question on leaders for new member

[bigjohntate]

Hello all. Great board.I'm Jay from south GA and I have a question on leaders please. I'm a bit new to surf fishing, learning alot in the past few months thanks to sites like this one. I know boatloads on boxing and embalming the dead, but not much on surf fishing. Took a bass rod with 20# fireline last year to Destin ,FL, caught 3 pompano, 7 ladyfish and 20 whiting with a catfish hook, a wire leader and dead shrimp, go figure. Anyway, I've read about flourocarbon leaders and here's my question. I know pomps are sensative to sight. they tell me no wire leaders. What is the difference, or rather advantages and disadvantages with Flouro carbon and wire(steel) leaders?? Other than certain fish picky on biting a wire leader? If so, which are and which arent? I had good luck with the wire leader,then again, those could have been 3 dumb pompano's..Any help is GREATLY appreciated..All the best

Jay

[yogai]

Wire leader is not invisible. Fluoro is

Wire leader kinks. fluoro doesn't

wire leader can't tie knots easily. fluoro can

Fluoro is for pompano. wire isn't

Those were really stupid pompano

[bigjohntate]

Thanks for stating the obvious, wasnt really my question. You know what though, stupid pompano taste very similar to smart ones...odd

J

[AtlantaKing]

Basically, I would stick with a good brand monofilament for most of my leader uses (I actually use Berkely Big Game line for my 30, 40, and 50 lb leader sizes and Ande Leader material for 60 and 80lb) and stay away from the Flurocarbon or wire unless conditions necessitates it. The reason I do that is twofold: one, it is a lot cheaper tying lots of rigs on regular mono and two, I can concentrate on the fishing more than if I had to be tying rigs out of expensive leader out on the water (I try to tie the rigs at home). However, there are conditions that warrant the use of wire or FC. If there are chompers (bluefish, big spanish, king macks, or barracuda) around, I have to use wire to prevent cutoffs. However, I use only as much wire as needed. If there are sharp-eyed fish around, or I need the added abrasion resistence, I'll go with FC. Those are the general rules of thumb I go by. But, when the fish are chewing the paint off the side of the boat or charging the beach in a race into your cooler, all bets are off :eek: :D If it looks stupid, but it works, then it's not stupid.

The more important thing is to present the bait to where the fish are (I think you have this figured out already from your catch) The finest gear won't catch fish that arent' there.

[bigjohntate]

Thanks for the replies guys...Those, except one were VERY informative.


Jay