titanium leaders

[jimmyjoe]

   When I river fish for bass, pike usually make their presence known. Since I don't like losing lures left and right, I use a steel or bronze leader. For most larger lures, that's fine. But for jerkbaits/twitchbaits, it's not. The weight of the metal leader ruins the balance. So I saw these Titanium leaders, which are supposed to be very light weight. Light in weight, but not in price! I double-checked; these things are 8 to 10 bucks EACH.

   https://www.rapala.com/vmc/terminal-tackle/leaders/tls-titanium-leader-7-strand/TLS+Titanium+Leader+7-Strand.html?cgid=vmc-terminalTackle-leaders&taglist=VMC|Terminal Tackle|Leaders#start=3&cgid=vmc-terminalTackle-leaders

   Has anyone used these? Are they reliable? Most of all, would it ruin the action of a #8 or#10 X-rap? Anyone have any complaints about them?

 

   Thnx for all help.   jj

[A-Jay]

I use this ~

 

https://afwfishing.com/afw_products/Surflon_Micro_Supreme_Leader_Wire_Nylon_Coated_7x7.asp

 

Can be tied directly to your mainline and the bait WITHOUT any hardware.

Available is several tests & a couple of different 'colors'

Works well.

 

btw - often found cheaper on Amazon.

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

[jimmyjoe]

5 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Can be tied directly to your mainline and the bait WITHOUT any hardware.

   Wow! That's a big claim! I'm used to thinking in terms of the old sleeves.

   I can understand my mainline-to-leader knot, but what kind of knot do you use on the lure end?      jj

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

   Wow! That's a big claim! I'm used to thinking in terms of the old sleeves.

   I can understand my mainline-to-leader knot, but what kind of knot do you use on the lure end?      jj

I use a uni-knot at both ends.

The product includes information & instructions regarding which knots are recommended and how to tie them.

And let me save you some time & trouble;

I've used & tried them all the past several years of using this leader material

and the uni-to-uni knot works the best for connecting to your main line. 

And a straight up uni-knot is the only knot I use to tie to my baits.

 To save time & $$$, I'll often leave a 15-20 inch length of this wire connected to several of my bass baits (right in the box) that do routinely attract toothy faced monsters.  Then it's only a matter of tying it off to my main line.

And if you're switching baits a lot, you can include a small 'clip' to the working end and make changes without cutting it back.  I do avoid the use of swivels as I'm a minimalist when it comes to terminal tackle.

 

And before you ask: NO I do Not believe that this product detracts in any way from getting bites.

I've used it to drop shot in the past if that tells you anything. 

 

A-Jay

[jimmyjoe]

3 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

And before you ask: NO I do Not believe that this product detracts in any way from getting bites.

I've used it to drop shot in the past if that tells you anything. 

 

 

   Heck of a testimony, coming from you.  I'll try it. So much cheaper than the titanium that it's not funny.

   See? You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!       ??    jj

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   Heck of a testimony, coming from you.  I'll try it. So much cheaper than the titanium that it's not funny.

   See? You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!       ??    jj

Ok.

I believe it will work for you - does for me.

 

 “BE STUBBORN ABOUT YOUR GOALS AND FLEXIBLE ABOUT YOUR METHODS.”

A-Jay

 

 

[jimmyjoe]

36 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

 “BE STUBBORN ABOUT YOUR GOALS AND FLEXIBLE ABOUT YOUR METHODS.”

    Hmmmmmm....... there MAY have been times in my life when I got that backwards.     ?      jj 

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, jimmyjoe said:

    Hmmmmmm....... there MAY have been times in my life when I got that backwards.     ?      jj 

Yup ~ 

That was me on the water the last 2 months of the 2019 fishing season.

Didn't really workout either.

A-Jay

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, jimmyjoe said:

Has anyone used these? Are they reliable?

Yes, and to a point.  When they fail, they snap without too much warning.  I much prefer a tie-able leader like Cortland Toothy Critter, or other.  

[MassYak85]

I've got some Titanium leaders I use for swimbaits so pike don't steal them. I would think they would still be heavy enough to throw off the action of a jerkbaits but I've never tried. 

