My old boss had some metal leaders that he would stretch and it would snap back. Anyone know what that was?

I'm going to 2nd MT's opinion that the boga grip is an outstanding tool for both landing and releasing big pike. 

I learned about this tool 3 years ago when I started fishing with a big musky guy here in Ohio.  I watched him land numerous musky up to 46".  We also carried a full sized Frabill musky landing net and never used it once as the boga offers a couple of key advantages:
1.  No getting tangled in the net if/when the fish thrashes.  Can add extra time to the C&R process working on getting the fish out of the net.
2.  Control - you can control the fishes head with one hand, and work the pliars with the second hand; makes for very fast releases.

I also learned that the inexpensive versions of the boga are typically to be avoided.  I bought a $25 version and it worked great for pike < 30".  I "landed" a 42" pike that was a bit too fresh, and she rolled while hooked on the gripper.... twisted right off and went back into Basswood's Pipestone Bay  (Know the length because my son caught her about 60 minutes later!).  The boga has a pivot that allows the pike/musky to twist/roll as much as they want, and they will just spin on the boga and not come loose.

For those few of you out there that prefer to target pike over trout, walleye, and bass, be sure to grab a copy of the summer 2014 Boundary Waters Journal.  BWJ has been running a series of "how to" articles for catching each of the big 4 species.  I emailed Stu this month and he told me Summer 2014 was scheduled to have the pike article.  I think me may believe I'm a little imbalanced for spending all of my time chasing pike in such good walleye/bass/trout waters, but pike is what has been drawing me into the BWCA and Quetico since 1991.

Dave

pikeman wrote on Feb 15^th, 2014 at 7:43pm:


Stu has has asked me to contribute to that article and I have agreed. Anyone who has been following this thread is getting a sneak preview.

Darrel Brauer

mastertangler wrote on Feb 15^th, 2014 at 11:49am:


The titanium/Nickel alloy wire comes with instructions on tying to terminal tackle, follow exactly, extremely simple really. Remember no need to go any bigger with terminal tackle than the rating of your main line.

I have only one caution, the 25lb wire is so fine that without even realizing it you can pierce your skin very deep. The punture hole is so tiny though it will barely bleed, maybe just a drop. But it hurts.

Once you make and use a couple of these leaders you will never go back to whatever you were using.