[hahmmo]

Hi members,

I heard you need 10 lbs of line strength for each 1 oz of weight to throw, either with heavy mainline or leader with few wraps around spool.. So if I wanted to throw 10 oz, I need 100 lbs line.

How strictly do you guys follow this when bank fishing? I dont see many anglers around sticking to this rule.. I dont think levelwind will take knot through the guide well either. Maybe spinning reel is better in this regard.. I am wondering if this rule is for mono only, or applies to braid as well?

I want to keep things safe but this is giving me headache...

 

[twaskom]

Someone came up with that because he thought it sounded good as far as I know. I throw 8 ounces with 40 # mono and also with 50 and 65 # braid with no problems. Now are there factors that effect that. Yes there are. When throwing hard, twelve foot rod puts a lot more tension on the line than when using a 7'6" rod.

So you do not have to follow that rule religiously.

The mono leader is a good idea both as a shock leader but also for abrasion resistance. The longest leader I use is 4 feet and not often that. But my rivers are not like the Tennessee where the drop-off is 45 years away from the bank. That really long leader is just to protect against abrasions when the line is going to be going over rock drop-offs.

The best way is to just try things out and you will decide what is actually needed in pretty quick order.

As a general rule for bottoms that are not rock, go with a leader that is 12 inches to 4 feet long. $ feet gives the bait better action in current and one foot gives you better control.

Good luck and just do what the majority does and you will be fine. A good guide is to watch Steve Douglas, Kayak Catfish, Catfish Dave,' early videos when he was totally bank fishing. You can usually see the length of their leaders and they will have a video or two talking on what they like. If anyone is catching the size and numbers of fish they are, they know what they re doing. Good guide.

tight lines

Just curious, what waters do you fish?

tight lines

 

[J. Lewis]

I run 30 or 40# mono mainline with 60- 100# leader when fishing for blue cats because their mouths will tear up a leader quick. I only make my leaders 24" long or so most of the time though.

When I'm flathead fishing I usually run 50-60# leaders, sometimes up to 3' long. I feel like where I flathead fish, there are big rocks, so sometimes I want my bait off the bottom a little bit more (I use Santee rigs) thats why I go with a bit longer of a leader with flatheads sometimes. (Pretty rare though, 9 times out of 10 my leader is in the 24" range)

 

[Joe1965]

I don't use shock leaders on anything but my surf rods. It's called a "shock" leader for a reason. When you are using 11'-0 and longer rods, when you draw back and sling hard forward, you are generating a lot of energy in the rod. The rod transfers that energy to the line and the weight. It is a sudden, heavy load being applied. That's why almost everyone at some point in time has decided to swing for the fences and heard that amazing crack as the line snaps and the sinker soars out of sight.

Shorter rods just don't generate the same amount of energy so it become less of an issue the shorter the rod becomes.

I use braid on all but my lightest rigs but Tom is right, you need a decent leader when fishing with braid as it is not abrasion resistant at all. Fishing on silt or sand, it's fine to have really short mono/fluro leaders. If there's rocks and debris, you want a strong, abrasion resistant leader.

As a rule of thumb for me, a shock leader needs tobe twice the length of your rod and + four to five additional wraps on the spool. Most surf fisherman are using big spinning reels or non levelwind baitcasters so the issue of the knot going through the levelwind guide is not there.

 

[hahmmo]

Thank you guys so much for all the detailed answers! The longest rod I will is 9 ft, I am not powerful caster so I will just use common sense rather doing strict math for lbs line. My headache is gone now

 

[jumpmaster]

I have fished all over the U.S. using 30# big game line with no problems. I now use 40# big game, and 30# leader while anchored, while dragging, or slow trolling, drifting, I use 80# braid, with 40#leader. I throw weights up to 12 oz with out problems, but I do use a sinker slide with anything over maybe 4 or 5 oz. Not saying this is what you should do, just letting you know what i do.

 

[hahmmo]

Someone came up with that because he thought it sounded good as far as I know. I throw 8 ounces with 40 # mono and also with 50 and 65 # braid with no problems. Now are there factors that effect that. Yes there are. When throwing hard, twelve foot rod puts a lot more tension on the line than when using a 7'6" rod.

So you do not have to follow that rule religiously.

The mono leader is a good idea both as a shock leader but also for abrasion resistance. The longest leader I use is 4 feet and not often that. But my rivers are not like the Tennessee where the drop-off is 45 years away from the bank. That really long leader is just to protect against abrasions when the line is going to be going over rock drop-offs.

The best way is to just try things out and you will decide what is actually needed in pretty quick order.

As a general rule for bottoms that are not rock, go with a leader that is 12 inches to 4 feet long. $ feet gives the bait better action in current and one foot gives you better control.

Good luck and just do what the majority does and you will be fine. A good guide is to watch Steve Douglas, Kayak Catfish, Catfish Dave,' early videos when he was totally bank fishing. You can usually see the length of their leaders and they will have a video or two talking on what they like. If anyone is catching the size and numbers of fish they are, they know what they re doing. Good guide.

tight lines

Just curious, what waters do you fish?

tight lines

Just saw the question in last line, I fish in potomac river around DC and upstream~

 

[twaskom]

I fish DC and Downstream in the 90s.

tight lines

 

[jamespowell]

Hi members,

I heard you need 10 lbs of line strength for each 1 oz of weight to throw, either with heavy mainline or leader with few wraps around spool.. So if I wanted to throw 10 oz, I need 100 lbs line.

How strictly do you guys follow this when bank fishing? I dont see many anglers around sticking to this rule.. I dont think levelwind will take knot through the guide well either. Maybe spinning reel is better in this regard.. I am wondering if this rule is for mono only, or applies to braid as well?

I want to keep things safe but this is giving me headache...

This is a rule but only under certain circumstances. In those circumstances is a critical rule. The circumstances is LDC aka Long Distance Casting. Then I promise you will need a strong strong strong shock leader aka “top shot” and yes the rule of thumb is 10# per ounce of lead. Even then “crack offs” will occur.
Now, having said all that, if you are just regular casting aka “chunking” then the rule is way less relevant. Just slinging bates just use good judgment. You will be fine like another guy says here.
Where I fish I have to really zing bates out there a long way. I’ve snapped a few off to trying to be skinny on the line. As far as knots go there are some good “horizontal “ knots that let you join lines without interfering with the guides.