INDIANANGLER

Eljefe's dumb question of the month (see you cant keep a good man down )
How many of you use leaders?
for what kind of fish?
Whats a shock leader?
Advantages of a shock leader?
Thats an essay/ MCQ question from fishing 101, guys and gals
help!
best
Axx

How many use leaders? I cant answer for the rest but I do for all salt water fish.

Wire for toothy species and Mono or Braid for others with a rough gripping mouth.

I use a shock leader to take the impact when casting a heavy lure when using light line, to avoid breakoffs when casting (shock leader, to absorb the shock when casting).

Hope this helps..

Thanks Bobby,
Clears a lot of cloud...'Shock leaders' explained.Now I know why Rustam gave me half a dozen of those heavy mono leaders with duolock at one end and a swivel at the other.We used them at the ASI cottage.I was using an ugly stick med 12lber with 10lb mono...! Shall continue to use them.
Best
Axx

Shock leaders are wound onto ther real so you can casta heavy lead on a light line without busting off on the cast.

For short rubbing leaders like those you describe, I much prefere doing away with the swivel (too easy to knock the liner out of your tip ringwith it whenfishing at night) and attatch the mono leader to the braid mainline with a double uni knot.
Keep the leader length down to about 40cm and check it if your catching barra because they will fray it after a while.

Eljefe, just to add:

I'm mainly a freshwater fisho, and I use leaders almost all the time.

In cases where the bait has a tendency to spin in the current (or you expect to catch fish that spins itself during a fight), I would use a swivel (not a snap-swivel: it just complicates things further). Make sure the swivel wire is slightly thicker than the lines.

To tie a leader directly to mainline, I usually use a 4 turn water knot (surgeon's knot); great for tying two lines of unequal sizes. If mono leader to braided mainline, I use uni knot on the former and double uni on the latter. Works for me!

Typical rigs for river fish like red mahseer or brown mahseer, in jungle rivers with rock/timber snags:
-Mainline = 10 to 20 lb mono
-Leader = 1m. 20 to 30 lb mono
-Black Rosco swivel

I do a bit of surfcasting too (the only salwater fishing I do). I use a long shock leader; at least six turns of it goes into the reel. Typical rig:
-Mainline: 15-lb mono
-Leader: 20 ft 60-lb mono (12-ft rod)
This way, you can use 150gm lead without breaking the line. That's if you want to cast beyond 100m to the fish.

><<:>

Hi guys,

I was experimenting with knots and testing knot strength using a spring scale and found that the knot shown below retained about 90% of the strength of the weaker line.

This is probably what i'm going to be using from now on for joining a mono leader to a braid mainline.





I'm not sure if this is the best but let's see how it does.

Bops

Thanks KenL
Where did you see me trying to cast?? I've done exactly what you stated-busted by terminal tackle and knocked my liner out of the guide-all in broad daylight...

I join my lines using the blood knot, has worked well so far on both braid and mono.

Experts say it may not be the best knot to tie as they say it reduces the line strength by 40%.

Bops ure right -- this is the best knot I have used it for tying lines of - same diameter and same material - different diameters /same material and same/different diameters and different material -- and it is the best -- Bobster I too used the blood knots ... but trust me this ones much better !!

40 V/S 90 it has got to be...

Wise ass

You pointed to the obvious mate (not the wise ass bit)...

Anyway, will learn to tie this one, does it in anyway come in the way of casting freddy? Let's say if you are joining main line to the shock leader with part of the shocker on the spool while casting?

No Bob it does not ,,, just make sure you clip the ends close .. what i do is put some waterproof glue like stickfast which is flexible when dry .. Max what would happen would be you would get a slight sound when it passes through the guides -- but no backlashes or anything of that sort

Thanks Fred/Bops, will try this knot.

Just a quickie on the rubbing leaders. If you're using a 20lb braid mainline and a 60lb mono leader, when you tie the double uni knot, use 5 turns on the mono and 8 - 10 on the braid.
For preference, I actually use fireline rather than a traditional braid - simply because it's stiffer and less inlined to generating unseen wind knots at night.

I'm currently in Goa and experimenting with a few things. If they're successful, I'l post up detals.

The only problem using the double uni knot like this is that the pressure of the line against each other is too direct and will be inclined to cut into each other.

Knotty problems guys ?
I never have any

Hi guys,

When joining Braid to Mono leader I found this one to hold with out fail . Since the the taper ends up facing out ward , it shoots well through the giudes. A drop of glue like Fred said is welcome.

THe best knot ofcourse is the MID Knot if you can tie it well. It takes some time to tie but is the best since it has no knot on it . The japs use it for GT popping and casts like a dream. I get one good knot that holds every three tries. However on a regular basis I tie the Hawain Jigging Knot( the Former Kont above) due to its simplicity and ease to tie on a rocking boat.




URL=http://imageshack.us][/URL]
URL=http://imageshack.us][/URL]

The yellow is the braid and white the Mono leader

Tight Lines Jeen

Hey
I never seem to use a shock leader. I just go in commando. I normally use PowerPro 40BS or Platypus 25BS. Had my share of break offs but then...

Can I use the mono as a shock leader for the braid? will it really be that much better?

Hi M.Ken

Well Since you guys are going all technical ... . The mono leader is kind of necessary as the braid has practically no stretch and also braid nicks very easly on the rocks and coral. THe stretch on the mono also prevents cut off when a big fish strikes buy absorbing the shock.
However with all that tackle and fail proof knots and HI tech equipment you still need to find the fish. Just whats happening to me. When you are prepared most the fish take a holiday.


Tight Lines
Jeen

Yup Jeen,

It always happens. when you are most ready the fish are on holiday.

I have a theory about this. Notice how beginners seem to have all the luck, what we call "beginner's luck". Since you can only have this kind of luck once I have been searching for a way to beat it. And I seem to have found it.

After carefuly watching a lot of beginners and getting absolutely disgusted with their ability to catch fish I noticed something very peculiar. They all made bad casts and dispite this hook onto great fish. This got me thinking... Is it beginner's luck really or was some other mysterious power at play. Then it struck me. It was the "BAD CAST!!!". And so the theory was born - THE BAD CAST THEORY.

Make a bad cast and your chances of catching fish go up by x. Where x is determined by the quality of the cast and by the amount of bile that rises. Of course, you can't fool the theory by deliberately making bad cast.

Please send me all data you record. This is an ongoing experiment.

All I make are bad casts...the times i caught a fish, the current musta carried the bait away -Will record and post-How not to cast
Best
Axx the badcasting newbie

This bad cast theory is a howler guy's.
Fortunately i haven't had to think up such theories till date.

Posted this theory as a seperate thread. Let's see how true it is and how many fibbers it catches.

It's got one already.

In my humble opinion the best leader knots are the "Mahin" knot, (used the world over for big game) and the double grinner (stronger than blood knot as no strangultion of line) I use Mahin for braid - mono & Grinner for mono - mono. the mahin forms a knot wich is tiny and the tag-ends both face towards the reel (helps long casting).