Northwest Fishing Reports

I have a freshwater fishing book and it says not to use leaders unless you're fishing fishies that have sharp teeth. can someone explain what a leader is?

do you use them for trout fishing? what's the best kind?

leaders......... wow... complicated issue.

A leader is a piece of material that is attached between the lure and the fishing line.

If your spinner fishing, with the lure direcly tied to the lure you do not need a leader (spin or bobber fishing for trout or small toothed fish).

If your fishing for toothy critters such as Pike, Musky's, or sometimes Walleye, you would use a steel (typically braided stainless steel with a plastic coating) to prevent the fish from biting off your line.

I have also seen a movement of anglers that will tie a piece (2-10 feet )of flourocarbon onto a "Fireline" or some other type of filement fishing line. The flourocarbon is manufactured to be the same density as water, and thus the fish cannot see the line.

If your Fly fishing, the leader is attached to the end of youf fly line and can be of various lenghts, diameters, breaking strenghts etc. As you fish with the leader and retie you flies on, the leader will shorten (or if you move to deeper water to fish), you will need to add on tippet material. Tippet material also comes in a variety of breaking strenghts, and diameters. Tippet material (leader material) will allow you to fish with the original leader longer without replacing it. Commercial leaders like this are typically a tapered monofilament line, in the "Old days", it was a series of different breaking strenght lines tied together (thickest at the fly line end).

Have fun

Cheers

I think there's 2 meanings to it, depending on who you ask.

Leader to some, are just the metal type of leaders for the large teeth fish.

But generally, leader means extra (any fishing line) line between some kind of terminal attachment, and hook.

That book says not to use leaders except for toothy critters? Never heard of that! Whether fly fishing or spin fishing, leaders have their uses. They're definitely necessary for fly fishing. And when spin fishing, who would want to fish a small spinner, spoon or other lure on 10 or 12 lb. test? The action, if any, would be horrible. For years I've known guys and gals to connect a barrel swivel at the end of their main line, say 10 lb, then tie in lighter leader like 6 or 4 lb.

Leaders have three different uses to me.

#1. As mentioned, you'll use a stronger (or wire type) leader when fishing for toothy critters. The stronger leader will keep the line from snapping due to abrasion from teeth, while still allowing you to use a lighter line for better casting/more line on the spool/etc.

#2. This would be as a "gear saver" type setup.
If I'm fishing the river, and using a 2oz weight on a separate leader I will usually make this leader with a slightly lighter duty line than what is on the reel. This way if the heavy sinker snags on a log on the retrieve it will break free at the sinker, and I'll be able to land the fish, or at least no lose the rest of my (more valuable) gear.

#3. It allows you to use a lighter, less visible line in some situations--without having to respool your reel.
I like keeping 8-10lb test on my reel(s) because I do a lot of multi-species fishing in all different areas--often through a lot of snags.
However, trout have a pretty keen eyesight...and some of the more wary fish are turned off when they see a line. Using something like a 4 or 6lb test leader with a floating bait off the bottom, or from bobber off the surface means the line will be much less visible to the fish--so I have a better chance of hooking up.

Generally, if I'm using any type of fixed weight or float while fishing...I'll be using a leader--and it will often be a different weight than what is spooled on my line.

pood wrote:I have a freshwater fishing book and it says not to use leaders unless you're fishing fishies that have sharp teeth. can someone explain what a leader is?

do you use them for trout fishing? what's the best kind?

I believe this was ment for lure fishing. If you are tossing a spinner or some type of lure it is best to tie straight to the main line leaving less knots(weak spots) for the fish to get the upper hand. But with the toothy fish you need to attach the lure to the tougher leaders so they won't cut the main line like the others are saying.

Bscman wrote:Leaders have three different uses to me.

#1. As mentioned, you'll use a stronger (or wire type) leader when fishing for toothy critters. The stronger leader will keep the line from snapping due to abrasion from teeth, while still allowing you to use a lighter line for better casting/more line on the spool/etc.

#2. This would be as a "gear saver" type setup.
If I'm fishing the river, and using a 2oz weight on a separate leader I will usually make this leader with a slightly lighter duty line than what is on the reel. This way if the heavy sinker snags on a log on the retrieve it will break free at the sinker, and I'll be able to land the fish, or at least no lose the rest of my (more valuable) gear.

