Why use shock leader?

ardinn

Why do we use shock leader rather than running the heavier line straight through when sea fishing?

Is it about the cost of heavier line or the space left on the spool??

bpmurray

If you have heavier line, you don't need it. It's there to absorb the shock of the cast so it's especially important if you're using braid.

ardinn

No I know its used to cast heavier rigs and weights to prevent killing people - just why do alot of anglers only use a few turns of it.

When i'm sea fishing I have 50lb straight through! - Thinking about it I would come close to emptying the line on a good cast!!

catastrophy

Forces generated by casting are more than sufficient to snap lighter lines. A heavier shock leader combats this. Shock leader is also useful to resist abrasion of the sea bed etc

It really annoys me when I see guys casting five or six ounce weights with no shock leader. It's selfish and dangerous.

That said there's many other factors that govern the subject.

catastrophy

ardinn wrote: »

No I know its used to cast heavier rigs and weights to prevent killing people - just why do alot of anglers only use a few turns of it.

When i'm sea fishing I have 50lb straight through! - Thinking about it I would come close to emptying the line on a good cast!!

50lb straight through. That's heavy duty.

No need for that much unless you fish majorly snaggy ground. I Don't know what your casting ability is but I'd wager that if you used lighter lines and an appropriate shock leader your distance will improve dramatically.

ardinn

catastrophy wrote: »

50lb straight through. That's heavy duty.

No need for that much unless you fish majorly snaggy ground. I Don't know what your casting ability is but I'd wager that if you used lighter lines and an appropriate shock leader your distance will improve dramatically.

I was wondering about distance also. and no not snaggy ground, just the way I started and continued to do so.

Dramatically improved distance sounds good

catastrophy

ardinn wrote: »

I was wondering about distance also. and no not snaggy ground, just the way I started and continued to do so.

Dramatically improved distance sounds good

If you fish mostly clean ground 15lb mainline is plenty. A 60lb shock leader will usually cover you to power cast 6oz of lead a long way safely.

Another reason to not use such high breaking strain mainline is to allow you to "break off" if you become snagged. I'd be afraid of damaging my rod or reel applying pressure to a snagged 50lb line.

I take it your just starting off so the main thing is to enjoy it and have fun. If you can pick up a few tips along the way so much the better.

ardinn

I started sea fishing a few months ago, but it was just a question I never asked anyone! Still lots to learn but really enjoying it.

If only I lived by the sea

.red.

The shockleader should be around the spool5/6 times, plus the lenght of the rod, plus the drop to attatch your trace. Some people will go 7/8 turns around the reel.
Suffix tritanium in .35mm is rated at 19lb, its a top quality line and costs about €11/12 for a spool of about 1100m. Enough to fill your reel 3/4 times depending on if you use backing or not. Plenty of other good lines out there, i just like the tritanium.
this is plenty strong enough to fish most beaches around the country and coupled with a 50/60lb leader is a very good fishing and casting set up.
50lb straight thru is just madness in my opinion. Cuts down on casting and it also takes a lot of the feel away when reeling in a fish.
The albright knot is what i use for my leaders and is very easy to tie, practice a few times using youtube before you hit the beaches and youll tie it handy enough after that even in poor conditions.
a lot of people are now using tapered leaders. They start out at about 15/18lbs and taper upto 60/70/80lbs. Their a bit expensive but worth it imo. Much smaller knot and it can be a godsend if theres weed about. Trabucco do one that has 10 leaders for about €15. Most are €10/11 and only have 5 on the spool.
i think its the grinner to grinner knot i use for this.

ardinn

.red. wrote: »

The shockleader should be around the spool5/6 times, plus the lenght of the rod, plus the drop to attatch your trace. Some people will go 7/8 turns around the reel.
Suffix tritanium in .35mm is rated at 19lb, its a top quality line and costs about €11/12 for a spool of about 1100m. Enough to fill your reel 3/4 times depending on if you use backing or not. Plenty of other good lines out there, i just like the tritanium.
this is plenty strong enough to fish most beaches around the country and coupled with a 50/60lb leader is a very good fishing and casting set up.
50lb straight thru is just madness in my opinion. Cuts down on casting and it also takes a lot of the feel away when reeling in a fish.
The albright knot is what i use for my leaders and is very easy to tie, practice a few times using youtube before you hit the beaches and youll tie it handy enough after that even in poor conditions.
a lot of people are now using tapered leaders. They start out at about 15/18lbs and taper upto 60/70/80lbs. Their a bit expensive but worth it imo. Much smaller knot and it can be a godsend if theres weed about. Trabucco do one that has 10 leaders for about €15. Most are €10/11 and only have 5 on the spool.
i think its the grinner to grinner knot i use for this.

