On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 10:47:47 -0500, John H
wrote:

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 11:12:11 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 20:37:57 -0500, John H
wrote:

Many of the folks who troll for striped bass (rockfish or stripers)
use a leader which totals about 30' in length. Is that much leader
necessary? I use braided line, so I need *some* leader to allow for
pulling a 40" fish from the water without cutting my fingers off. I'm
wondering why I couldn't get by with about 8' or so.

Ideas?

For stripers, I use the slip sinker rig (1 - 1 1/2 oz)

http://www.vaboatandbeach.com/images/tacksliprig6.jpg

with 18/20 inches of florocarbon leader (25 lb test) to a snelled
hook, usually a barbless circle hook. Sometimes I might use a 5 or
6/0 barbless O'Shaugnessy depending on which bait - live eels or Ledge
Runner eel imitations.

I don't like wire leaders for inshore work and prefer florocarbon up
to 30 lb. Having said that, I made up some blood red wire leaders
this winter - same configuration as above. In theory, the leaders are
supposed to disappear underwater. We'll see.

I use a similar rig when bottom fishing, but I was asking about the
"requirement" for 30 feet of leader when trolling. That's the one I
can't understand.

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry John, I misunderstood. My bad. Then again, I couldn't half
see this morning. :)

That's a good question. Just a guess on my part, it probably has to
do with how the some think the bait is taken. That seems to come up a
lot at seminars and taking to various charter captains. Longer leader
means a better feel to the fish and more hook ups.

I'm not convinced of that.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
-----------
"Do fishermen eat avocados? This is a question
that no one ever thinks to ask."

Russel Chatham, "Dark Waters" (1988)