#3. It allows you to use a lighter, less visible line in some situations--without having to respool your reel.
I like keeping 8-10lb test on my reel(s) because I do a lot of multi-species fishing in all different areas--often through a lot of snags.
However, trout have a pretty keen eyesight...and some of the more wary fish are turned off when they see a line. Using something like a 4 or 6lb test leader with a floating bait off the bottom, or from bobber off the surface means the line will be much less visible to the fish--so I have a better chance of hooking up.

Generally, if I'm using any type of fixed weight or float while fishing...I'll be using a leader--and it will often be a different weight than what is spooled on my line.

A swivel + leader will also prevent line twist.

i prefer to tie my lures straight to the main line, but i attack a snap swivel to the end of my line and attach the snap to my lure, it eliminates line twist. but for bottom fishing i use leader.

I would add that "technically" a leader can also act as a "shock cord" to the strike of a fish. A couple of years ago I did use a F Fishing leader that was very elastic called a "Bungee" (go figure!!). It worked great, but I havent been able to find them since?

Cheers

chironomid_guy wrote:I would add that "technically" a leader can also act as a "shock cord" to the strike of a fish. A couple of years ago I did use a F Fishing leader that was very elastic called a "Bungee" (go figure!!). It worked great, but I havent been able to find them since?

Cheers

Rio makes, or at least made, a gum style leader that I often tie up for the "shock cord" effect.

I truly have a love/hate releationship with the stuff.

thanks guys, makes more sense now!

I got a new rod and spooled it with 6 lb test line (greenish), so I guess there was no need to add another 6 lb leader (clear) to it.

pood.................. are you fly fishing?

As these guys have pointed out already, my main purpose of using liter while using bait, is so that if you get snagged, your liter will snap first, and you won't lose the large majority of your main line. Additionally, using a lighter liter allows your bait to float above the weedline more easily (especially when using biats like power eggs, marshmallows, etc).

I had a strange thing happen the other day at Martha Lake (AM). I was trolling and was getting a lot of bites but no fish. So I took the hook on the little Triple Teaser and cut the tip and barb off just enough to render it useless but hoped that it would work like it was ment to. Then I put a gold hook on the gold swivel I was using. So..what I had was a 6lb main line with a 3/8 slip lead tied into a gold swivel with a # 8 gold hook. Then I had 4' of 2lb test leader with a cut hooked triple teaser. When I started to troll again. I got a 10" rainbow right away and was getting a few bites with no fish. Any way I ended up with 6 fish on the swivel and 10 bites with no fish. Well I guess that the lure makers are not telling us the whole story. Every time I caught a fish on that swivel I would just laugh my ass off. I wanted to put some Power bait on that hook or some maggots, but I didn't. Just swivel and hook!!! Go figure!:scratch:

fishing collector wrote: I had a strange thing happen the other day at Martha Lake (AM). I was trolling and was getting a lot of bites but no fish. So I took the hook on the little Triple Teaser and cut the tip and barb off just enough to render it useless but hoped that it would work like it was ment to. Then I put a gold hook on the gold swivel I was using. So..what I had was a 6lb main line with a 3/8 slip lead tied into a gold swivel with a # 8 gold hook. Then I had 4' of 2lb test leader with a cut hooked triple teaser. When I started to troll again. I got a 10" rainbow right away and was getting a few bites with no fish. Any way I ended up with 6 fish on the swivel and 10 bites with no fish. Well I guess that the lure makers are not telling us the whole story. Every time I caught a fish on that swivel I would just laugh my ass off. I wanted to put some Power bait on that hook or some maggots, but I didn't. Just swivel and hook!!! Go figure!:scratch:

It only goes to show you that some fish will hit anything. I once saw trout following my sinkers in, so I got rid of my flatfish and attached a hook to the sinkers. It worked, but only that one time (LOL).

I always thought that leaders were designed to give you some "invisible" line between your spinner and your bait so the fish doesn't get spooked.

when i fish trout i use a slip weight on the main line a swivel then two to four ft. leader to get the lure down a little farther. that gets it off the surface.