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What Leader Line Do You Use?

8K views 88 replies 32 participants last post by  rnickel17 
#1 ·
I still havent found a mono leader that i like. What are you guys using??
 
#35 ·
Big Sam. by my way of thinking, your snelled hook in post #31 is coming out of the hook eye the wrong way. when that hook starts sliding out of the fishes mouth, and the eye gets to the fishes lips, it would turn the point of the hook away from where it should embed and not towards it like it would if the leader came out on the point side instead of the back.

If you pinch the line between your fingers, then pull the leader bringing the hook up to touch your fingers, the back of the hook will be drawn up, not the point.

You may intend for it to be this way but it makes me wonder.

tight lines
 
#38 ·
There is no "wrong"... just different. We don't all fish the same water and we don't all fish the same way.

I would never use 20, 30, 40lb leader but most folks that posted use it. Does it mean that I'm wrong? Does it mean they are wrong?

Use what you have confidence in. Use what works in the body if water you fish. With that being said don't be afraid to try new things. You might just be amazed.
 
#40 ·
I used to use 40 or 50lb mono leaders for flatties. Then one night I ran out and used some 30lb. I notice my bait was more active and seemed not to tire out as quick. And I did catch a 35lb flattie. So I thought about braid leaders and tried some 80lb in my normal 20" length. It was tangled all the time. Then I ran across some cheap 200lb braid and shorten my leader to about 8" and no tangles now. I haven't caught any sizeable fish yet with this rig but my bait is real active. I'm not sure how this would work for anyone else but I'm kinda digging it. I do only fish lakes, no rivers here. A river in my part of the world is a very long dry hole lol.
 
G
#53 ·
I just fish a straight eye circle with a Palomar. Isn't the whole idea of snelling to keep the direction of pull in the same axis as the shank of the hook, keeping the gap open. So why is a hook like an offset eye gami so effective even non smelled. It's the offset hook tip right? So what about a hook like a team catfish with an even more aggressive offset tip?
 
#54 ·
All I will say id look at the smelled hook in Post #31. Note the direction the leader is coming out of the eye. Then read my post #35. Snell two hooks with the leader coming out of the eye both ways. Then tie your Palomar knot. Do the test I describe then you decide which way you think is best for you.

All I can do is try to help others learn what seems to be the best way but the final choice is up to each individual.
 
#57 ·
Jim, the snell knot works best on a straight eye. With a bent eye, it brings the point forward only part way. The only way to see the difference is to try it. I heard folks talking about it a good while before I tried it. When I did I could see exactly what they were talking about.

Like I said, it is your choice. Fish can be caught either way.
 
#56 ·
I just did some testing with the snelled octopus circle hook, forwards and "backwards"... I drug a piece of leftover chicken from last night's dinner through the bait tank to see how the hook travels. With the hook snelled normally the bait went through the water column normally, hook up and traditional. With it snelled "backwards", it traveled with the hook point DOWN and FORWARD, but leaning backwards (bend of the hook was facing up). It also seemed to want to roll and helicopter. I will see if I can get it on video tomorrow, it was too dark out now. But it seems that alongside having the hing effect backwards, it would also get snagged a lot more?
 
#58 ·
Sky Technology Metal Wire Electronic device


Wire Technology Metal Cable


Please excuse the bent up tip hook, it was the only one i have indoors to show what i mean. This is how the hooks traveled. The backwards one was very similar to a fly in the water, bet kept trying to “right” itself and spun with bait.
 
G
#59 ·
Drawing Art Plant Calligraphy Illustration

Mostly use the hooks on the right. Bottom 2 are mustad 39948s . Not so much the 12s anymore. But used to run some lines, not that there is anything wrong with it. What I liked about them is it was always corner of the mouth. They are not the sharpest hooks in the world but even without piercing skin they will lock a fish in. If that makes any sense. I think they were originally halibut hooks and then carried over into billfish. Not sure if they were ever intended to be snelled?
Top on the left is an 8/0 gami I'm sure the top off the shelf hook and probably only fished a quarter of the time snelled. I never have. The bottom left is a 10/0 team catfish. I think Big Sam was fishing. Granted I don't a lot and am only out there once or twice a month to kill the noise. But we are all fishing different waters, different hooks, even different fish.
 
#64 ·
I use 200 lb braid with an 80 lb leader. I've been broken off twice. In the submerged thickets I fish, you let a Flathead run 10 ft there's a really good chance you'll lose it to a snag or rip rap. 200 lb braid has the same diameter as 30 lb mono but it has all the advantages with only one downside which is initial cost. I say initial cost because you don't have to replace braid like you do mono and if you sleeve your braid end with 200 lb hollow Dacron, you eliminate fraying. Another benefit is not breaking off line in the waterway. Maybe you think you're a sportsman catching a 40 lb fish on 20 lb line, but every time you get snagged and break off somehow miraculously that mono ends up wrapped up around my prop shaft killing my bearing. Not only that, it's much better for the fish because you don't have to play them to utter exhaustion.
I don't quite understand why people insist on light line other than wanting to brag about the one that got away.
 
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