# Pike/Musky leader material



## jsmith2232 (Jan 4, 2006)

what are some of you guys running for leader line for pike/musky? I stopped running steel leaders years ago and have been running 50lb power pro braid right to the knot but im wondering that i may be missing potential fish on some of the clear water lakes ive been fishing. does anyone have luck with running a 20lb or heavier mono or flourocarbon line as a leader? any experience youve had or info would be greatly appreciated, i usually do most my own testing and learning but id hate to find out that 20lb mono wont work on a 40 incher at the boat.


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## raisinrat (Feb 9, 2006)

Blood Run hard mono or fluorocarbon. Michigan company also.
When I want to use wire I use knot 2 kinky stretchable Titanium

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## fisheater (Nov 14, 2010)

I can tell you that 25lb mono does not work on grey snappers. I know that is salt, but I think pike have sharper teeth. I do know flouro leader material can be pretty tough.
Jason, do you stock that hard flouro? What has your experience been as far as the required lb test for pike?
I remember there was a guy posting pics of sucker caught pike, he used flouro leaders in the 15-20lb range, but he also swore by circle hooks catching them in the corner of the mouth and keeping the line away from those teeth.


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## dirty bird (Feb 27, 2012)

???grey snappers??? i use all 20# vanish flourocarbon leaders on my tip up rigs.no steel leaders and tip up line just doesnt look right to me having visible line tied directly to the hooks. 10# did not work, my young sons have not yet mastered the art of letting the fish run, so we were having break offs. 20# solved this problem. also run 20# on our trolling rods with no issues. 20# does affect the lure action though, a bump up in speed solved this. trolling big cranks for pike is some of our funnest fishing! we have been grabbing some musky stuff here and there, hope to try for them this year....


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## Bluegill_Bass_Basher (Feb 4, 2013)

Heavy flouro works for me with pike, and the knot 2 kinky titanium is awesome as well


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## jsmith2232 (Jan 4, 2006)

How heavy of flouro is needed and how does this titanium work in clear water

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## raisinrat (Feb 9, 2006)

jsmith2232 said:


> How heavy of flouro is needed and how does this titanium work in clear water
> 
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


For Muskie I use 50lb to 80lb in the Fluorocarbon or hard mono.For northern pike 40 to 50 lb should be just fine. If I am using a fast moving baits I feel the wire will not affect your ability to get bite. When I work slower moving baits I like the fluorocarbon or hard mono.now I like like the knot 2 kinky titanium for vertical jigging thanks to the bit of stretch it has. It gives a little shock absorption to the whole setup. 


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## Weatherwar (Jan 4, 2013)

Really #20 flouro should do the trick, but if you don't want to live on the edge bump it up to #40.


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## Smada962 (Feb 18, 2009)

For pike what most everyone has offered for advice should work just fine. 

Muskies however are a totally different animal. I spend hundreds of hours after musky each season, and I would never consider using anything less than 135lb fluorocarbon, or go with some type of heavy steel. I use both 135lb 7-strand and 195# single strand when I go steel which I usually do. To a beginner or someone who doesn't have much musky fishing knowledge this may sound like overkill, but believe me, its not! I have had big fish slice through even 135lb fluorocarbon like butter. Muskys also are in no way leader shy. If they were, don't you think they would also notice the giant treble hooks coming off of some contraption that doesn't look anything like a real fish? The lakes I spend the majority of my musky fishing time on are very heavily fished and super clear water, and the leader does not make a difference at all. You don't ever want to run the risk of losing a bait in the fishes mouth. A fish with a bait stuck in its throat cannot eat and has a high likely-hood of dieing. If not anything else you owe it to the fish and the resource to try to prevent that as much as possible. Good luck.


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## Bluegill_Bass_Basher (Feb 4, 2013)

30lb flouro...I never use mono for leaders


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## broad1kj (Jan 14, 2011)

I troll for Northerns in a lake with a water clarity greater than 20FOW. Using 30lb. braid and 30lb. steel/titanium leaders and have never had a problem with not catching fish. Although, WHen I use ive/dead baits i do not use wire but rather just 20lb. fluoro. leader.


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## Vortex (Nov 28, 2011)

I use 90lb flourocarbon leader


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## Smada962 (Feb 18, 2009)

Nice fish! I take it you troll mostly? Trolling leaders for muskies are totally different than casting leaders. Trollers typically can get away with much lighter leaders since the fish will rarely inhale the bait or hit it from the head like they will many bait while casting. Using 90lb for casting for muskies is asking for disaster.


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## jsmith2232 (Jan 4, 2006)

I've boated 37 musky, mix of casting and trolling up to 47" and gotten hundreds of pike with 50lb power pro to the lure/hook. Never had an issue. Most of what I'm looking for now to narrow it down is a good leader for crystal clear water to jig and power drift large sucker minnows. Need something that I can tin on a 4 foot leader from my weight that won't hinder the movement of a minnow, miss out on fish from line visibility, or get cut off.

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## jsmith2232 (Jan 4, 2006)

That's for pike, I use artificials for musky in stained water so my leader selection for them isn't as picky.

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## Smada962 (Feb 18, 2009)

jsmith2232 said:


> I've boated 37 musky, mix of casting and trolling up to 47" and gotten hundreds of pike with 50lb power pro to the lure/hook. Never had an issue. Most of what I'm looking for now to narrow it down is a good leader for crystal clear water to jig and power drift large sucker minnows. Need something that I can tin on a 4 foot leader from my weight that won't hinder the movement of a minnow, miss out on fish from line visibility, or get cut off.
> 
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


I don't doubt it would work MOST times. I'm certainly not trying to be rude at all, I'm just trying to offer some advice. I've boated hundreds of muskies and I have personally seen 135lb and 150lb fluorocarbon fail before. It's a relatively rare occurence, but will happen. I also know numerous other musky anglers who have seen it fail. I personally use mostly heavy wire now and 95% of my fishing comes on gin-clear water. Hasn't affected my catch rates one bit. I just don't want to ever take that chance of losing a very expensive bait and killing a fish I've spent countless hours trying to catch. Like I said previously though, pike are totally different and I usually can get away with 20-30lb fluorocarbon or really light wire, but then again on my local lakes if you hit 32" thats a big pike whereas that's about as small a musky as I've caught.


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## jsmith2232 (Jan 4, 2006)

I just ordered some seaguar 40lb flouro to try for pike, hope it works as well as 50lb power pro and gets more strikes in clear water. I'll report once I get out next weekend.

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## Henrik for President (Sep 21, 2009)

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I could use some advice with leaders as well...

I've got a heavy fluorocarbon leader with 10lb fluorocarbon line on the rod I troll for pike with. Is a 10" leader long enough? or should I get an 18"+....

I lost a monster pike last year on 6lb fluorocarbon line tied to the lure, so I bought the only flouro leader they had at the store and bumped my line weight a little, but wonder if I should order a longer leader online.

Thanks and good luck


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## jsmith2232 (Jan 4, 2006)

I plan on running 3-4 foot leaders. Main reason for the length being that long is so that when weeds hang up on my swivel it is further ahead of the bait.

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