Blackfish leader shy?

[Gerry Zagorski]

Don't mean to get this thread off track but a lot of old schoolers here that fish mono instead of braid...

What are opinions on this??

[Joey Dah Fish]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Don't mean to get this thread off track but a lot of old schoolers here that fish mono instead of braid...

What are opinions on this??

Brit you? Tennis

[Joey Dah Fish]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Don't mean to get this thread off track but a lot of old schoolers here that fish mono instead of braid...

What are opinions on this??

For you? Tennis

[Foul Hook]

I fish 65 braid to 50lb top-shot with 50lb hook leader. If you've ever busted off a slob you'd go to 50lb.

[MVP]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Don't mean to get this thread off track but a lot of old schoolers here that fish mono instead of braid...

What are opinions on this??

Many of the better tog fisherman and Pin hookers use mono. Most tog fisherman fish a tight lines and graphite rods. When you add braid to the equation, you now have no stretch. Not a good thing. In reality everyone talks about I want my rod to be super sensitive, as I want to feel every little bite. Well guess what to much sensitivity in my opinion is a bad thing. if you can feel everything the fish can also feel the same thing. When he feels that resistance being you have no stretch or belly in the line he will back off your bait most of the times and not finish off the crab or give you the right bite to swing at unless they are heavy on the chew. If fishing braid you need to fish it properly and add some top shot of mono I like about 18-20 ft. The reason for using such a long leader is that monofilament is thicker in diameter and also has more buoyancy than braid, so it creates a belly in line. I also like fishing a more parabolic rod when fishing braid to give me some extra cushion when that big fish starts bouncing. you will loose allot less big fish from pulling hooks by fishing with braid and fast action rods if you fish it in this manner listed above.

When fishing straight mono a medium to fast rod that shuts off mid way is probably is better suited for mono fishing as the line provides the cushion you are looking for.
Fishing with a belly in your line causes you to fish with slack in your line.
While slack line probably goes against everything you’ve read that says fish with tight lines, my experience has shown that a belly in the line means less resistance in the line, so the fish does not feel the resistance and will not back off the crab and give you something to swing at. On certain days, blackfish shy away from resistance in the line, and the bite is touchy. That is when those guys that fish straight mono seem to catch while others are just stroking it. Aslo on bad weather days with big seas I have seen the mono guys outfish the braid guys as they are able to keep their sinkers from bouncing all over the place.
My preference is 50 pound braid with 20 ft 50lb mono shock leader where I then tie my rig of preference on my Austrailian old school fiberglass rod.
I have gone back to a mono set up on occasions in the last 2 years. I am not as confident as I am with my set up above but have put extra fish in the box with mono under certain conditions. Fished one day last year on 17 in some crappy conditions with my buddy. We both fished our regular braid setups and he dead sticked his mono rod. We both caught OK that day but the deadstick mono rod outfished us both.

There is really no right or wrong answer to many of these questions. What is the best rod, braid, mono, rig, size hook, size braid, size mono for blackfishing. Talk to ten guys and you will get ten different answers. What it comes down to is being confident in your setup and understanding the bite and when to swing. Most guys swing way to much. It is not by accident that guys that put the better catches together and catch the bigger fish have confidence in their setups and can interpret what is going on with their tackle and have developed the touch to swing on the right bite. This is not something you can learn by reading an article or post. It comes down to putting your time in at the rail and keeping an open mind and watching what the guys are doing on a specific day. Once you think you have it all figured out and you think you are the Man the Buck Tooth Bandit will totally change thing on your next trip and put you to shame. That is just one reason that they keep us coming back and have us fishing in the middle of the winter in some pretty shitty conditions. The Challenge of figuring out the bite is what keeps us coming back for more punishment and new lessons to be learned.

With that being said Gerry you should stick to your day job and running fishing website and leave the catching to the 20% of fisherman that catch 80% of the Fish or even better ask the wife for a new set of golf clubs for Christmas lol.

[Ismellfishy]

Alot of great answers on this one. Recurring theme, fish with what you are confident with. I use 50lb braid, 60#mono topshot and leader, with 40# breakway loop for the sinker. Yes sometimes I break off at the braid and have to retie a topshot, and yes sometimes I lose a sinker when heavier leader may have brought it up. But as others have stated, breakoff a big one and you wont go light again. Great points by Alex, good luck on saturday btw, and the thing with braid is you want to leave that small belly in the line and you WILL still feel the bite, but you will have plenty of power to set the hook and, hopefully, get the fish off the bottom. I will change a lot of things before I change leader, but if you notice a difference it would help to adapt. That being said again there is no right or wrong and the only way to maybe become good at blackfishing, is to go blackfishing.

[jmurr711]

i think braids really helpful when fish are deeper but when you have a big swell its harder to keep that belly in the line

[hookset]

Starting this year I switched from using braid with a #50 topshot then #40 leader material to tie my hooks, to now using straight mono #30 with #30 leader material for hooks! I have to be honest I noticed that roll more fish now then with braid but for what ever reason I feel the tog bite so much better! Maybe I'm gaining sensitivity by having less knots in the line or maybe they don't notice the line because it's thinner! Whatever the reason I'm gonna stay with mono and lighter line!

[HDMarc]

I'm reading a lot of good responses here and it seems that everyone has one or more setups for catching tog that they're comfortable with regarding main line types, top shot lengths, leader material, what pound test they're comfortable with, etc. The main topic of Bulletbob's post was whether or not tog are line shy and if there's an advantage to using flourocarbon leader material at the hook versus mono. I have switched to using flourocarbon for my rigs as recommended to me by guys who swear by it and produce fish, but I have seen some big tog taken on straight mono by fishermen as well. Is it worth it to spend the extra dough on the flouro, or is using mono at the hook just as effective?

[jmurr711]

I had always heard that when flouro gets chafed it gives off a shine underwater? is that true or an old wives tale?