[Scott F]

I gave up on titanium wire years ago. Too brittle. I also use the knottable wire. I do it a bit different than A-Jay. His is probably the best, but I tie a small, oval, split ring to one end of the wire, and a loop knot on the other. I connect the loop end to the lure, and tie my line to the split ring. Tying the wire, whatever way you choose tricky. It’s easy to create a pig tail if you pull much on the main line instead of the tag. The wire isn’t cheap so you don’t want to waste a lot when tying. Took me a bit of practice and a fly tying vice to get them right. 

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, Scott F said:

Took me a bit of practice and a fly tying vice to get them right. 

   Well, I've got a fly tying vise to use if I have to.

   I'm gonna have to see whether this stuff interferes with the action of my lures first, though. I've got hopes .... I've got hopes.    ?     jj

[Scott F]

7 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

   Well, I've got a fly tying vise to use if I have to.

   I'm gonna have to see whether this stuff interferes with the action of my lures first, though. I've got hopes .... I've got hopes.    ?     jj

The way I see it, I don’t have a choice. Even if it does change the action in some way, I have to use a bite proof leader of some kind. Leaving lures in a fishes mouth isn’t acceptable. Tieable leaders is the best option I’ve found.

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, Scott F said:

The way I see it, I don’t have a choice. Even if it does change the action in some way, I have to use a bite proof leader of some kind. Leaving lures in a fishes mouth isn’t acceptable. Tieable leaders is the best option I’ve found.

   Yeah, it's the best option for bass, but not the only one.  Even though I don't want to, I could step up in size and weight. Then I'd be using lures with strong actions so that they'd tolerate the drag of regular metal leaders. That's what I always did before. 

   But nooooooo ....... I had to start using jerkbaits and twitchbaits. And they caught fish. And I had fun. And before I know it, I'm hooked!

   Oh, well .... I guess there are worse problems in life.    ?     jj

  

[detroit1]

I only catch 20 - 30 pike a year, so I don't bother with a leader. Only lost 4 hardbaits in 45 years. 

[Way north bass guy]

I’ve been using the same stuff as A-Jay the last couple years, and it works fantastic. Caught some pretty big gators and it’ll handle a lot of abuse before it gets bent up enough to change out. I use an Alberto knot to attach it to the main line and an improved clinch for the lure end, and never once had an issue with knot failure at either end. 

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, detroit1 said:

 Only lost 4 hardbaits in 45 years. 

   I can lose that many in one day. I am soooooooo jealous!   ?     jj

 

3 minutes ago, Way north bass guy said:

I’ve been using the same stuff as A-Jay the last couple years, and it works fantastic. Caught some pretty big gators and it’ll handle a lot of abuse before it gets bent up enough to change out. I use an Alberto knot to attach it to the main line and an improved clinch for the lure end, and never once had an issue with knot failure at either end. 

   That's what I like to hear. Thnx!  jj

[Way north bass guy]

8 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

  

 

   That's what I like to hear. Thnx!  jj

Forgot to mention that I mainly use it when I’m actually pike fishing in the spring, a lot of the time though it’s with bass sized jerkbaits, spinnerbaits etc and there’s pretty much no issues at all with the leader changing the lures action. And as for water clarity and visibility issues, I use the black coated wire and the lake in that pic above has about 20’ of visibility, and that was one of about 25 pike we got that day. 

[jimmyjoe]

2 hours ago, Way north bass guy said:

the lake in that pic above has about 20’ of visibility,

   Yeah, I never get that lucky. I'm fishing backwaters of the Mississippi and several tributaries, and although the water is sometimes fairly clear, that condition doesn't last very long.

   The three stages of water clarity in the rivers around here are

      fairly clear

      fairly muddy

      extremely muddy

 

   When the water is fairly clear, both bass and pike are aggressive. When the water is extremely muddy, nothing bites aggressively during the day except catfish, but bass will hit topwater at night. When the water is so-so, you have to work for the bite. That's where the jerkbaits come in handy. The thing is, you just don't know what will hit your lure.     jj