Be mindful of your leaders

[Capt. BassinLou]

I haven't posted over here in a quite awhile. But I wanted to share some information with you guys, especially if you bank fish in South FL.

A few weeks ago, while bank fishing on a canal, I went head to head with a beautiful snook. After a long fought battle, I lost the snook right at the bank when it snapped my line.

These fish are plentiful in our canals, more than people think.

I have come across several nice Snook over the years and lost the battle every single time.

Why? Because I'm not equipped for snook. I'm fishing for either largemouth or peacock bass, and I'm using lighter leaders.

So, I have made an adjustment with my leaders when I bank fish. I'm now tying a short 30lb leader.  This way, I have a fighting chance when I come across another snook.

I have been testing out the heavier leader over the last couple of weeks, and it doesn't  change the fishing  characteristics of the lure I have been throwing.

I have been throwing different sizes of spooks with in-line hooks.



My joining knot of choice for this combination of leaders is the FG knot. I know there are other joining knots, but I hate the feeling of those  knots bumping on the guides when I cast and retrieve. The Fg is a lot more forgiving in that regard.



Lastly, in case anyone notices. I use a black sharpie to mark a few spots along the leader to break up the mono pattern in the water. That's an old-school trick.

Thanks for reading. I hope the info helps someone.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Follow up to my previous post. Tested out the combo with the 30 lb mono leader yesterday. I like it!! No, I didn't come across any snook to truly test the leader combo. But,,, I came across a great number of Peacocks, and boy, was it fun!!

The leader combo added another layer of confidence where I was able to fight the peacock bass, with my bfs combo more aggressively.





To read my full report, check it out over on the peacock bass forum.

[J.W.]

Lou, what are your reasons for using the 30 lb mono leader as opposed to just throwing straight braid? Water clarity?
Hopefully you land that next snook. I've never seen one in person, but they look like they would be a heck of a good fight on bass gear.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Lou, what are your reasons for using the 30 lb mono leader as opposed to just throwing straight braid? Water clarity?
Hopefully you land that next snook. I've never seen one in person, but they look like they would be a heck of a good fight on bass gear.

Snook are notorious for  breaking light lines with their gill plates, plus they love to rake themselves along structure to break off the line.
My fishing friends who are snook guys have recommended I tie on a short 30lb leader to increase my chances of landing those  bigger snook when I come across them. 

[Pferox]

Good deal LOU.  J.W. Snook have very sharp gill plates so much so that you don't want to gill a snook, because you can slash some fingers.
As such, braid slices or abrades pretty quickly.  I used to use 20lb flouro that was just a few inches long.  Just long enough to reach back to the end of the gills. 
30lb mono isn't a problem, I use it a lot around here and have good luck in the shell beds with larger reds, we're too far north for snook here, dang.
Dang Lou, we must have been posting at the same time, I'm so slow around here.

[J.W.]

Wow, didn't know that about the gill plates.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Wow, didn't know that about the gill plates.

Yeah, they are like razor blades.

[Smallie_Stalker]

Perch also have sharp gill plates and a spiny dorsal fin that will abraid your line and cut your fingers if you aren't careful.

Don't ask me how I know.

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[J.W.]

Perch also have sharp gill plates and a spiny dorsal fin that will abraid your line and cut your fingers if you aren't careful.

Don't ask me how I know.

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When you say perch, you talking about those yellow perch (I think that's what they're called)? The greenish ones with the wide dark stripes and yellow bellies? I caught some of those in Colorado once, but didn't know about those having the sharp gill plates either. We don't have either of those species around here. Maybe there might be some snook closer to the coast, I've never done much of anything close to the salt water line other than catching blue crabs.

[Smallie_Stalker]

Perch also have sharp gill plates and a spiny dorsal fin that will abraid your line and cut your fingers if you aren't careful.

Don't ask me how I know.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

When you say perch, you talking about those yellow perch (I think that's what they're called)? The greenish ones with the wide dark stripes and yellow bellies? I caught some of those in Colorado once, but didn't know about those having the sharp gill plates either. We don't have either of those species around here. Maybe there might be some snook closer to the coast, I've never done much of anything close to the salt water line other than catching blue crabs.

Yes. We have 2 distinctive looking species. One is dark green on on the back and upper sides with lighter green or sometimes pale yellow lower sides and a white belly. The other has a dark back that looks almost black and BRIGHT yellow sides with an orange belly.

Most folks call them both yellow perch but some, myself included call the first type green perch and the second yellow perch.

The bright yellow ones with the orange belly seem to have sharper fins and gill plates but the others will still hurt if you don't handle them correctly.






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[FlatsNBay]

I used to do a lot of snook fishing back when I had the ole Flats&Bay. Skipping a fake shrimp underneath the docks and trees was my favorite thing to do and 30-50 lb. braid with a 30 lb. Leader was the standard. You should be good to go.