Advanced Leader Assembly For Targeting Trophy Fish
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
This quick lesson shows a proven leader assembly that helps fool even the biggest fish that are quick to not eat when something doesn’t look or feel natural.
Best of all, it works great for both lures and live bait.
I learned it while fishing with Capt. Peter Deeks a while back. He consistently catches trophy reds, snook, and trout, so I was paying very close attention to how he rigs his leader assemblies when I was fishing with him.
He does this leader assembly for live bait fishing, but I quickly realized that it helps out with lures too once I gave it a shot.
Here’s a quick video showing how it works:
FEATURED KNOTS:
- Braid to Leader: FG Knot
- Leader to Tippet: Blood Knot
- Tippet to Lure: Non-Slip Loop Knot
FEATURED GEAR:
- Braid: 10 lb Daiwa J-Braid 8 Grand
- Leader: 15 Ib Ande Mono
- Bite Tippet: 30 Ib Ande Mono
- Lure: Skinny Lipper
FINAL THOUGHTS
Make sure that the bite tippet is strong enough to ensure the fish can’t chew or bite through your line. For snook, I go with no less than 30 lb mono. If targeting redfish and trout on the flats, I most often use 20 lb mono.
For the leader line, I like to go with a line that’s 40% to 50% lighter than the bite tippet.
And I’ll use a braid that has a lower power rating than the leader so that I can maximize casting distance while minimizing water drag for getting as many strikes as possible.
Practice these knots a few times so that you can confidently make quick updates as needed while on the water.
IMPORTANT REMINDER
The 2 core benefits we promise to Insider Club members is to be able to find and catch fish easier than ever before while saving money on fishing equipment.
So I am including links to the quickest ways to achieve each:
1) Finding Fish System
2) Insider Club’s Group Discounts
Related categories:
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- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
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- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
I gave this rig a try. I really like it.
Thanks for the info
Last I went fishing, I had only a 15 pound leader, but I had a couple trouts, my leader needed to be replaced. From now on, I will use tippet
Thanks for the tips on the leader setup. One suggestion is just do a video on the knot tying. Not everyone is savvy on the different knots y’all guys use.
Our pleasure Joe! We have many videos on knot tying due to many years of testing knots. Here’s a link to the overall knot ranking list showing the top ranked knots for each connection type. Each knot name in the list is linked to a page which has a detailed video showing how it’s tied. https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/fishing-knots/
Please let me know if you can’t find a video for any particular knot (all knots referenced in this post have links in the article above to the pages showing videos on how to tie them).
Thanks Luke. I have been guilty of not using a bite tippet and I have paid the price for that by losing some large Snook. It just pays to take the time and do things right!
Yes, I now use a bite tippet 99% of the time… only time I don’t is when I’m skipping lures up under docks and need the full leader to be able to take abuse from rubbing on the pilings.
Good to know. Thank you.
We’re glad to see that you enjoyed this video.
Great information, thanks!
Our pleasure Derryk!
I have fished … let’s say over 60 years I am still learning. I attempted fly fishing but never mastered it. I even started a fly fishing club about 15 years ago that was affiliated with the Federation of Fly Fishers, the club is still together today. I figured surround myself with very good to experts I would learn… I just wasn’t that interested I guess, I can cast and tie flies… that’s it. I digress, my point is that I am familiar with tippets, but until you told us that you learned from Peter Deeks the tippet trick I have been using it. I tie it with the uni to uni knot. I have not heard about using the blood knot. I have to find that lesson… see over 60 years and still learning that’s what’s so great about fishing, it never gets old only fishermen do… that’s sad.
Here’s a post showing how to tie the blood knot. I do 4 turns with the thicker line, and 5 turns with the thinner line: https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/blood-knot/
A necessity to know and always use
I’m glad to see that you enjoyed this video
Why knot just tie the fluorocarbon directly to your braided line? Less knots is always better for overall a strengh and integrity.
This setup is a purposeful tradeoff of some strength in order to get more strikes. A benefit of this tiered leader is that it shifts the weakest point in the assembly from braid to leader line down to the bite tippet to leader knot so that you won’t have to retie the FG while out on the water.
Note: After performing various tests on various fluorocarbon lines, I highly recommend against them because their claims of being better for abrasion and invisible in the water are not accurate… regular mono has tested and performed better while also costing a small fraction in price.
I agree with the Fluorocarbon comments…. less abrasion resistant and personally I have not seen a difference in the bite vs straight line, Just need to use up what I have before going without it.
To add to this, I highly recommend tying a leader with an FG knot that sits about 6″ from your spool once reeled in. Get as much leader on with an FG knot to a blood knot with a bite tippet. I usually go with 6’6″ -7′ of 12# mono/flouro leader with an FG knot to 10# braid with a blood knot tied to 2′ of bit tippet to match the species.
NOTE: One of the most relevant benefits to this set up is abrasion resistance on around structure and very effective for reaching into the back of a mangrove, hooking into a snook, and pulling him out of the oyster covered mangrove roots. GAME CHANGER!!!
Thanks for sharing the helpful intel