Snag leader for piking - advice please

[lubemonkey]

Choosing braid by diameter rather than breaking strain is definately the way to go.90% o8f the people Ive met who have problems with braid do so because they are still selecting by breaking strain and therefore using ultra thin lines.

 

Lube,Zebras are a bitch! Fished a few waters here and abroad where they can be a problem.Can I offer a solution? well yes and no! In your case I think yes.

 

If your fishing sessions for carp Ive come to the conclusion that the main problem is that the line has been cast out over open mussels but when you retrieve the mussels have now closed.I believe this is because they are open at night but closed by day.Ive no biological proof of this just that it seems to be first thing in the morning that you have the problem.To further back this when fishing the near hot water outlet areas on the Twente cannal in Holland (the bottom is quite soft) Ive actually wound in to find mussels (sometimes still attached to their rocks!) on the line.

 

When fishing over very sharp/mussel covered bars on big pits I eventually started using Kevlar bow string material.Not cheap but its extremely abbrassion resistant without being stiff luike the hard monos. This (if your ledgering your baits) would definately help solve your problem. That said why not simply just not ledger ie float paternoster the baits? Good presentation and control and no problem with the mussels?

 

The kevlar material certainly sounds "bulletproof"!! Will take a look at that Budgie - thanks.

 

The last bit about float paternostering misses the point though. I am float paternostering. My mussel problem is purely from those hanging off the submerged branches in the margins, not those on the lake bed.

[chevin]

Hi mate glad to see you are still keeping people on their toes!

 

Zebra mussels are a new curse to these isles that you would not have encountered before you left. They grow in huge bunches like their salt water cousins on rocks, smallish stones even, lumps of wood anything that is stable and in the water for long enough. I have even seen them covering a rod and reel that couldn't have been in the water all that long. They certainly don't mind attaching themselves to wood in the water. They are blocking inlet and outlet pipes for power stations and at reservoirs and costing hundreds of thousands of pounds all over the northern hemisphere now.

 

Apart from their ability to cut line like a pair of scissors a further problem is that being filter feeders they are making rivers run clear for 99% of the time and lakes almost 100% thereby making or very hard fishing. They are very small but certainly I have seen them larger than any pea I could grow!

 

The really strong braid is quite normal for lure fishing for pike nowadays as well. As someone mentioned one of the reasons being that you can pull some enormous snags in with it or if the snag is immovable then the lures hooks bend

 

Hi Wav, good to see you here. Yes, I see that things have changed in regards to line for pike fishing these days. But as I say, I was astonished and reasonably so at the time. As you know I am no stranger to pike fishing and accounted for a hell of a lot of them to well in excess of 20lbs when I lived in the UK but on very different tackle to what is used these days.

 

I do use braid here in Oz as you know but rather than seeing it as the only line to use, along with many others I see it as an option. In some situations it is fantastic, in others mono is far superior. However, I would never use braid without a mono leader but of course many of our fish have rough skins and other facilities to cut through line. I forget what they are called, but they are those blades close to the tail and they will cut through light mono let alone braid. In some circumstances the lack of elasticity in braid is a God send, however, on some occasions, when you have a big hard fighting fish under your rod tip it is good to have a bit of elasticity which the mono trace gives you. However, I guess that no line at all would have enabled us to beat those two fish we hooked when we were fishing together, I suppose that a fish needs to know it is hooked before it can be beaten. At least we were using line that enabled us to just pull for a break and allow them to go on their own sweet way.

Edited October 27, 2009 by chevin

[Dick Dastardly]

I forget what they are called, but they are those blades close to the tail and they will cut through light mono let alone braid.

 

"Skoots"/"Skutes"?

[Waveney One]

However, I guess that no line at all would have enabled us to beat those two fish we hooked when we were fishing together, I suppose that a fish needs to know it is hooked before it can be beaten. At least we were using line that enabled us to just pull for a break and allow them to go on their own sweet way.

 

They probably didn't know tyhey were hooked but we certainly knew they were attached! Great memories mate.

[chevin]

"Skoots"/"Skutes"?

 

 

Definitely something like that mate. I do know that if they catch my hand or arm I call them something altogether different.

[Andy Macfarlane]

It's normally 40lb+ 'Amnesia' I use for shock leader material. I still don't think some zebra mussels would make a meal of it that easily. I've dragged Amnesia through some horrible places and it stands up very well.

 

'Greased Weasel' is my alternative when deliberately fishing into mussel beds, uptiding from the shore, wrecks etc. It's a little more difficult to use just because it's so springy but it's very durable stuff.

 

In fact, I have some 40lb black Amnesia on my spod rod setup (which I use for pike fishing by the way), with 15lb Daiwa Tournament mono as my mainline and that's been seriously abused. I used the same shockleader and knot for MONTHS of constant use and only changed it for peace of mind's sake but it was still banking fish to 21lb no problem.

 

I'd still try 40lb Amnesia, even though Den has reservations about it. You can buy a couple of pre-cut leaders for a few quid, rather than buying a spool and see how you get on....and no, the pike don't care a jot that it can be seen easily.

 

....andy....