TackleTour

hello everyone i need some help. So I have been fishing for pike all my life but I have gotten more into smallmouth fishing now. I use wire leader for pike but I am curious for smallmouth do you use a mono leader or straight braid? I will be using tubes, jigs, and jerkbaits but Im afraid that hungry pike will cut my line and ill lose a ton of baits. if anyone has experience with this can u please help me out. If you do indeed use a leader what type, how long, and what test do you use?

Where I live in Minnesota, I have to be concerned about Pike. Mostly hammer handles. But even those can slice 8 pound mono/flouro before you know what happened. Some lakes are worse than others.

While Walleye fishing, its just part of the game. I refuse to run wire because you're not going to catch Walleye with wire. You're gonna lose jigs and rigs to Pike. We call it a "drive-by". Just a fact of life.

Smallmouth aren't as big of a concern. I'm often using Largemouth gear here and frequently run 20 or 30 pound braid. I'll tie direct more times than not in that case. I'll also run 6' of 15 pound flouro as a leader from time to time. That weight of flouro can hold up to a hammer handle more times than not. In either scenario, I keep an eye on the line. Look for frays in the superline. Run that flouro thru my lips to feel for nicks and cuts. If I feel any little thing in that line, I retie. A 30" Pike can make quick work of that flouro, especially if they huff your bait way down, but they aren't all that common. By and large the Pike that really cut your line are those smaller Pike up to 20" that thrash around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Mattman wrote:Where I live in Minnesota, I have to be concerned about Pike. Mostly hammer handles. But even those can slice 8 pound mono/flouro before you know what happened. Some lakes are worse than others.

While Walleye fishing, its just part of the game. I refuse to run wire because you're not going to catch Walleye with wire. You're gonna lose jigs and rigs to Pike. We call it a "drive-by". Just a fact of life.

Smallmouth aren't as big of a concern. I'm often using Largemouth gear here and frequently run 20 or 30 pound braid. I'll tie direct more times than not in that case. I'll also run 6' of 15 pound flouro as a leader from time to time. That weight of flouro can hold up to a hammer handle more times than not. In either scenario, I keep an eye on the line. Look for frays in the superline. Run that flouro thru my lips to feel for nicks and cuts. If I feel any little thing in that line, I retie. A 30" Pike can make quick work of that flouro, especially if they huff your bait way down, but they aren't all that common. By and large the Pike that really cut your line are those smaller Pike up to 20" that thrash around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Great! Thank you! I've been going to Red Lake in Canada every year for the past 10 years always for pike and walleye but never smallmouth until last year I coughs a few on a spinnerbait while going for pike and the fight was unreal! So this year I am going to target smallmouth more! I was thinking about doing 20-30lb straight braid but I didn't know if they would see the line and that would lessen the chance of a strike. The water is not super clear tho so I'm thinking straight braid would be fine. Just wanted some advice from some experienced smallie anglers thanks for the help!

I like the 12" 30lb xps titanium leaders. They don't seem to bother the smaller the smallmouth unless they are very line shy.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-X ... 070556354/

I haven't tried these yet, but they look like a good option.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/VMC-Tita ... lsrc=aw.ds

DaveJ

IlliniDawg01 wrote:I like the 12" 30lb xps titanium leaders. They don't seem to bother the smaller the smallmouth unless they are very line shy.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-X ... 070556354/

I haven't tried these yet, but they look like a good option.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/VMC-Tita ... lsrc=aw.ds

DaveJ

ok I was thinking about using a titanium leader for cranks, jigs, and tubes. but I know the leader wont work well with the jerkbait since it will weigh it down so I guess ill either do straight braid for that or use a mono leader. thanks for the links and the help I appreciate it!

Yeah, for suspending jerk baits you really can't use a metal leader.

DaveJ

IlliniDawg01 wrote:Yeah, for suspending jerk baits you really can't use a metal leader.

DaveJ

yeah guess ill just have to use some cheaper jerkbaits I don't mind losing lol

I use the rc stx when i am up north and leave my duo and lucky craft in the box... They work good when i dont want to hand out premium baits to the pike kids left and right likes its Halloween.

The Skinny On Lake St. Clair... Lake St. Clair boasts millions of smallmouth and largemouth bass that grow to an average of 2 lbs.. This large population of North Americas favourite game fish thrives by no accident or coincidence. The 'lake' flushes itself into Lake Erie an average of every seven days, taking as little as 2 days or as long as 30 days to push the flow from the St. Clair River...https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/st_clair.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/st_clair.html

angry john wrote:I use the rc stx when i am up north and leave my duo and lucky craft in the box... They work good when i dont want to hand out premium baits to the pike kids left and right likes its Halloween.

great! ill check those out I have a few rick clunn jerkbaits so I was gonna use those.

Knot2Kinky guys. It's phenomenal. And I catch plenty of walleye on Rogues, ripping them over weedbeds in front of creek mouths on the French River in Northern Ontario. I never have a Megabass lure tied on without it if Pike are around. Get the 6 or 8lb, you'll barely see it.

BucketHunter wrote:Knot2Kinky guys. It's phenomenal. And I catch plenty of walleye on Rogues, ripping them over weedbeds in front of creek mouths on the French River in Northern Ontario. I never have a Megabass lure tied on without it if Pike are around. Get the 6 or 8lb, you'll barely see it.

never heard of that stuff but it looks amazing!!!! and has 5 out of 5 star ratings all over. thanks you are a life saver!!!

BucketHunter wrote:Knot2Kinky guys. It's phenomenal. And I catch plenty of walleye on Rogues, ripping them over weedbeds in front of creek mouths on the French River in Northern Ontario. I never have a Megabass lure tied on without it if Pike are around. Get the 6 or 8lb, you'll barely see it.

I am def gonna buy some. do you have any tips on how to rig it up and any particular knots to use that seem to be more effective? I have tied lines together using the Albright knot, will that work with this wire? and they say to use the perfection knot is that the best?

Yep use the recommended knots.

I use the knot 2 kinky stuff also when Im up north. I really like it for pitching jigs into reeds etc, I have caught some large pike on bass gear with no fear of cut offs or losing my jigs with this stuff. I dont do anything fancy with the knots really just treat it like thick flouro and its treated me well. I use a uni to uni for connections