Hello, it's me again, wot's a 'shock leader' but?

[HERUTILUS]

Good Evening Gang,

 

Another simple question that the many experts out there will have no problem answering. "What's a shock leader relevant to the line end/terminal tackle, how does one tie it & what bits & pieces does one use in so doing?" Also, what application(s) is it best used for?

 

Please advise.

 

Mr H

[Malters]

A shockleader is a heavy length of line tied to the end of your main line (google 'improved allbright knot') for when you need to cast heavy weights a long way. Mostly used in sea fishing for beach casting, especially the pendulum cast. however, these days it is also used in long range carping, when using a method feeder, or when casting very heavy leads on the big barbel rivers such as the trent.

The idea is that you wind on enough shock leader to go around the reel at least four times plus the length of the rod and the drop down for the cast (distance between lead and rod tip when getting ready to cast). This ensures that during the cast the initial 'shock' on the line, caused by the stress of suddenly coming under huge tension during a powerfull cast, is absorbed entirely by this heavy line and therefore doesn't snap your comparatively weak mainline. If you tried to power cast a heavy method feeder or grip lead on your normal strength mainline it would snap during the cast.

The strength of shock leader used for beach casting and pendulum casting should be 10lbs for every ounce of lead used plus an extra 10lbs. Indeed I have snapped a 30lb mainline when pendulum casting 5oz so a shockleader is a must for distance fishing.

There are many commercially available shockleaders, I can recommend greased weasel (drennan i think) as a good one, however any bulk spool of high strength line will do, there are also tapered shockleaders available designed to give a much smaller join knot.

In a coarse fishing sense I wouldn't use a shockleader for anything under 4oz really, (and then it would be much lighter than the sea fishing rule above) unless you are using a very light mainline, anything over 10lbs and you won't require a shockleader untill you are casting 4oz really, and only then when trying to really blast it.

So a shockleader is only required when casting long distances, or casting very heavy weights (such as a spod or method feeder) a reasonable distance.

Hope that helps.

Edited January 22, 2011 by Malters

[HERUTILUS]

A shockleader is a heavy length of line tied to the end of your main line (google 'improved allbright knot') for when you need to cast heavy weights a long way. Mostly used in sea fishing for beach casting, especially the pendulum cast. however, these days it is also used in long range carping, when using a method feeder, or when casting very heavy leads on the big barbel rivers such as the trent.

The idea is that you wind on enough shock leader to go around the reel at least four times plus the length of the rod and the drop down for the cast (distance between lead and rod tip when getting ready to cast). This ensures that during the cast the initial 'shock' on the line, caused by the stress of suddenly coming under huge tension during a powerfull cast, is absorbed entirely by this heavy line and therefore doesn't snap your comparatively weak mainline. If you tried to power cast a heavy method feeder or grip lead on your normal strength mainline it would snap during the cast.

The strength of shock leader used for beach casting and pendulum casting should be 10lbs for every ounce of lead used plus an extra 10lbs. Indeed I have snapped a 30lb mainline when pendulum casting 5oz so a shockleader is a must for distance fishing.

There are many commercially available shockleaders, I can recommend greased weasel (drennan i think) as a good one, however any bulk spool of high strength line will do, there are also tapered shockleaders available designed to give a much smaller join knot.

In a coarse fishing sense I wouldn't use a shockleader for anything under 4oz really, (and then it would be much lighter than the sea fishing rule above) unless you are using a very light mainline, anything over 10lbs and you won't require a shockleader untill you are casting 4oz really, and only then when trying to really blast it.

So a shockleader is only required when casting long distances, or casting very heavy weights (such as a spod or method feeder) a reasonable distance.

Hope that helps.

 

Dear Mr Malters [One assumes that you are a "Mr"?]

 

Thank you for the informative reply, much appreciated greatly. In terms of shock leaders, what started it all off was a coarse fishing session I had last summer. Now, if you've been reading the recent posts you might have noticed that I was also asking the experts what a 'bolt rig' was? Well, that particular question AND my question re. shock leaders stemmed from the same session. A lovely evening it was, I was catchng one or two, but on the next peg down were a couple of blokes who never stopped talking all night. On & on they went, & they talked about every damn thing, plus the fact thay were on & off their mobile phones, a conjoined pain in the buttocks they really were!!! Well, they were going on about what sort of rigs each were using & I was listening to every word over this [thankfully] bloody great bush which was in full leaf! One guy said to another, "Are you using a bolt rig?" to which the other replied "Yes, & I've got a shock leader on anall".

 

Now, the pond where we all all fishing isn't bad at all, but the only thing over 10lb in weight you're going to pull out is one of the dustbins full of net cleaning liquid, or maybe 300 gudgeon which are present in the pond in great numbers!

 

But, listening to the two of them going on, I thought to myself "I'm not too sure what a 'bolt rig' & a 'shock leader' is so I'll have to ask around, and so I have.

 

Like I said, thank you for the info.

 

Regards,

 

Mr H.