Fluorocarbon pike traces

[philocalist]

One quick thing to add. In my experience perch do shy away from wire traces. At least they do with light lures like jigs.

 

I well remember Leon and I teaching a youngster to use jigs for perch at Wingham. We caught perch at first on wire, then takes stopped and we could see the perch follow but not hit. A change to a nylon trace immediately saw them start taking again.

 

And all this with fish that had almost certainly never seen a lure before!

 

Under these circumstances, I've always wondered: is it the sight of the wire that puts off perch, or is the wire affecting the action of the (typically small) lure in a detrimental way? I've always thought that most strikes at a lure tend to be an instinctive reaction, rather than a considered decision by a fish, in which case a wire trace ( which is fairly unobtrusive anyway) is likely not going to affect the strike rate?

Surely the logic would apply that if a perch etc is going to be wary of a wire trace, it would also be wary of a brightly coloured lump of rattling plastic, no?

[Dales]

Most probably because the fluoro trace is still on the outside of its toothy mouth. Why haven't you commented on that Dales ? i think its a big bloody point worth thinking more about.

Because I agree most may well be and I agree if you use Fluro you will have a bite off at some point. But that does not mean that wire is the only way to go as we have an appaling record of using wire in this country. When we get our own house in order which will never happen then preach to the world they are wrong and they should use wire.

[philocalist]

So far I'm not convinced that hard mono/FC lines are unsuitable for pike angling based on my tope fishing experiences with dead baits!

 

What sort of BS are we talking about here though? 50lbs? 100lbs? 150lbs??? ... at those sort of breaking strains / diameters I can see no benefit in using them over a wire trace ... they're visible, not particularly flexible and very awkward to work with easily, no?

[Steve Burke]

Under these circumstances, I've always wondered: is it the sight of the wire that puts off perch, or is the wire affecting the action of the (typically small) lure in a detrimental way? I've always thought that most strikes at a lure tend to be an instinctive reaction, rather than a considered decision by a fish, in which case a wire trace ( which is fairly unobtrusive anyway) is likely not going to affect the strike rate?

Surely the logic would apply that if a perch etc is going to be wary of a wire trace, it would also be wary of a brightly coloured lump of rattling plastic, no?

 

A good point. I don't know for sure, but have always assumed it's because it affects the action. It doesn't appear to be a problem with larger lures or those that are fished faster.

[Worms]

What sort of BS are we talking about here though? 50lbs? 100lbs? 150lbs??? ... at those sort of breaking strains / diameters I can see no benefit in using them over a wire trace ... they're visible, not particularly flexible and very awkward to work with easily, no?

With tope a long trace of about 8-9' is used mainly because of the requirement for a 'rubbing' leader that is longer than the longest fish you expect to catch.... One flick of the tail will see your mainline braid or mono cut like cotton...., and I use 250lb mono.Obviously if I was pike fishing I wouldn't use such a long leader and would probably use no more than 12", I would also use a lighter mono say 120lb such as I use for Spurdog. Some of the modern, purpose made leaders are more flexible, more kink resistant and no problem as regards handling if you use the correct tools. I use a "Tracemate" on tope traces and others but I use crimps on shark fly rubbing leaders. The hooks can be left to pivot allowing bait 'action' by not sliding the knot fully home. I can knot a 250lb trace as quickly as I can knot any other mono!

Edited April 5, 2013 by Worms

[Anderoo]

On the drop-shotting question, and assuming you're still mainly after perch, I would say you simply have to accept that you need to use flourocarbon in pretty light BS, and that the odd pike will bite you off. You can add wire to the rig, but I doubt very much you'll catch any perch. When drop-shotting, fish have all the time in the world to inspect your lure, it's not a snap decision as it whizzes past. It has to be done with flouro.

 

I've seen enough evidence now that with sight feeders like perch, zander and trout, the less visible the leader, the more you catch. I haven't noticed the same thing with pike, at least not nearly to the same extent. If I used wire all the time simply because there's a chance a pike might pick up my lure, I would then be making compromises in every direction - I'd catch far fewer perch/zander/trout because I'd be using wire over flouro, and I'd be catching far fewer pike than if I was fishing for them effectively with more suitable lures and tackle, and in more suitable areas. I'm not prepared to do that.

[Worms]

.I was just giving it a bit more thought.

.

 

I fish for these sometimes...using an 18lb F/C hooklength. That mouth opens WIDE and they can hit the bait like a train...and the F/C is dragging along the bottom for half an hour at a time on the drift, very abrasion resistant stuff!

[Andy_1984]

They don't seem like a knife edge tooth though ?

[Anderoo]

Zander have plenty of big and sharp teeth too, but they don't damage flourocarbon. Pike's teeth are different, lots of rows of small teeth. It's this difference that means flouro is fine for zander but not for pike. I imagine it applies equally to other similar species too.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2013 by Anderoo

[Worms]

Zander have plenty of big and sharp teeth too, but they don't damage flourocarbon. Pike's teeth are different, lots of rows of small teeth. It's this difference that means flouro is fine for zander but not for pike. I imagine it applies equally to other similar species too.

I suppose you could compare conger teeth to be more like pike, lots of small teeth that can rub away at a leader. Never tried F/C for conger, I use heavy mono.