My Spectra gives up on me too many times

I have lost MANY 4-ounce jig heads lately - too often, due to spectra broken! Look for advice to fix the problem.

In last 4 fishing trips, I lost at least one jig heads each trip. Fish was on and I was battling the fish, all the sudden, my spectra (line) was broken. I lost fish,  lure and jig head altogether. The same pattern repeats in each trip. Before the trip, I even did re-tied the line lately, but no use.

What did I do wrong? ChuckE pointed out that I need to have 1ft mono in front, connecting to JIG head. I will surely try that. But, does everyone else experience the same or similar problem as described above? What are your solutions to the problem.

Eric

I'd say at least a foot of mono, more like 3-5 ft of it.  This section of mono should help with abrasion problems as well as give the line just a little but of stretch to take up some of the schock from a strong hit.

Also, what kind of knot do you use when attaching your jig to the spectra?   I sometimes skip the mono leader  (usually when it breaks off on my on the water and I'm too lazy to add a new one or when I'm using lures I don't expect to touch the bottom ever).  In those instances I use a palomar knot to tie the jigs directly to the spectra and I haven't had too much problem.

Brian

listen to chuckE, he is the expert, he has been using spectra a long time!

also bsteves who answered faster than me!

eric, you must have a mono or flourocarbon leader if you are using spectra line for bottom fishing.

spectra is strong, but if pulled tight it cuts easily. try it at home, stretch it tight, touch it with a knife. do it real slow you will see one strand go, then another then all of a sudden, all the rest. just like on a rock!

For leader, I use 3' to 5' of 40lb yozuri hybrid fishing line, 25lb if fishing santa cruz or high pressure area or shallow. but any abrasion resistant line would work, I think berkely big game mono would be good leader material. it is very stretchy, it handles shock well, and it is abrasion resistant.

I first double the 30lb spectra using the surgeon's knot giving 6 to 12 inches of doubled line.  then I tie the doubled spectra to the ring of a big snap swivel with a uni knot with 4 to 6 wraps,  then the 3' of leader to the swivel with a uni-knot or palomar. the end of the leader to a small duolock with uni-knot or palomar. I use smaller duolocks than most people, probably on the order of 20-30lb test.

clip the duolock directly to the eye of the jig, take off the split rings if they were there.

I have not lost a jig to frayed line this year with this rigging and so far, only single digits worth of snags.

your friend,

john

I have some questions about the braided line.  I was at Fisherman's Warehouse and was asking for some recommendatons on line and the sales person (I think Glen) said he used Spider Wire 30 lb and would use a 25 lb mono leader incase he needed to break it off.  But you are suggesting that one should actually go heavier on the terminal line? 

Also, what is the different characteristics between Spectra and Spider Wire? Should I try and change it to Spectra since I haven't used it yet?

Doug

I use a double uni knot to connect braided to mono.  I usually put on about 15 ft. ( of 25 pound mono),  that way when the mono is nicked from lings, rockfish,  etc, you can just cut the line and retie the existing mono to your lure.

Works for me.

John

double unit knot to longer leader is a good option.

I prefer a spectra line terminated in a slido and ball bearing coastlock for all my yak ocean fishing.

I can troll, mooch or rockfish with this setup. it is overkill for rockfishing with a jig, but if you end up with some live bait, you can snap a weight to the slido, put on a leader with a big hook and go with your live bait, dorsal hooking like mooch suggests.

marmite, if they made 10lb line with infinite abrasion resistance, I would probably use that. my reel has brass gears and can't handle more than 8lbs of drag anyways.

the reason I use 40lb line for a leader is purely for abrasion resistance, no other reason.

if you use 25lb, and get snagged, you will break off right above the jig, keeping your snap swivel. If you use 40lb and it is abraded at all, same thing. If you snag a freshly tied and attached 40lb leader, you will lose your snap swivel and bring up just broken spectra, usually broken at the point you tied the surgeon's knot.

I'm not real careful about checking my leader, so I like the 40lb leader.

The main issue with breaking off the line is taking out all the slack. this is hard to do with mono, especially some super stretchy shock resistant form like big game. you pull, and all it does is stretch. I have spent a good 10 minutes trying to break off 15lb big game mono before.

but if you wrap the spectra around something like a gaff (mooch just uses his gloved hand) and it has no slack, you can break 30lb off without much difficulty.  given this fact, I don't sweat 40lb leader and I am not a big guy.

tie it off to a tree in your back yard and try it, you'll see.

the only reason to go with smaller leader is if the fish are line shy or you want more action on your lure. I don't think any fish we fish for are line shy, but shyness can't be binary it must be grey and thus if the fishing is tougher, I will use lighter leader in the hopes of coaxing a fish to bite.

