Where to get leader making material – Thinnest and lightest

The post on bite offs reminded me that I was going to find some leader material to make up some thin light leaders. A fishing buddy who sometimes fishes with us, Like to use a leader to prevent the loss of expensive Jerk baits and jig and pigs while bass fishing. Someplace he found some leaders many years ago that were really thin and flexible. The had a simple barrel swivel on one end and a small crosslock snap on the other end. He cant find then anyplace anymore. Since I started making heavy fluro leaders last year for BIG pike fishing I told him Id find some material and make him some since I had the crimping tool. Anyone know who makes a Thin / Light leaders material. I’ve done a little looking online but cant seem to locate the material I am looking for. I believe it was a wire leader not a coated wire.

I found some 15lb wire leader at Fleet Farm last year and tied/crimped a short length straight onto some jigs.

http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/american-fishing-wire-surfstrand-steel-leader-wire/0000000028364?bc=10417|10492|10497#table-picker

blank wrote:

I found some 15lb wire leader at Fleet Farm last year and tied/crimped a short length straight onto some jigs.

http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/american-fishing-wire-surfstrand-steel-leader-wire/0000000028364?bc=10417|10492|10497#table-picker

Now that funny. That was just the material I just found online. They have it in 13Lb and 20 Lb.

How thin and flexible was it?

Their site says to use a size 0 single barrel crimp – Did you say you were able to Tie it?

It’s very thin and pretty flexible. I used the crimps, don’t know what size, but they’re tiny. I have not tried to tie it yet.

I would just use 10 to 20 pound Seaguar blue label and call it a day

Or if you insist on wire, look up a product called toothy critter.

You can even tie it in a knot instead of crimping if you’d like.

B-man wrote:

I would just use 10 to 20 pound Seaguar blue label and call it a day

Or if you insist on wire, look up a product called toothy critter.

You can even tie it in a knot instead of crimping if you’d like.

Some of the places I am looking to use these leaders the Pike would slice thru Seaguar blue label in 20lb. test like a hot knife through soft butter. I do use the Suaguar in 150lb. test to tie my large pike leaders.

I spent three weekends this past May up north casting jerkbaits for shallow walleyes/pike/smallies. Caught a ton of pike, biggest was 41″, at least a half dozen mid to upper 30 inchers and dozens and dozens of smaller ones. Used a rod spooled with 20 pound Sunline sniper flouro and wasn’t bit off once. The 41″ had the bait chocked way back in his throat with the line running through his teeth, not even a nick on the line. I’ve been using sniper for cranks & jerkbaits for a few years and probably have caught hundreds of pike. I don’t recall ever getting bit off. Caught a 43″ pike on Rainy last year with the same set up, no problem. It might not be 100% pike proof but it certainly is highly “pike resistant”. I do check for nicks routinely and re-tie if needed. I would think using a steel leader on a jerk bait would mess with the action big time.

That’s crazy you have gotten away with 20 Lb. Fluro on that many large pike. I may have to check out the Sunline Sniper. I guess it mostly depends on where the hook ends up. I would never use a leader on a Jerk bait but one of the guys who fishes with us from time to time does. He hates to lose a costly jerkbaits or even a jig and pig.

I’ll see if I can find it but the saltwater guys that fish for barracuda use some really light wires. I had some laying around but can’t find it.

They sold it at most of the shops down in the Keys, including Sportsmans in Islamorada so I assume it’s easy to find. The lighter stuff you could tie.

Ya that’s crazy to me too. 20 pound fluro doesn’t seem nearly durable enough for teeth. I have never heard of that kind though so perhaps he speaks of something I need to look into. In the mean time, I refuse to use any of my megabass jerk baits if there’s pike around. Simply won’t do it. I’ve been snipped off twice this year but luckily they were only plastic tubes on a jig head. My old man got trimmed four times that same day and he lost two crank baits, a chatterbait, and a topwater lol

On the rare occasion I’m specifically targeting big pike with a bucktail or other muskie/pike bait I’ll use a “real” flouro muskie/pike leader. I don’t think pike are that picky when it comes to biting something with a leader on it. Most of my fishing is on Canadian shield type lakes with lots of pike and if I’m targeting other species that are a little more discriminating or if I’m using something like a jerkbait that is action sensitive then I just use the 20 pound sniper. I supposed I might get bit off someday but like you said I’ve gotten away with it for years. I also have had good luck using 10 pound sniper if I’m jigging (or other finesse presentations) for walleyes in pike infested waters. I have been bittern off with 10 pound but it still quite rare. Sniper isn’t the cheapest line out there but has worked well for me.

gim wrote:

Ya that’s crazy to me too. 20 pound fluro doesn’t seem nearly durable enough for teeth. I have never heard of that kind though so perhaps he speaks of something I need to look into. In the mean time, I refuse to use any of my megabass jerk baits if there’s pike around. Simply won’t do it. I’ve been snipped off twice this year but luckily they were only plastic tubes on a jig head. My old man got trimmed four times that same day and he lost two crank baits, a chatterbait, and a topwater lol

Can’t say I blame you with a $25 dollar jerkbait.

