfortable with. I've never had a pike eat through 80 lb mono though and I've caught literally hundreds up to 34 lb. The welfare of the fish is paramount at the end of the day though which is why I always use barbless.

 

The trouble with using heavy mono or fluoro for traces, especially for bait fishing, is that you will be fine until you aren't. You will inevitably get the leader sliced through and it will be sliced through so quickly and without any obvious pressure that you won't believe it. You can definitely catch a lot of pike on mono/fluoro leaders without incident, but they aren't tooth proof in the way that wire is. The idea that pike are put off a bait by a bit of thin wire, but will happily eat a bait on a thick bit of mono doesn't really stand up to scrutiny, so there's not a lot of logical arguments for using anything other than wire for pike.

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Maybe but I still think it will be very hard going trying to catch one on a lure.

Up here in the cold North west away from the main breeding ground yes its too hard to bother but Some Southern marks really do produce year round now Bass by intention on lures .

LOL. I'll have to take the mask off now. :blush:

I am busy searching now for something for you to autograph

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I would never risk fishing for pike without wire , I have caught a number over the years with trebles in them tied to mono.

I really cannot think of any advantages in using heavy mono over wire , the modern multistrand wires are very supple and the titanium ones go on forever

 

Minimum 30lb wire , 15lb line and barbless trebles or doubles for me .

Edited by fenboy
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I would never risk fishing for pike with wire , I have caught a number over the years with trebles in them tied to mono.

I really cannot think of any advantages in using heavy mono over wire , the modern multistrand wires are very supple and the titanium ones go on forever

 

Minimum 30lb wire , 15lb line and barbless trebles or doubles for me .

 

Assume you mean risk without wire - I totally agree. I have caught pike on 5lb line when fly fishing for trout and have been very lucky...I have even caught a 400lb bull shark with 80lb mono straight through but that was only because I was lucky enough to hook him in scissors and therefore the hook protected the line from the teeth. I would never fish in freshwater in the UK with lures or deadbaits without a wire trace - the implications of a lure being left in a fish are very bad for the fish and for the perception of the sport in non-anglers.

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Yes sorry I meant without , now edited .

I agree you can land pike on all sorts I caught a number in my match fishing days using 1lb bottoms but they were hooked in the scissors and for even those lost a tiny hook will cause no problems , trebles on the other hand are a different ball game and if a set of those gets left in the throat it is a dead fish in waiting.

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We're still catching Bass on soft plastics in Sussex at the moment. Smaller fish than they have been but I managed dinner for yesterday evening.

 

Got to agree with Kent regarding the mono/wire debate, would suggest a plastic coated wire rather than plain wire though on the grounds of fish welfare though....although quite how this became a debate about leaders for pike, when the OP said he was going bassing of clean beaches, I'm not quite sure!

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We're still catching Bass on soft plastics in Sussex at the moment. Smaller fish than they have been but I managed dinner for yesterday evening.

 

Got to agree with Kent regarding the mono/wire debate, would suggest a plastic coated wire rather than plain wire though on the grounds of fish welfare though....although quite how this became a debate about leaders for pike, when the OP said he was going bassing of clean beaches, I'm not quite sure!

 

Never told what and where at the start and the side debate started. Plastic coated wire leader tends to pigtail and ends up in tatters quite quickly if your catching. In fairness 15 lb mono will cut you to the bone easy enough under pressure and after gazilions of Pike I cant remember any significant wire damage to them if it happened - hook damage yes lots!

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I've never noticed damage from a wire trace to a pikes mouth either. but then I don't use superfine wire when pike fishing. I sometimes use very fine wire, if I'm perch fishing in ***** waters for example, then the rest of the tackle is balanced so that you can't apply enough pressure to do any damage with the fine wire leader if a pike were to grab it.

 

If I'm trolling, especially in winter I tend to put a few feet of heavy mono between the trace and the braid as pike have a tendency to roll up the line in the winter when you troll for some reason and the thick mono stops the pikes sides from being cut, as could happen with braid.

 

Starting to get into real semantics now though! :lol:

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I've never noticed damage from a wire trace to a pikes mouth either. but then I don't use superfine wire when pike fishing. I sometimes use very fine wire, if I'm perch fishing in ***** waters for example, then the rest of the tackle is balanced so that you can't apply enough pressure to do any damage with the fine wire leader if a pike were to grab it.

 

If I'm trolling, especially in winter I tend to put a few feet of heavy mono between the trace and the braid as pike have a tendency to roll up the line in the winter when you troll for some reason and the thick mono stops the pikes sides from being cut, as could happen with braid.

 

Starting to get into real semantics now though! :lol:

Never noticed an increase in Rolling, perhaps your on baits or go slower than me? I have a bad cut in a finger at present though 40lb mono under pressure

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If its fresh water fishing your doing then theres is no real need for a leader apart from a wire trace for pike zander fishing.

Yes it will help with really heavy lures and deadbaits but to be deadly honest you dont actualy need a leader.

I only ever use a shock leader on my carp gear when im spoding large amounts of bait into on particular spot as the weight of the spod when full puts alot of stress and strain on the rod. So in your case your mainline rod and lures you have will be fine just get some wire traces. O and also your rod should have a weight rating on it for the reccomended weights of lures.

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If its fresh water fishing your doing then theres is no real need for a leader apart from a wire trace for pike zander fishing.

Yes it will help with really heavy lures and deadbaits but to be deadly honest you dont actualy need a leader.

I only ever use a shock leader on my carp gear when im spoding large amounts of bait into on particular spot as the weight of the spod when full puts alot of stress and strain on the rod. So in your case your mainline rod and lures you have will be fine just get some wire traces. O and also your rod should have a weight rating on it for the reccomended weights of lures.

 

That's why they make special Spod braid for shock leader then? To be fair as soon as you get to 1 1/2 to 2 oz if your giving it some you should but its about the forces generated ie. grunt! Leads can and have killed and also badly injured people

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Always wear a finger stall when spoding with braid. Not a bad idea either when hoofing big deads out on braid too.

 

 

That's why they make special Spod braid for shock leader then? To be fair as soon as you get to 1 1/2 to 2 oz if your giving it some you should but its about the forces generated ie. grunt! Leads can and have killed and also badly injured people

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Always wear a finger stall when spoding with braid. Not a bad idea either when hoofing big deads out on braid too.

 

 

Ah it wasn't done like that :lol: Was testing some different knots after a few drams :blush: I never wear one of those things but don't like fixed spool much for power casting anyway. Unlike Tim's suggestion I have anything but lady hands

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