Wire Leaders

[Topwater98]

The lakes that I usually fish in for bass often have pike in them as well. Do bass care if I am using a wire leader to avoid getting my lures stolen?

[Marty]

There are pike and/or pickerel in most of the waters that I fish and I do use wire leaders at times and have caught bass while using them. Would I have caught more bass if I hadn't been using them? Impossible to know, but I don't lose confidence when fishing with them.

[Scott F]

What do you care more about? Getting a couple more bass, or not losing more baits? Depending on the leaders you use, the action of the baits will change. Suspending baits won't suspend any more. I was having pike bite my senkos off frequently. Besides losing baits, I was concerned that the pike had baits stuck in their mouths. I also wanted to land more of the pike I was losing so I started using VERY light wire leaders. I know my catches of bass dropped some when the leader made the senkos sink a lot faster, but I wrote it off as the cost of the compromise. 

[bassguytom]

I use 20 lb flourocarbon as a leader when the pike are around in the spring and fall. I have not had a break off yet. I would not use a wire at all if I were bass fishing.

[Jolly Green]

I don't know if the bass care or not; I've caught them using wire leaders (the type with a swivel on one end and a snap on the other) but I've only used wire leaders on baits they wouldn't get a good look at anyway, such as spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, or lipless cranks.  For anything else I mitigate the risk by using heavy fluoro leaders, which aren't pike-proof but they are resistant to being bitten off, certainly more so than braid or mono. You could use Cortland Toothy Critter or some other tie-able wire for a less visible wire leader that doesn't mess with your bait's action as much as the snap/swivel types.  Personally I don't bother with it because I don't throw anything I can't bear to lose, and I've lost waaay more lures to rocks than to pike; 20lb. fluoro is fine for my needs.  I wouldn't enjoy fishing more defensively than that, if that makes sense.  

 

Good luck!

[SirSnookalot]

I don't like wire and seldom use it.  Over the past 10 days or so I probably have been cut off close to 20 times, twice with wire too.  Haven't calculated the financial lost, the inconvenience is the trek to the store for replacements.  Well worth both the time and expense considering the fish I've been catching, hope it continues.

[olegs]

I use 20 lb flourocarbon as a leader when the pike are around in the spring and fall. I have not had a break off yet. I would not use a wire at all if I were bass fishing.

I use the same 20 lb fluorocarbon as a leader for my crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

In the early summer my fishing partner and I were fishing the same set up,same lure and color. A difference was only that I had 20 lb fluro leader and he tied his lure directly to braid. A result was that I caught 6 basses and he only one. He was upset and could not understand why it happened. I suggested him to add  fluro leader and when he did it he started to catch bass same like me. 

This fall I caught around 10 pikes, when I was fishing for bass, and did not have any problem with leader.

[Raul]

It´s not something that I use on a regular basis but I do use wire leaders when I go fishing for bass at some lakes in Tamaulipas where there´s gar present, those teethy toothy critters can break the line easily, to tell you the truth, I don´t care about the financial cost of loosing lures, but I do feel remorse imagining a nice fish swimming away with a bait hooked to it´s mouth.

[Woody60]

When I head North to NH to fish the CT River and it's impoundments I always use a light wire steel leader when I fish any hardbait that I don't want to lose.  I've lost more than my share of topwaters and jsrkbaits to toothy critters fishing up there. 

[Marty]

I use 20 lb flourocarbon as a leader when the pike are around in the spring and fall. I have not had a break off yet. I would not use a wire at all if I were bass fishing.

 

I think you've been very fortunate thus far because a toothy fish, even a small one, could cut that line with ease. Someone said recently--I think on this forum, but I can't be sure--that if you can cut the line with a knife a pike can cut it with its teeth.

[Dwight Hottle]

I agree with Marty. When pike fishing we never use less than 80lb floro leaders. I have had pike bite thru even 80 lb on occasion. 20lb wire or titanium is adequate. All the op can do it try a leader and determine if a loss in bites is worth saving his baits. A leader on fast moving baits or in dirty/low visibility water might not lose any bites.

[SirSnookalot]

Update, got cut off 2 more times yesterday, never caught more bluefish and ladyfish in my life.  Blues have jaws like a vice grip, they can bite lures rendering them useless and sometimes bite thru wire, but catching them on top water or subsurface lures is the bomb.  I don't ever use a lure I'm not prepared to lose, dislike wire and won't fish defensively. 

[Marty]

 

I don't ever use a lure I'm not prepared to lose, dislike wire and won't fish defensively.

 

Maybe it's semantics, but to me it's not fishing defensively. I'm trying to maximize my catch regardless of whether or not I'm using wire. As has already been mentioned, there's more involved than the loss of a lure. Some of us don't like the thought of a fish swimming around with a mouthful of crankbait. In the grand scheme of things, it probably makes no difference, but I still don't like it.

[JeziHogg]

I don't use wire leaders because they kill the action on some baits. But if your looking for a good wire leader look up Knot2Kinky - Seems pretty sweet.