"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Ron M. wrote:
Several times, I've been on charters off the Texas coast when we ran
into a school of blackfin tuna, mostly in the 10-30 pound range. What
normally happened was, the crew would throw out a couple handfuls of
sardine chunks, then immediately free-line a whole sardine into the
chum. It would get hit almost instantly, and then they'd hand the rod
to a guest. They used 3 rods at a time; they couldn't have 15 guests
all hooked up at once; it'd be a tangled mess.

The rigs were freelines... just a tuna hook tied directly to the end
of the mono, nothing else.

The problem was, at least half the time the blackfin would bite through
the 50# mono and the crew would have to reel it in, tie on another
hook, etc. They used a HUGE amount of time doing this, sometimes
getting 5 ot 6 biteoffs in a row before finally hooking one.

My question: is there any particular reason why they don't use a fine
wire leader, to prevent so many biteoffs? These tuna were 10-30
pounds, and a 20# leader would be plenty strong and very fine. I don't
know why it wouldn't work, but these guys were seasoned pros, and knew
what they were doing. Any comments out there?

Ron M.



I've only been on two charters where the crew used wire leaders, once when
"sharking" off Cancun, and the other time when fishing for wahoo. My guess
is the crew didn't like wire leaders because some fish see them easier
than than see clear flurocarbon leaders, and they tend to kink, and at
trolling speeds, they don't make for as natural a presentation.

The question becomes:
Would you rather get numerous bites, and lose half to break-offs...or get no
bites because the leader is too visible?

I'd rather take my chance with the clear leader. An even better choice
would be to use a fluorocarbon leader (60 lb or so) since it's more abrasion
resistant...and a circle hook since it's more likely to hook the fish in the
corner of the mouth and make it harder for the fish to cut through the
leader than if he were hooked deep in the mouth with a j-hook.

Regardless, my guess is that the things that were breaking you off were
mackeral and not tuna. The tuna were the ones you were getting boatside.

I have caught numerous sharks, cudas, mackeral, kings, etc on fluorocarbon
leader. I have lost plenty too. But I probably would have had a lot fewer
hookups with a steel leader.

The only time I use a steel leader is if I *know* for certain that I'm
targeting kings or mackeral in a feeding frenzy. They'll hit anything when
they're feeding like that.