Will Using A Steel Leader Hurt The Action On Jerk Baits?

[skeeter1980]

The ponds and lakes in Delaware,are full of pickerall.Lots of Lures are lost to them.Will using a steel leader,hurt the action on jerk baits?

[WRB]

The ponds and lakes in Delaware,are full of pickerall.Lots of Lures are lost to them.Will using a steel leader,hurt the action on jerk baits?

Yes, adding a light weight clip can alter the action of a bass size jerk bait like LC Pointers, use braid.

Tom

[skeeter1980]

Yes, adding a light weight clip can alter the action of a bass size jerk bait like LC Pointers, use braid.

Tom

Would I better off,using a braid leader?

[Crestliner2008]

It probably will affect the action of your bait, however, if you are fishing pike waters, sometimes you have no choice in the matter. It's that or you sacrifice a lure or two. And at $15.00 a crack, that can get expensive fast! You might want to look into some "tie-able" wire, which is becoming popular in many northern waters. And they are making this stuff more & more supple as well, which would minimize the adverse affect of using a steel leader.

 

Another consideration would be to use a larger (longer) jerkbait than you would normally want to use. This has a two-fold affect; the sheer size of the bait will not be as affected by the use of a steel leader and a pike will probably take it cross-wise in it's jaws as opposed to engulfing it and cutting your line. These are all hypotheticals of course. It's a gamble you need to consider taking or not.

[Crestliner2008]

Would I better off,using a braid leader?

Absolutely NOT! Braid has very poor abrasion resistance. You'll be doomed from the git-go. If you do not want to go with steel, consider a heavy (60# test) fluorocarbon leader. Musky anglers have been using these for years. But again....it's going to affect the action unless the jerkbait you are using is very large.

[ColdSVT]

Am the only guy who has never lost a bait to a pickerel?

I catch tons of them in norther PA and NY with 12# , 14# 20# flouro and 20# and 40# staight braid.

Have never been cut off in 20 years by a pickeral. Now pike and musky on the otherhand have taken a few from me

[WRB]

50# Sufix 832 or Sunline FX2 braid should be good to prevent toothy fish from biting your lures off.

Tom

[Dogmatic]

Anyone try Aquateko "knot 2 kinky" titanium tie-able wire leaders?

Am the only guy who has never lost a bait to a pickerel?

I catch tons of them in norther PA and NY with 12# , 14# 20# flouro and 20# and 40# staight braid.

Have never been cut off in 20 years by a pickeral. Now pike and musky on the otherhand have taken a few from me

And I too have never lost a bait to a pickerel. One's around here just not big enough, and you never give 'em slack, just ski 'em back to the boat. Really just an annoyance.(Tigers though, different story!)

You might be able to learn something from fly fisherman, always concerned with presentation, they developed some special techniques to deal with presentations to toothy critters. http://youtu.be/466P-Uyorm0

[Scott F]

I can't comment on the ability of pickerel to bite off lures but I have caught plenty of pike. Pike can easily cut 50 lb braid as well as 50 lb fluoro.  I use the tieable wire with my jerkbaits. I put just a loop on one end that I attach to my bait, and a small, oval split ring on the other end of 4 or 5 inches of wire that I tie my line to. The suspending jerkbait now sinks but not nearly as fast as it would with a normal steel leader. I still caught plenty of pike and smallmouth. Just be aware that longer pauses will make the lure sink deeper. Aside from the bait sinking faster, the bait still acts just about the same when you jerk - pause. 

[SirSnookalot]

If the leader has a loop I don't think the action of the lure is affected, if so not enough to make a difference.  If I were fishing for fish the size of a pickerel I'd use 10# steel leader, which is pretty light in weight.  One thing we have in Florida is fish with teeth.  Barracuda like pike and muskie have quite a bit of spacing between their teeth, mackerel on the other hand have their teeth closely spaced and sharper.  Whether it's a cuda, mackerel or kingfish they easily bite thru braid or even 40- 60# mono leader.

I personally seldom use wire, I know with out any doubt I get more strikes, I also get a lot of cut offs.  IMO that's the price you pay if want to catch big toothy critters.  I have friends that fish defensive having a pre rigged steel leader on each lure or spoon, they keep these lures a long time but they don't catch near as many fish.

[Lund Explorer]

IMHO, the cadence you're using is way more important than what you have tied on in front of the lure.  So long as the stickbait doesn't come back to the boat just like a stick, it just might be the retrieve the fish are looking for that day.

 

That being said, the only time I use a steel leader is when I am actually targeting toothy critters.  I've found that using a large floating jerkbait that the leader helps it suspend with a slight nose down angle.  Who is to say that isn't what the fish are looking for that day?  Too many different lures with different actions, thrown using so many different lines, rods, and cadences to say that there is only one perfect option. 

 

When fishing for bass, I only use a small sized "Duo-Lock" snap. 

[smalljaw67]

The river I fish doesn't have pike but we have a lot of large muskies and I tried a wire leader for 5 casts, it ruined the action on my bait. I will say this, I catch a lot of smallmouth on Rogues and other jerkbaits and I never have a musky hit but when I tie on a LC Pointer 100, I can bet dollars to donuts that in the next 15 to 20 casts I'll have a musky hit. Sometimes it is just a pencil (small 18" 20" musky) and you get those no problem but a lot of times it is the 40"+ monsters and you know after the 3rd run that your line is going to give and it usually does. My friend got a 42" musky on a clown colored super rogue jr.  while throwing it on a medium power spinning rod, and 8lb mono, the fish slammed it and then turned and the bait had him in the only place it wasn't going to bite him off, in the corner of the mouth with the front hook stuck on the gill plate, what luck. I've also caught thousands of pickerel and have never been bit off with a hard bait, with worms, yes, but not with jerkbaits.

[A-Jay]

I fish waters loaded with pike - I use a wire leader of many baits.

 

American Fishing Wire Surflon Micro Supreme Nylon Coated 7x7 Stainless Steel Leader Wire and Cortland Toothy Critter are both Extremely Flexible and Kink Resistant & Tie to Bait and Line Like Monofilament.

 

A-Jay

[papajoe222]

The ponds and lakes in Delaware,are full of pickerall.Lots of Lures are lost to them.Will using a steel leader,hurt the action on jerk baits?

A jerkbait is one of the few hard baits that a leader will alter the action of, the others being mostly topwaters. The reason is because it changes the attitude of the bait when it is at rest. That one change in the action can make the difference between catching and getting skunked. Most die hard jerkbait anglers will tinker with their baits to get the perfect nose down angle when the bait is sitting still. The fish in my Avitar hit a jerkbait that'd benn sitting for 15 seconds.