'spectra' is a fiber made by dupont. spider-line is a brand name of lline I don't know what fiber they use to make it.

'Glen' is a pretty famous guy I think. he has held the halibut world record before as I understand it and is the  head guy down there @ FW *Fisherman's Warehouse)  AFAIK (as far as I know,  )

j

Long thread about spectra to mono connections here ... http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/bb/index.php?topic=3634.0

On Saturday Seabreeze was also commenting about her spectra being weak.  I suggested she check her rod guides with a Qtip to see if there are any nicks in the eye that may be causing abrasion to the spectra.  Also check the "guide" in the level wind, if you're using one, for any nicks.

-Allen

Another thing to do is double loop your knots when tying spectra directly to jigs.

MolBasser

I agree with the advice for a mono leader.  I favor a longer leader so you can retie your jig multiple times without having to attach a new leader.  Good advice also from Allen about checking for cracked guide rings.

For rockfishing this year I've been using about 15 ft of 40# Big Game as a leader on my 30# powerpro.  Still able to break it off if I have a terminal snag (and break the mono rather than the powerpro), but vastly more abrasion resistent than 25# mono. 

I use sort of a modified albright knot to tie leader to spectra... I double up the spectra when making the knot.  Seems to work just fine.  When tying the knot without doubling up the spectra, it seems to cut into the mono and weaken the connection a bit.  The doubling of the spectra appears to prevent this.  I use the albright because I know how to tie it quickly and easily... I haven't gotten very good with the Uni-to-Uni yet. 

I also use a palomar knot when tying my Spectra directly to anythign like a swivel or whatever. 

The ling that I caught at Elk would have been bye bye with anything lighter than that 40# leader... he torpedoed to the bottom a couple of times and he felt like he had wedged himself under some rocks at one point.. I could feel my line scraping on the top of the rock while playing tug of war.  I was finally able to horse him out of there, but about 6 feet of my mono leader was shredded from the rocks after that fish. 

EK

I reviewed the thread on knot tying but it seemed like everything referred exclusively to Spectra.  So I assume people prefer it over Spider Wire?  I am a bit confused since the two sales people I talked to at the Fisherman's Warehouse both seemed to prefer Spider Wire to Spectra.

Can anyone give me some clarity before I decide to try and return this Spider Wire for some Spectra?

Doug

Spectra is just a generic term for braided line. SpiderWire, PowerPro, etc will all fall under the Spectra label. I have heard that all braided wire is made by the same company then branded by other people. I am not sure how true that is but it's probably pretty close.

What did I do wrong? ChuckE pointed out that I need to have 1ft mono in front, connecting to JIG head. I will surely try that.

Eric... one 1ft is the very minimum you need, but I usually use a rod's length of 25# mono or florocarbon topshot.  I've found that a uni to uni knot is strongest way to join Spectra to mono.

After every snag or fish caught, I check for abrasion right above the snap connecting to my lure.  If it's roughed up, I cut that part off and re-tie.

Why do you guys tie leader to Spectra main line and not sure a quality swivel to leader?  Should be much easier to change leader with a swivel? 

Beacause swivels do not go through guides very well for casting.

MolBasser

here's a longer version of the mol's answer:

An extra long leader wind on leader would be one reason. If you are casting at all it's best to have the mono going through the guides right down to the reel and one or two turns on the reel, to take the shock of hucking a couple ounces of lure.

it's also cheaper, you save a swivel. and catching more fish with less tackle is cooler! 

I do both but find that going with pre-tied 4' leaders and a snap swivel on the mainline is a little more modular and consistent and I fish better if I have a routine where I don't have to think so much, I can just act.

Even something like paddling out matters for me, I often paddle out with two rods, each with a slido and snap swivel reeled up to the tip of the rod. and I have a bag of pre-tied leaders.  then I can try trolling, drifting bait, jigging lures etc all with the same mainline setup. that is also why I use the ball bearing snap swivel, so I can troll without twisted lines. I can hook a sabiki to my regular rod this way too.

I don't like paddling out with my lure rigged up anymore because it has come loose a couple times or gotten tangled.
but I do want the line strung through the guides while I'm on shore. I hate doing that on the boat.

So for me the pre-tied leaders and snap connection on the mainline works best, but if I was in baja or doing only jigging, or ran out of swivels, I would do the longer leader joined with a knot.

J