My Spectra gives up on me too many times

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.

I agree with Chuck on the shorter top shot compared to a longer one. I experimented yesterday when I fished with Art (on his boat) with Bill. I had two rods (with similar action - medium /heavy) and I had a longer top shot on one (about 10 ft.) compared to shorter one (about 3 ft.). I preffered using the shorter top shot cause I found it to be more sensitive. I usually tie a uni to uni knot when I start off but if and when I snag bottom and have to re-tie, I just put a barrel swivel to connect the braided line to mono - it's just easier doing this instead trying to tie a uni to uni knot when your in the water.

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Beacause swivels do not go through guides very well for casting.
with a shorter leader, it's obviously not a problem. But then again, I personally don't cast when I'm rockfishing.

Thanks for  answers from all of you - detailed and experienced advice than expected. I really appreciate the help from all of you. After reading this thread, i feel I have solutions in hand and I will put them into practice. In last few trips I has lost a few fish due to this problem. Wish they were not huge. 

But then again, I personally don't cast when I'm rockfishing.

Joel,

I'm surprised, I thought you were Mr. Lighttackle.    You really need to try rockfish on some light bass tackle or even an ultralight.  Go out on a nice flat day to an area you know is full of blues and blacks.   Cast some small swimbaits, 1/4 oz kastmasters, etc.. let them drop about 5-10 ft and slowly bring them in.  It's like fishing in a lake were every cast is a 3 lb bass.  The nice thing about this type of fishing is that you aren't dragging fish from 140 ft of water were they all end up dead and can actually catch and release till your heart's content.

Brian

But then again, I personally don't cast when I'm rockfishing.

Joel,

I'm surprised, I thought you were Mr. Lighttackle.    You really need to try rockfish on some light bass tackle or even an ultralight.  Go out on a nice flat day to an area you know is full of blues and blacks.   Cast some small swimbaits, 1/4 oz kastmasters, etc.. let them drop about 5-10 ft and slowly bring them in.  It's like fishing in a lake were every cast is a 3 lb bass.  The nice thing about this type of fishing is that you aren't dragging fish from 140 ft of water were they all end up dead and can actually catch and release till your heart's content.

Brian

Funny you mentioned that, after reading some the reports from the other light tackle guys (mol,Art Garcia and Scott Thornley) - I'll be gearing up for that pretty soon - sounds like fun!

The HMB jetty would be a perfect spot for that kind of fishing 

Mooch,

The schools of blues that I fished this way, during the HMB tourny, were more like sub 1 lbers. But I had mucho love at Elk. And I had much more fun at Stillwater going shallow, rather than deep.

Your Clarus/Sedona setup is absolutely perfect for this. I'm using 6 lb Maxima. Since the ocean critters are a bit toothier than their freshwater counterparts, I do double up the line for about 6" before tying on the jig head though.

Regards,
Scott

Eric,

I am curious about how old your line is.  This is my second season on my Spectra, I've always replaced mono each season at least but the price of the Spectra is a consideration.

My two cents fits in with the rest somewhere.  I tie about 6' of 15lb fluorocarbon to by 20lb Spectra with double uniknots.  I've come too close to falling out when I break the 20lb attached directly and added the 15lb fluoro as weak link and for its visibility characteristics.  It's been working real well for me.   I always use a palomar knot to the swivel or jig.

Pete

doug (marmite) asked for a diagram of sorts. 

there are many ways to skin a cat here, this is just the way that works for me.

I have a few of the swivel to duolock leaders pretied. you can substitute a leader with bait hook and stinger treble,
or a sabiki, or a WMA, or a barbless circle for mooching, etc.

I rig the slido to ball bearing snap swivel on shore and reel up to the tip top guide for transport.
this would be for salmon trolling, mooching or even rockfishing, it's all purpose, but if you want to cast, you have to cast gently, you can't really zing it or your spectra might go. the ball bearing swivels are expensive, but
they are nice to have; a lot less tangles.

like mooch, if I snag and lose all the hardware on the water I will often just tie to the swivel on a new
leader rather than replace the slido and ball bearing swivel. depends on what kind of fishing we are
doing.

my duolock might be small, just replace them if they look corroded. the swivel is huge, I have a pile of
various sizes I got in some ebay tackle box lot, that one is the biggest, most are smaller.

J

J.

Why two swivles in a row, is that not redundant?  I usually use a loop on the top of my leaders.  Do you thnk that the swivel provides a stronger or easier connection to the cross lock swivel?

etienne, it is redundant, but it minimizes the knots that need be tied on the water.

it makes it easy to switch in new leaders that have been pre-tied and brought in ziplocs. just clip them on.

If you don't run out of pre-tied leaders and don't break off the ball bearing swivel, you don't have to tie a knot on the water all day. If you do break off the ball bearing swivel, you can tie direct to the swivel on a leader you pull out of a bag if you don't want to re-rig the mainline termination. fishers choice on that one.

likewise, the only reason to use the duolock is to get a little more action on the lure and be able to switch lures without retying.  it is 1/3 inch of metal above the lure that can't get abraded. it is also redundant and there
for convenience only.

I just find this setup the easiest to use out on the water, there is nothing special about it vs any other setup.

I often come home with a couple abraded leaders, I toss those but re-use the swivel and duolock.

I usually cut off the 12" of doubled spectra but not much more each time I fish.

J

jmairey,
 
Thanks for your help.

Doug

Wow you have mad whiteboard skills doc, very PHD like 

One small suggestion is to replace the top swivel with a surgeons loop then you can just loop your big swivel on and off.

bill,

it's actually an 8x11 sheet of paper, roller ball and digicam, but in my prime I could wield 4 colors at once on a whiteboard.

my whiteboard kung-fu was strong. not as strong as mooch's digi-photo and emoticon kung-fu of course....

say, remember those whiteboards that could copy to an 8x11 sheet? how 90's!

J

White board is so 90s....

How is your Power Point?

MolBasser

Ah J you disapoint me, I was positive you had one of those mini whiteboards. 

If you ever need to raise VC money Powerpoint with no test is the way to go, oh and only 12 slides.

Another benefit of a heavy leader is you can handline most fish into the boat without getting too close to hooks, spines or teeth.   I use 5' of 50lb ande.

Some jigs are pretty bad about nicking the line, diamond jigs in particular require a very heavy mono leader because they tend to hook the leader and scratch it with their barb while your knot gets pounded against the bottom.