{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Leaders for saltwater

I always purchased leaders and just tied on tippet when I was living on Cape Cod. It was pretty rare that I used wire leader for bluefish. Often times I'd fish both stripers and blues at the same time and the stripers seemed to be more shy about wire leaders. A trick a lot of people used was to just basically use a shock tippet of around 1 or 2 feet of 80lb mono, and that would withstand the bluefish. You do still have to check after every fish for nicks though. 80lb will take a beating and quite a few nicks, but still just be aware of them and replace it when it gets severe.

On Monday, July 23, 2012 3:10:14 PM UTC-4, Mike Diakiwsky wrote:

After digging around online for some information on saltwater leaders, I thought I'd ask for the TPFR perspective.  I'm not concerned about tropical destinations or fish like tarpon or bonefish.  I'm talking about the kind of surf fishing we can find within a 3-hour drive (NJ, DE, MD, VA).

I tie my own leaders for trout and I was curious if anyone ties their own salt leaders or had any formulas they'd like to share.  I was also thinking of buying a few knotless, name-brand salt leaders, but I'd like to hear some opinions before making any purchases.  Should I just save that money and get some thicker butt sections for tying my own?  And if I choose to tie my own, what size tippet should I use when chucking average-sized clousers and poppers for whatever fish wants to bite in the surf?  Since inshore game fish vary so much in size, I can't find an easy answer.

Also, any thoughts on wire?  Should I stick with mono/fluoro and hope that a bluefish doesn't shred my line?  Or should I build some wire into my leaders just to be safe?  I know companies like Rio and American Fishing Wire offer some decent options in this regard.

I've got the rod.  I've got the line.  I've got the flies.  But that critical piece of information is still missing - leaders.  Advice and opinions would be great!

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