How do you measure your leaders?

[KokeRook]

Great topic! One thing i haven't seen mentioned here is leader length as it pertains to water clarity. Granted, short leaders are needed to impart action from a dodger on lures that have no action of their own, but leader length on lures that have their own action can be alot different from lake to lake. Where i mainly fish for kokes the water is pretty clear (loose sight of the downrigger ball/flashers at around the 30' level.) From every artical i've read and the many seminars i've attended over the years for Paulina and East Lake one thing is for sure... up there the fish like long leaders. For most lakes a 24-36" leader is a good choice for lures like the Apex... up there a 5' leader is recommended. I still use a dodger but it's more for attraction. Just something to concider on clear water lakes...

Have not fished much with Apex lures yet...thanks for the tips.

Many great posts from all.
thumbsup

 

[fishslayer13]

Kokerook I understand what you were asking, its Just like SuperD says its just not that critical of length. I just eye ball it. I wanted to make sure you weren't focused on something that dosent have to be that precise. thumbsup

Silverbullets,
Here where I fish most of the time, 10 or 15 feet you wont see your ball anymore. You need a lot of bling. In fact, gang trolls will out fish dodgers most of the time.
Spinners seem to best also. I always run tight to my flash. Even on a gang troll I will only run about a 16 inch leader. My experience has been that I do better closer to whatever flash Im running in dirty water. For some reason spinners with a french style blade do better than others. Sound ? Vibration ? Im not sure.

 

[dragonfly]

kokerook if you are measuring, when I say I run a 8'' leader the measurement it is taken from the end eye of the dodger to the eye or the tip of the lure. the actual line length once it is all tied. hope this helps. dfly

 

[KokeRook]

Dfly. Thank answers Perfectly...Thanks

Slayer....Thank you.

 

[nofish]

Super D I never run a hook right on the dodger when I am koke fishing but maybe I do when fishing for other stuff lol!!

Anyway I think the one thing that has been left out is that the shorter leader is mostly for squids, if I am running something that has its own action the leader will be a lot longer.

I do the same as Dfly and measure from the tail of the dodge to the tip of the lure.

 

[DLM]

I have found what I feel is the perfect answer to the leader length problem, at least for me. I have been using a little wire device called a no-knot for three years now and love this little gizmo. There are two great features, it let's me adjust the leader length without retying a knot and it is much faster than tying a conventional knot. Below is a picture of the thing and how you attach your line. On my hoochies I usually cut my leader to about 12 inches. This allows me to set my actual leader length anywhere from 6 inches to 10 inches. I also use it on spinners and anything else I use. I have one of these on each of my dodgers hooked directly to the split ring which makes switching dodgers quick and easy also.

Now before anyone says that wrapping the line around the wire weakens the line, it does not. When you remove the lure the line is a little misshapen, but it is not damaged. I have never had a leader break and while I tie up new leaders on almost everything each year, there are a couple lures that have two year old leaders and I would not hesitate to use them.

I get mine from a lady that has booth at the Portland sportsmen's show each year selling the "Pole Cat". The package says they are made by B&L MFG of Midwest City OK. Her business is in Summerville, OR, 1-888-322-2302. If you want to give them a try just call her. She carries three sizes and I use the middle size. Also, the ones she sells are not attached to a swivel as the ones in the picture.