We’ve used the AFW Surflon Micro Supreme 13 lb test product up in Canada on Lake St Joseph.
On that lake it hasn’t deterred walleyes from biting a bit. My partner used it for the first time a few years ago and I thought he would see a drop in the number of walleye bites but it didn’t slow him down at all. I tried it and had similar success and it does prevent pike bite offs.
It can be tied it you’re careful. I used a simple clinched knot with just 3-4 turns on jig and swivel.

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Be sure to get the AFW 7×7 strand product. The regular can’t be tied as easliy.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/rio-powerflex-wire-bite-tippet?lcab.rdr=TRUE

Not the cheapest stuff, but it is thin and light. I use it to make pike leaders when I’m fly fishing, so it’s pretty easy to throw.

SR

Sounds like the AFW 7×7 is exactly what I’m looking for. Now I have to decide if I want to order it in 13lb. or go for the little more 20Lb. They both use the same size crimp and I’d use the same snap and swivel on either of them – May have to just get a small spool of each lb. test

Titanium wire. It can be tied supposedly, but I just put a loop in it with a barrel crimp and bring the tag around and through again for extra security. I’ll use it in salt for wahoo. It’s thin and quite flexible.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>B-man wrote:</div>
I would just use 10 to 20 pound Seaguar blue label and call it a day

Or if you insist on wire, look up a product called toothy critter.

You can even tie it in a knot instead of crimping if you’d like.

Some of the places I am looking to use these leaders the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Pike would slice thru Seaguar blue label in 20lb. test like a hot knife through soft butter. I do use the Suaguar in 150lb. test to tie my large <em class=”ido-tag-em”>pike leaders.

I guess all of the incidental pike I catch don’t have teeth

It works, or I wouldn’t have recommended it.

Obviously if you’re targeting trophy pike you’d want some heavy stuff for insurance. But if you want a stealthier presentation that doesn’t affect action, 10-20# Blue Label is the ticket.

Just like bass-n-eyes with the stuff he likes, I couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve been bitten off with it.

Check it after every pike and re-tie when it’s getting chewed up.

Works great on rattle reels and tip ups in the winter too, when you never know what’s going to hit.

A small Pike will cut you off quicker than a large one, teeth are way closer together. DK.

Sunline Sniper is good stuff and all I use for leader material when bass and walleye fishing (7lb to 16lb depending on application). Have caught tons of pike and Muskies on it incidentally. Bite offs happen but even with these lighter pound tests are generally few and far between. The two incidental pike pictured were caught on 10lb test. Using 20lb or above should provide even more assurance. If you can’t get comfortable with the thought of any bite offs, however infrequent, then stick with wire.

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When you tie into a decent sized one AND it doesn’t trim you off AND it doesn’t ruin your lure, then its tolerable. A big one, heck, even a decent sized one, are not abundant though. I fish a sizable portion of central MN lakes and rivers and the small, aggressive, annoying ones are the norm – not the ones Brian is holding.

catmando wrote:

A small Pike will cut you off quicker than a large one, teeth are way closer together. DK.

Yep. These small ones are the most common ones we encounter. Rare to run into a decent sized pike these days. We have nicknamed them small snot rockets.

B man / Brian / bass n eye

I normally fish a fluorocarbon leader in 12 lb. test ( seaguar Invizx ) I may have to up the lb. test size to 20 and see if that cuts down on the cutoffs. May have to give the blue label or sniper a try to see if they hold up better than the invizx.

I use 20 # blue label and it does pretty well. Could always try 25-30 or the tieable wire. Good luck!

fishthumper wrote:

B man / Brian / <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass n eye

I normally fish a fluorocarbon leader in 12 lb. test ( seaguar Invizx ) I may have to up the lb. test size to 20 and see if that cuts down on the cutoffs. May have to give the blue label or sniper a try to see if they hold up better than the invizx.

Yep, that’s “line.”

There is a night and day difference between actual leader material and line.

B-man wrote:

Yep, that’s “line.”

There is a night and day difference between leader and line.

That good Info. I never thought about that. I have always tied my leaders to the braid using normal Fluro line I have around. I now need to purchase some designed for leaders. I hope the cost of the leader fluro in the 20 lb. size is not to expensive. Is the Sunline sniper mentioned also a leader material or is that a mainline?

Flourocarbon leader line is normally more expensive, but worth it if you aren’t loosing tackle.

My experience with walleye setups used in pike water is that for the most part a 10 lb fluoro leader doesn’t do too terribly much to fend off pike bite offs. 12 is better than 10, and 15 gives pretty good protection.

I’ve gone to using 10 lb fluoro leaders on most walleye jigging rods, and 15 on more reaction type baits like rippin raps. That seems to give pretty good protection for the most part using M to Ml rods. Of course you’ll sometimes still catch a pike on a 4lb panfish line if they get hooked right and you get lucky, but they can also slice it like it isn’t there too.

I use 150 lb, tied and crimped Seaguar Blue Label leaders that I make when musky fishing.

Tucker