I was told that when fishing for northern pike, if you use wire leaders you wont catch as many fish cause it messes up the movement of the spoon. Has anyone else heard this?
MrM, use a braided wire leader, or get some of the new stuff called Tygerleader and make your own leaders. If you don' t use a leader with Northerns, you are going to be losing an awful lot of plugs and spoons !!!!!!
I think thats hogwash as aggressive as they hit they wouldn' t shy away till its to late. Just don" t make the leaders too long. 6-9 inches should work fine. Fished for them in upstate NY And caught plenty If any shied away we didn' t care there were enough to go around.
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THE FOUR SEASONS- ALMOST SUMMER, SUMMER, STILL SUMMER & DEER SEASON
The ones that shy away (by the way, i have never heard of this) you will never know about, the ones that you lose because you did not use a leader are the ones you will remember.
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It is hard to kiss your lips at night, when they have chewed my rear all day.
Her heart was pure, but her teeth were stained.
Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissing You Goodbye
With pike lures a leader doesn' t mess up anything in fact it makes things simpler and unless you tie into the hulk-pike you' ll never have one bite through a steel leader. The only way you' ll lose a pike with a leader on is if he isn' t hooked good enough, if you' re knot tieing skills a terrbile, or you tie into one big enough to bite your line off over a 12-18in. leader (which has happened to me before on 2 different occasions). Use a leader that' s all there is to it.
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12 hours, 6124 casts, 2 follows, and 1 strike. I sure hope tomorrow is this good.
I think for spoons the effects are minimal when using a leader, with some topwater or cranks that is true. However the alternative is run the risk of losing your lure. I fish pike lots, in fact it is my favorite target, I have landed a ton of big fish with no leader on but at the same time I have said bye to a lot of lures over the years. In most cases I run a 12" black wire leader when fishing pike and 10 lb Trilene XT, set your drag appropriately and you should have nothing to worry about. BTW if your fishing big gators(pike) you' ll want to make sure your leader is 12" , I have seen pike take off a 6" leader like now!! Most cases they take the bait in the corner of the mouth but when the get bigger once they pull that line arcoss the jaw, 6" will be taken up very quickly. Also once the leaders bend, twist or crink replace them, that will effect your lure more and also if the fish are line shy it will result in lost of slow follow ups but few hits.
Wire leaders
