leader length???

[Humberto_Calderon]

Here in Nayarit, México, once you get close to the spinners and the tunas are biting, no matter how long is the leader or what material is done with.
Neither the size of the swivel matters.

Any cedar plug, Rapala or feather will work, same leader for all.


You´ll get 20 or 30 tunas aboard, and you´ll get tired and go back home.


I am using 2 to 3 feet of 200 pound wire.


Hasta lueeeeeeeeeeego!

[ancient mariner]

Wow. Good answer.
I still have my 10 footers on my short (close to boat) lures. CEDARS ,and I love 'em are close as is my HEX HEADS. All have at least three(3) T'sers in fron of 'em.
HINT...HINT...HINT... keep the line to the above as LOW to the water as possible. That way the lure works the way it made to do. You will be surprise at the difference lowering tha mainline/leader makes when you troll.
WACKM N STACKM
Joseph B...aka...Ancient Mariner
www.ancientmarinertackle.com

[anthony]

In a hot bite we can rubber band rig a wind on in 30-40 seconds tops...not out of the water that much longer than changing out a snap swivel bait. Obviously a lot of guys here fish a lot of different ways and a lot of it is where you fish. I will continue to fish wind-ons with 30-40' of leader (part of the reason for the length is so they can be recrimped a few times before switching out to new leader) from the Poor Man's down to Hatteras 'cause I am certain that produces more bites for me, especially when the tuna's are finicky.

[clt_capt]

So what knot do you use to attach your windon swivel to the mainline (assuming mono) and then for your leader crimp or knot?

[Bert Rodgers]

So what knot do you use to attach your windon swivel to the mainline (assuming mono) and then for your leader crimp or knot?

That depends on the line size. 20# and 30# gets a 4 turn uni to the spro and 80# wind on crimped. 50# and 80# gets crimps on both sides.

Bert

[skinneej]

For you guys that think pulling a balleyhoo out of a cooler, unwinding the leader (hoping that someone wrapped it correctly), unsnapping the old leader, snapping on the new leader.... How long does it take you to get a hook out of the fish's mouth and put on a new balleyhoo? It takes like 5 seconds to put a new bait on using rubber bands on a pin rig. With the small spro swivels, you can wind the hook all the way up to the tip so there isn't much "wasted time" leadering a fish.

We haven't been getting the tuna real good in Charleston this year, but that's how all my leaders are (80# flouro pin rigs, spro 80# barrels, 30+ feet of leader, rubber bands). You can swap a bait out in seconds. If a fish swallows a hook or a toothy fish bites me off, then I have 4 other rods under the gunnels rigged up and ready for a bait.

For re-rigging, I have a small medicine vile with all the swivels, chin weights, crimps, and pre-cut pins that I keep in my pocket. As someone is putting a rod in from under the gunnel, I am re-rigging the one that just got bit off.

[ReelSmith]

I keep my leaders around 15'...I'm trying wind ons this year...

[skinneej]

Even if you don't believe in the "stealth" philosophy, think about how many fish you have lost because the leader was too short and the line rubbed on the hull of the boat or how that leader was just out of reach for you when you went to grab it to leader the fish. 12-15' looks a hell of a lot shorter when you have a fish boat side than it does when you stretch it out in the house.