# Cable or stan wire leader for shark fishing?



## obx.fisher (Jul 20, 2008)

Okay so i've searched and searched, and read through threads and threads about shark fishing and shark rigs(for sharking from the beach). And on every thread, it seems that there's always two sides to the story. For instance, people go with cable and not the Malin piano type of wire because they believe that sharks will kink and pop off in a matter of seconds. On the other hand however, i've read that people prefer the Malin type of wire better than cable because of the sharks not liking all the metal. 

So my question to all of you is, considering i'm using rigs very similar to the pulley rig and rigs from the thread "Shark Rigs 101", what would be the best choice for me to use as the leader connecting the hook to the mono?

What does everyone else use?


I hate to beat this subject again but like i said before, from reading the tons of info that i have read, it seems like there's not really a favored choice between the two.

Thanks


----------



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

IMHO, if you are going to be using a castable rig especially the castable type that requires wrapping or bending you should use 7-strand. I like Hardwire, but only right at the hook. It will kink of twisted, and will break if kinked.

Then there is always weed whacker line. It isn't metal but still usable for sharks.

Of course, you could always try my method, which involves a small bite leader made of 195# Malin and a main rig made of 140# flouro leader material. But this one isn't castable yet.

Evan


----------



## obx.fisher (Jul 20, 2008)

Should have put this in the original post:

**I'll be using this on casting rigs as well as rigs that will be yakked out. 


And thanks evan, i never thought about that. I use coated 7 strand for my king rigs but never thought of it for sharks. I'll have to try that as well.


----------



## Catfish713 (Nov 9, 2006)

personally i prefer cable, i use 400# 47strand steel cable, its still castable, and iv never had a bite off or break off


----------



## fairwxflyer (Jan 25, 2009)

I use all 480# 49 strand. About 6' total length with a 1' bite leader of the same cable. I attach that to 100# power pro casting leader. Everyone does their own thing, and it works differently for others. Some say too much cable is bad, mono is plastic and abrades, weedeater line is no good. I coat my cable with Plastidip spray and electrical tape. had no problems with hookups. I use the weedeater line for pulley rigs and again, no issues. Its the 0.095 size. Thats like 400-500lb mono for a 1/4 of the price. Topshots, shock leaders, whatever, people have their own way of doing it. I only use a casting leader so I dont kill anyone with my weight. Never had a bite off above the cable and never been sandpapered off either.


----------



## seajay (Dec 18, 2005)

Fairflyer,why do you say weed eater line is no good? I can show you several pics of Sharks landed with a Cast able rig using Weed eater line.


----------



## fairwxflyer (Jan 25, 2009)

seajay said:


> Fairflyer,why do you say weed eater line is no good? I can show you several pics of Sharks landed with a Cast able rig using Weed eater line.


I didnt. My post was saying that everyone has their own philosophy on the choice of rig. I merely just gave the reasons why people choose one over another.If you read the post further, you would've seen that I said that I use weedeater line for a pulley rig. And why would I knock cable when I use cable?


----------



## Catfish713 (Nov 9, 2006)

here is my full rig, for a yak presentation

14/0 to 20/0 hook (mustad, or owner) to 10-15 feet of 400# or 450# 47 strand steel cable, to a 500# swivel to 8 feet 600# equivilent weed eater line (yes weed eater line works very well as long as its round, if its square or grooved, its no good, weed eater line is very abrasion resistant, and very low stretch, its good stuff) i have a slider slipped over the weed eater line to clip my weight to so it can slide up and down and the fish doesnt feel the weight when it hits, (the weed eater line is also very easy to use when dragging a fish in, it doesnt cut into your hands like regular mono will) this is attached to another 500# swivel which is tied to 130# mono which goes down to 80#-50# main line.

for a castable rig

its the exact samd set up except the cable is dropped down to 4' and the weed eater line is down to 5' and instead of 130# mono, its dropped to 80# with a 50#-30# main line

I make these rigs myself, and iv never had one break on me, and i rarely need to change out the weed eater line due to abrasion, iv actually had a blacktip try to wrap one around a pier piling luckily he came back out but even tho the weed eater line was scraping up against the piling, it had almost no knicks on it wut soever

my record shark on one of these rigs was a 9' bull shark so trust me when i tell you they work well
but different rigs work for different people, you just gotta figure out what works well for you
good luck bud

Tigh lines and God bless :fishing:


----------



## chris storrs (Aug 25, 2005)

7 or 49 strand or whatever strand ya want, its easier to bite thru than single strand.

heard many stories from guys i trust bout big ones chewing through cable...kinks happen with single strand yea, but theres almost always a compromise when choosing between two things...ive yet to lose one to a kink


----------



## fairwxflyer (Jan 25, 2009)

Sadly, obx, I believe you're post will turn into all the ones you've been reading. Everyone has their own way of making rigs and choosing materials for whatever reasons they have. We all could go on and on about why I like cable and why someone prefers singlestrand and why another prefers weedeater and why another would rather back his pickup to the surf and let out chain with a wench. I'd say experiment with all and find something that you like. It is always a blast though to debate rig material!


----------



## seajay (Dec 18, 2005)

My apologies Fairwxflier. I should use my glasses more.


----------



## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Well I don't shark fish from the surf but I do from boats and it's been my experience and again I am ONLY speaking for myself, single strand wire is the DEVIL. I don't like it, have had way too many problems with it. The rigs I make now are a combo of mono and 49 strand cable. Never had a problem with them. But that's just me.


----------



## fairwxflyer (Jan 25, 2009)

seajay said:


> My apologies Fairwxflier. I should use my glasses more.


No worries. I should've worded it different anyways.


----------



## Catfish713 (Nov 9, 2006)

iv used single strand before and it works great, i just prefer the 47 strand cable personally that doesnt mean its better for everyone, and from my experience iv never had a shark even fray one of my cable leaders so they havent been any problem, one thing i have learned from experience first starting out is that crimped single strand can slip with a big fish, and if you dont know how to twist it right your gonna have the same slippage problem, just make sure you do it right and you should have no worries :beer:
just figure out what your most comfortable with and wut works best for you and you will be rockin and rollin in no time


----------



## Singletjeff (Mar 27, 2005)

I make all my own rigs. I ordered 20/0 Circles online and picked up a 250' spool of nylon coated wire rope at home depot (definitely the cheapest way to get it 250' for $50) I use sleeves large enough to crimp that size wire rope. I can make these short enough to cast or long enough to yak and have plenty of leader for the sharp teeth. People say that the sharks can detect the metal hence the reason I use the nylon coated.


----------



## Red13 (Dec 4, 2019)

*I think I fished up ur rig*



Catfish713 said:


> here is my full rig, for a yak presentation
> 
> 14/0 to 20/0 hook (mustad, or owner) to 10-15 feet of 400# or 450# 47 strand steel cable, to a 500# swivel to 8 feet 600# equivilent weed eater line (yes weed eater line works very well as long as its round, if its square or grooved, its no good, weed eater line is very abrasion resistant, and very low stretch, its good stuff) i have a slider slipped over the weed eater line to clip my weight to so it can slide up and down and the fish doesnt feel the weight when it hits, (the weed eater line is also very easy to use when dragging a fish in, it doesnt cut into your hands like regular mono will) this is attached to another 500# swivel which is tied to 130# mono which goes down to 80#-50# main line.
> 
> ...



If you fish at bob hall in corpus, I fished up ur rig lol


----------

