Post by ogeezer on Aug 5, 2007 4:37:13 GMT -6
It seems many fishermen today pursue fishing more of a sport than for putting fresh fish on the dinner table. As such, a lot of them use ultra-light fishing lines to go along with lightweight rods, but all to often they don't employ lightweight reels or they are using way to heavy tackle to compliment the ultra-light lines. This is when shock leaders ought to come into play.
So what is a shock leader & why use it?
A: It's a heavier breaking strain piece of line that is attached to your main fishing line so that it does not break during the cast. It's used mainly for safety, so that you do not break the line of during a power cast and cause damage to the ultra light gear or injure somebody. It's of particular use in reducing the loss of terminal tackle due to break offs during the cast. And since the shock leader is what takes most of the wear from sand bars when fishing in Texas surf waters, it's the most durable rigging you can use.
What pound test line should I use to make my shock leader? And how long should it be?
A: A good rule of thumb is to take the amount of weight that you are going to cast and multiply it by 10 then convert to lbs to give the minimum breaking strain in lbs of the line to use as a shock leader.
A: The minimum length of the leader for casting weights should be five times around the reel, up to the tip of the rod and back to the spool, this is the minimum length.
There are many ways to attach a shock leader but my favorite for fishing is the Uni-Knot to an overhand in the thick line. For long casting I use the blob knot method. When using a super braid like Power Pro I will make as many as 8 turns in the Uni-knot as super braids tend to slip. I prefer a mono shocker to a super braid as it tends to be more resistant to abrasion.
So what is a shock leader & why use it?
A: It's a heavier breaking strain piece of line that is attached to your main fishing line so that it does not break during the cast. It's used mainly for safety, so that you do not break the line of during a power cast and cause damage to the ultra light gear or injure somebody. It's of particular use in reducing the loss of terminal tackle due to break offs during the cast. And since the shock leader is what takes most of the wear from sand bars when fishing in Texas surf waters, it's the most durable rigging you can use.
What pound test line should I use to make my shock leader? And how long should it be?
A: A good rule of thumb is to take the amount of weight that you are going to cast and multiply it by 10 then convert to lbs to give the minimum breaking strain in lbs of the line to use as a shock leader.
A: The minimum length of the leader for casting weights should be five times around the reel, up to the tip of the rod and back to the spool, this is the minimum length.
There are many ways to attach a shock leader but my favorite for fishing is the Uni-Knot to an overhand in the thick line. For long casting I use the blob knot method. When using a super braid like Power Pro I will make as many as 8 turns in the Uni-knot as super braids tend to slip. I prefer a mono shocker to a super braid as it tends to be more resistant to abrasion.