For some reason I thought it was because the leader was less visable to the
fish, so they are less likely to be spooked.


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
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)