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jayvansickle

Pike/Muskie leader questions

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First, let me state I have never fly fished for Muskie. I live in northern Indiana. A nearby lake has been stocked with Muskies for a good number of years. Many have escaped that lake and ended up in the chain of lakes I live on. So, starting in the spring my goal is to catch a Muskie on a fly rod. I am not sure as to what would be a good leader set up. My plan now is to go from the fly line to 5-6 feet of .012 diameter tippet, to 3 feet of 100lb mono crimped with a snap swivel on the end of that. Am I way off on my set up? I will not be offended if you tell me I am all wrong (lol).

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I have not got into musky but I have got pretty heavily into pike on the fly the past 3-4 years now. The setup I use for pike is about 1ft of 50lb mono then 1ft of Beadalon flexable wire to the fly. Beadalon is the coated flexable wire women use for "beading" (making neacklaces). You can get about 30m of it for $4 at any craft store and it is the same thing as the higher cost coated wire leader material. For pike I use 50lb mono knotted to 19 strand .024 beadalon wire. For musky I would simply up the size to about double that most likely.

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Look into musky leaders on Youtube and you will find lots of advice and how tos. It pretty much gets down to camps that choose either heavy fluocaron (100 lb at least) or knottable wire. The former is more supple and does not kink;, gives the fly better action in the water, and is transparent. The latter is very strong and just does not fail if set up right.

 

Rocco

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Great info here, the decision is what works for you. Will you change flies a lot or stick with one? If you do, you might want to put a snap on the end of the leader. If you look at the terminal set ups of bait casters, they are not afraid of metal. You can make 9999 casts without seeing a fish and on the 10000th, the Muskie is suicidal and there is nothing you can do to keep it off your hook. Even though I fish flouro sometimes, most of the time it is knottable wire. Remember to keep your leader short if you want it to sink.

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My buddies guide for big pike in northern Saskatchewan.

 

Their leaders are 4' flexible mono, 2' of plastic wire connected with a Allbright knot.

 

That figure 8 knot the bug on.

 

I modify with a small hd snap swivel crimped on.

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I use a 4 or 5 foot leader, 30 lbs test. Tied to a 12 inch piece of titanium wire (either single of multi strand). The stuff can be knotted to a swivel or snap (I use a snap) , won't rust and is almost unkinkable (so you don't need to replace it every few fish due ti kinks weakening the wire). Its pricey, but well worth it IMO.

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