Kingfisher wrote on Feb 17^th, 2011 at 7:51am:


I spent last summers trip trolling and was never nipped off once. I know it can and does happen but usually only once or twice per trip. If large walleyes are my goal you will likely find me running 6lb even with the deep divers. That puts a lot of strain on the line and all has to be perfect from fresh line to not tying to a split ring to having the 8' steelhead rod which loads very nicely and gently to protect the line.

If traveling is more my goal then I up the lb test as to not spend so long in landing the fish. I will not have any 6lb test in WCPP as I don't want to get bogged down.

If big Pike are the goal I will run one of 3 kinds of leaders. Either a 100lb FC leader or I will build a single strand leader myself. Very stealthy the single strand with a minimum of hardware. If the fish are abundant however they will bend the single strand and I will go to the titanium especially if I need to make time. I had the bass pro shops titanium leaders fail BTW  

when it comes to braids it matters which rod you have quite a bit. i have a fast action tip rod with a medium action backbone. the rod is nearly as sensitive as my jig rod and loads real smooth and fast. the rod tip makes up for the lack of stretch in the braid. also when trolling i have the drag set pretty light so when a decent fish hits, the drag gives a little line back. when i set the hook i thumb the spool which gives a little play, but not as much as the drag would normally allow. its not that i need to compensate for the braid, its just the way i fish suits it perfectly.

also, im the lucky and unlucky kind of guy at the same time. i seem to find the hot lure, but i have the bad luck of always hooking into pike no matter where i am or what im doing. they just love to eat my lures, and with that i run an 8" leader. usually south bends invisaleader. people that are lucky and can avoid the pike can get away with not running a leader, but something about me must draw them to my stuff. i just cant afford to not run the leader, and because of that, i tie the braid straight to the wire.

with that said, however, i went to gander yesterday and picked up a small spool of the P-line flourocarbon and some tiny barrel swivels. i tied a 2 foot section of flouro as a leader. i ended up getting 12# stuff because it was in the clearance bin. i had some trouble tying the polomar knot, which is what all the internet sources recommended. i dont know if it was just because it was 12# test or if all flourocarbons are that hard to tie? any advice would be great. took me 15 minutes and 2 pairs of pliers to get 2 good looking knots...

what kind of swivel snaps do you guys use?

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i tend to avoid #2 and #3 like the plague. i try to stick to #5 because that one has always worked well for me. i had to use #1 this last trip and didnt have issues with it, but i dont really trust it. #3 is the worst design in my opinion because when you put tension on it, the angle of the force pulls the swivel open.

after a bit of research, the bass pro shops titanium leader seems to have the #5 clip on it. is that the model that you had issues with?
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or is that a modification from the model you dislike?

Nice pics.
The BassPro leaders were #2 (runny crap)
I've had probs in the past with #3 too
besides, both are bulky and I can't help but think they mess with the action of some lures.
Have used #1 most frequently (pretty good)
Replaced the leader snaps with #4 (i like so far)
#5 looks good (except not symmetrical) never used

BWCABlogLady wrote on Feb 17^th, 2011 at 7:06pm:

I've had this problem, but it has always been due to using cheaper line & overfilling the spool.  Once I upgraded to mid-cost or higher line & filling to about 1/4" of the spool it went away.


Re Snap Swivels.  I avoid them unless I'm targetting toothy fish, then I'll use a wire leader.  I do run a barrel swivel to control line twist.  My preference is to tie directly to the lure.