I have a lot of 15lb mono so i'll just use that - double tucked bloods never fail when joining line imo so i'll try this out and see the difference in cast.

If you could now find a way for bass to hit my crabs rather than doggies that'd be great

bpmurray

ardinn wrote: »

No I know its used to cast heavier rigs and weights to prevent killing people - just why do alot of anglers only use a few turns of it.

When i'm sea fishing I have 50lb straight through! - Thinking about it I would come close to emptying the line on a good cast!!

Wow! The gear I use to hunt 100kg+ monsters in the Arctic is rigged up with 50lb line - I can't imagine what you use that for in Ireland. When fishing for tope or shark, I use 30lb. SO you're way, way off.

I use braid pretty much all the time now, with a shock leader for casting distance (size depending on the weight and the state of the bottom). If you're using 50lb line, you must have a 1lb lead and probably only get 60m. Move down to 20lb with 4oz and you'll see your distance double or even triple.

ardinn

bpmurray wrote: »

Wow! The gear I use to hunt 100kg+ monsters in the Arctic is rigged up with 50lb line - I can't imagine what you use that for in Ireland. When fishing for tope or shark, I use 30lb. SO you're way, way off.

I use braid pretty much all the time now, with a shock leader for casting distance (size depending on the weight and the state of the bottom). If you're using 50lb line, you must have a 1lb lead and probably only get 60m. Move down to 20lb with 4oz and you'll see your distance double or even triple.

Do you mean 20lb backing and not leader?

I have heard that you simply do not go below 10lb per oz of lead for safety!

So anyway im going to rig up some new reels properly.

My question is now what to back it with?

15lb mono - Braid? what exactly would be the best setup in peoples opinion.

And thanks to those who have given advice allready

.red.

ardinn wrote: »

Do you mean 20lb backing and not leader?

I have heard that you simply do not go below 10lb per oz of lead for safety!

So anyway im going to rig up some new reels properly.

My question is now what to back it with?

15lb mono - Braid? what exactly would be the best setup in peoples opinion.

And thanks to those who have given advice allready

He means 20lb mainline and a leader attatched.
Just one thing on mono, different companies rate it differently. (I think)Some rate the strength of the line, others the strength of the knot. Tritanium used to be 15lb for .35, then they changed how they rate it and the exact same .35mm line is now 19lb.
when buying it, its best to buy it by diametre and not breaking strain.
The line will depend on the ground you fish. For clean sand i use .32 line and a tapered leader thats .38mm at the knot upto 70lbs
If the ground is anything but sand i use .35mm line and use either the same tapered leader or a 60lb normal shockleader.
Ive also got 20lb braid on a spare spool for the very calm nights, ive a tapered leader onto this. Any bit of surf and i dont like this the lack of any stretch on the braid mean the waves make the tips bounce about too much and on occasion it can trip the wires kn the kead.
Best thing to do is scale down your mono first and get used to that. If you wanna move knto braid after that then you can give it a go. A lot of the top anglers would laugh at the thoughts
of using braid kn beach gear. They think it looses fish for them and they know what their on about. If it was better they would all be using it.

bpmurray

Yes - I use braid mostly, but don't do a whole lot of beach fishing, and I have spools of mono when I don't want that immediate effect like when there's surf. I even use braid for macks - I can get an enormous distance with 1oz using Berkley crystal which is 0.06 for 20lb, i.e. it's almost not there.

.red.

Have you changed your line yet? How did it work out?

ardinn

I have - But I have only fished at night since - so not sure on the distance - Feels better I must admit - I will say I am a little more nervous of it - I went down to 15lb main line and still have the 40lb shock, (I did say it was 50 but its actually 40)

After catching my first bass of 3lb, im slightly interested to see what a 10lb bass will make of my line - some fight out of them!!

All in my head probably but if I lose a fish over my main im blaming you lot :P

.red.

There was fish of 40lb and 50lb caught in the last few weeks using 20lb line so i wouldnt be worrying about 15lb line off beaches for bass and flats. Just check the leader knot every few casts and onnyour last cast run the line thru your fingers before it hits the reel and feel for any abrasion.
Use the rod and the drag properly and youll have no problems with, even when the hounds come in. If a fish needs to take line, let them and enjoy the screaming drag.
I love it when a pollack or wrasse dives and the reel is singing a tune to me.

Cap1

If you where fishing off a boat with 30 pound mono. Is there any need to use a shock leader?