offshore trolling leaders

[eppefour]

What size leaders do you use.I watched over unders tv show. He was using 3 feet of 300 mono. I always used 10 foot leaders with no double line. I find that 10 foot is a pain in the ass. You open the lure bag and find that leaders have unspooled from the wheel and you have a messOr when changing lures or cleaning up everything needs to be spooled or coiled. 3 feet sounds good to me. Any thoughts. Do you then need double line.? How about a second 7 foot leader to connect to the main line. It is an extra snap swivel, but it still gives 10 feet of heavy mono to handle the fish. I like the idea of 3 feet of fluorocarbon for less visibilty

[CanyonRunnerMate]

I think it is more important to note the fish you are targeting. For trolling tuna we use 150lb leader on most our lures, decreasing the size for very shy bite days. Also the length is around 8' and we also use no double line or wind-on leader. BUT...the fish you are looking to catch aren't the only ones to show up in your pattern! We have caught everything with this setup from 800lb blues to 70lb whites and all sizes of tuna and big eye. It also works for easy leadering...Myself with a gaff in my hand can put one hand mid way on the leader and with a lift of about a foot, I can place the gaff myself, eliminating the need for a spererate leader/gaff man. Personally when targeting marlin or any long fish is when the leader length will increase, or the option of wind-ons or double lines will come into play. Blues, whites, sharks, swords commonly get wrapped in the leader while being faught. If you are planning on catching a 10ft long fish, and your leader is 10 ft, all is fine if the fish doesn't get wrapped in the leader...but wrap the leader around the fish 5 times and guess what, your swivel will be against his body and the main line will be wrapped around the fish as well. And if you are using you main line straight, with no double or wind-on you will undoubtedly be broken off!
I am almst positive the over under was using some sort of wind-on leader system with 3' leaders targeting marlin over there. Personally for the trolling we do in the NE and how shy tuna can be, i don't like having terminal tackle that close to the lure.
Justin
Canyon Runner Sportfishing

[MakoMike]

I agree with Justin. Go with 8 feet or so and no double line. Personally I rig 90% of my canyon lures with 400 pound Jinkai. I don't think visibility is a big issue when high spees trolling.

[Mike Chick]

If the leader is ten ft. when you catch a fish and then fight it to the side of the boat ,it is too long to control the fish, the person fighting the fish has to back up and you still have to pull on the leader by hand to gaff the fish,difficult,,very difficult! 6 ft .

[Over Under]

hey guys...just got back from Cat Island and John told me there was a post here. I didn't recal G. Poveromo mentioning 3' in particular....but we do keep the leaders fairly short, but I'd say closer to 5'. The terminal tackle is out of the water (being pulled from the rigger) most of the time, and we use Tournament Cable wind on leaders at all times, regardless of what we are fishing for. We use cable wind-ons all winter that helps with wahoo and shark attacks, then swtich to 200# mono windons in the spring for tuna/marlin, etc.... The wind-on is absolutely the way to go...the angler can do most of the work, no need for a wireman and gaffman usually, and if you are going for the "release" that longer leader is a must.

for Blue Marlin, we rig our lures/baits on 175-300# mono. Lures on the heavier stuff usually, bait rigs on the lighter....

any questions, just let me know....

trey

[MakoMike]

If the leader is ten ft. when you catch a fish and then fight it to the side of the boat ,it is too long to control the fish, the person fighting the fish has to back up and you still have to pull on the leader by hand to gaff the fish,difficult,,very difficult! 6 ft .

You just need to practice. A good deck hand can both wire the fish on a ten foot leader and gaff it all by himself.