Lightest line that keeps the fleas off!

[DJ 17]

Just wondering what type/brand line anyone has had luck with? I really don't like the flea flicker because it twists so bad, especially with F/F. I fish the fingers as well as Ontario and Erie. Pulling in a smaller fish from the fingers on 20-30# line isn't very sporting IMHO, but thanks to the darn fleas it seems to have become a necessity. I am just looking for a way to add more stealth to the pattern once the fleas show up.

Thanks,

DJ

[Silver Fox]

The 30# flea flicker twists and the 20# rarely ever does. You will NEVER see a flea on the 20# ff.

[ Post made via Android ]

[bloodrun]

Just wondering what type/brand line anyone has had luck with? I really don't like the flea flicker because it twists so bad, especially with F/F. I fish the fingers as well as Ontario and Erie. Pulling in a smaller fish from the fingers on 20-30# line isn't very sporting IMHO, but thanks to the darn fleas it seems to have become a necessity. I am just looking for a way to add more stealth to the pattern once the fleas show up.

Thanks,

DJ

Blood Run is coming out with their new Sea Flee line this season...25lb test, round shape but slick silicone embedded into the resin mixture of the mono to make it difficult for fleas to hang on. Also super abrasion resistant. They will have it on sale at the LOTSA show end of Feb and in their webstore soon.

[TyeeTanic]

I use the 20# flea flicker - have had it on the spool for 2 years now - no problems.

[Gill-T]

30 lb green Trilene Big Game run clean to a flasher. For spoons I just add a small power swivel and a leader of 15 lb or 20 lb.

[J.D.]

What Gill-T said !!

[Jolly II]

Yup! I'll 2nd Gill-T's response! Pretty much the exact same program.

[stinger]

I see you launch from Long Point on Cayuga Lake. Well this past year the fleas were so bad that the 30lb Big Game was useless up there and some guys were talking about going to 50LB. I use the 20lb Flea Flicker and even had a bit of trouble with it but at least it was manageable.

My recommendation is to use the 20lb Flea Flicker when the fleas start showing up. Leaders for spoons and direct to a swivel for spinies.

I have two reels for each of my main rods so that each rod has one plain 12 lb mono reel and one 20lb flea flick setup. I use the plain mono as long as the fleas are minimal and then switch to the FF when it gets bad and back to the mono in the fall when those little buggers are gone which didn’t happen till late October this year.

[ifishy]

a 12lb leader will keep even heavy mono sporting

[DJ 17]

10-4. I'm doing that now as well. Heavy stuff to a light leader for spoons, and direct to the flashers. Otherwise you get a line of snot. I was just hoping there was a "Miracle Drug" I hadn't heard of and thought I would ask Getting Cabin Fever Bad

[Tim Bromund]

Yup! I'll 2nd Gill-T's response! Pretty much the exact same program.

same here, except I fill the reel most of the way with 17 lb mono and then splice in 120 feet or so of 30 lb Big Game to cover the distance between the rod tip and rigger release, then the small power swivel and leader. I don't like the idea of the limited lins capacity of going straight 30 lb on a standard size rigger reel. The way i do it, I have 300+ yds of 17 lb behind the 30 lb.

This also works well in the spring when trolling sticks in tight for browns. The added water resistance of the 30 lb keeps the sticks from diving too deep and hanging bottom constantly, but the lighter fluoro leader still provides the needed stealth. I just put a 10 lb fluoro leader on in the spring and replace it with 20 lb fluoro once salmon season starts.

Tim

[reelintense]

one more for Gill-T's response. I use the same set up for my riggers. I run my divers on steelwire, so no issues there!

[capt ace]

http://www.acecharters.com/article_waterflies.html

Here's a link to an article we just did on this subject. Note that you can always leader down past where the line comes out of the release for lighter line applications.

[bloodrun]

http://www.acecharters.com/article_waterflies.html

Here's a link to an article we just did on this subject. Note that you can always leader down past where the line comes out of the release for lighter line applications.

Great article, thanks Capt. Have you noticed any significant increase in blowback on the 40lb mono due to larger diameter, especially when running riggers 100+ ?

[capt ace]

Profishient1, as far as blowback goes, I don't really have anything to compare it to. By that I mean when we run that deep it's almost all attractor flies and all 40lb test. I can say that the deeper you go the more the blowback is inherrent in the set-up. We usually run 15lb weights on all riggers unless we get down to that 120ft range or beyond. At that point we run a 20lb weight to the probe rigger which will run with the same amount of flare as the plain riggers with the 15lb weights.

Note that come staging time when the kings are on the bottom down a 100ft or so we troll at slower speeds. One of the ways we can tell is that the rigger cables are usually straight down in one direction and a little flare going in the opposite direction due to underwater currents. When that happens we let out about 5-8ft more cable to compensate for that effect.

[Guppy35]

When running a spoon, what is the ideal length of the leader?

[Chas0218]

When running a spoon, what is the ideal length of the leader?

Most people run 12'-15' downriggers and 3'-6' off dipsys.

[Legacy]

When running a spoon, what is the ideal length of the leader?

8-10' leaders with divers

leader length on the riggers changes constantly. 10'-70' w/ 15-35' being the norm. depends on depth, water clarity, etc.

[Yankee Troller]

We run McCoy Mean Green on our rigger rods. 25lb test, and we leader down with their Flouro 100. Fleas rarely stick to it. When they are bad you see an inch here an inch there. It's strong stuff too. Not a popular line in the trolling industry, but people would be surprised if they gave it a shot.