Effective Leadership by Lee Brake
As someone who works in the tackle industry I'm regularly asked questions about choosing the right leader material. There are just so many different brands, materials and variations out there and it really can leave anglers faced with a case of trial and error, which, let's face it, is expensive and frustrating.
I first started thinking about the attributes of leader materials when I was starting out as a young journalist doing a feature on the charter vessel Elizabeth EII. Several anglers and I were fishing from the back deck of the ship and the trout were well and truly on the chew. The only problem was they kept cutting our paternoster rigs to shreds. We put our heads together and realized that the bulk spool of 70lb Trilene fishing line wasn't hard enough to cope with the abrasive qualities of the coral bottom and trout dentures. Not to be defeated, we dug through some tackle bags and found a spool of pink leader line that had a harder outer core.
Everyone was using braid of various poundages and everyone had the same results - the leader pulled straight through the joining knot at the first hint of pressure. In my case it was the old and trusted Albright knot that slipped clean through, leaving a small curled section of braid and a bemused fisherman. We re-rigged and used towels to hold the line as we lent on the knots with the aim of setting them tightly, and still they pulled through once the fish became involved. It was around that time that we realised that the hard outer core was preventing the braid from setting into the leader. We solved the issue by using a double knot (Spider Hitch or a Bimini twist) and attaching a swivel. The leader then tied to the other side of the swivel proved to be safe and the fishing improved considerably!
This experience taught me a valuable lesson regarding super hard leaders and also the unsuitable nature of normal mono line for use as leaders in most cases. (As a side note however, I have recently found that standard Schneider line will do the job of a substitute leader, but should only be a fall back option in an emergency.) The following are several questions that I get asked regularly about leaders and I hope my answers shed some light on a frustrating topic.
Q: Why can't I just use wire leaders? Surely if I keep getting busted off I should go for the heavy wire?
A: No, wire is a huge liability when bait fishing. It not only reduces the presentation of a bait and the ability of the angler to feel activity. It can also vibrate in the water to the extent where fish won't come near your bait. On top of this, lures rigged with wire leader are prone to 'blow outs' at much lower speeds than those with
