Wire Line - Best Practices

[Consigliere]

This past season (as of August anyways) was my first in spoonplugging. Thanks to a post by Jerry B on another forum I googled spoonplugging and the early results were enough to hook me for life. As a newbie, I now realize starting out with wire right of the bat is not the approach to learning correct procedures and will rectify that next season by first learning to troll the shallows on a lake with good water colour. That being said, I live right next to Lake Ontario and will continue to fish it and that will require wire a great deal of the time since weedlines in areas can reach as far out as 25ft.

One of the the many unique things in spoonplugging is trolling with wire line. I know salmon and trout fisherman will use this technique fairly often, but generally with copper is the trend of the day there. Being totally new to wire myself I used the information I could find on the Lake Ontario focused boards out there to get information on the basics of using wire line.

I've been using wire from Buck's baits in both 17 and 20lb test. My results fishing with wire were good but a lot of lost lures also. Not necessarily just with snags, but also wire breaks. Actually, probably lost more lures with wire breaks than snags. I'm assuming this is due to the fact that the wire has fatigued from bumping bottom.

I figured there would be many here with the same experience as me and have since learned or developed best practices for using wire line. Would anyone care to share this knowledge?

A couple of items I'm not sure of:

1) What knot do you use to attach wire to a swivel/leader? http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm is the knot I've used thus far and as far as I can tell this knot has not failed me and has landed northerns as large as 15lbs.

2) How frequently do you cut the wire and retie to swivel leader? How much of the end of the wire do you cut off when doing this?

3) I use a "twilly" tip on the end of a 6' heavy action rod for trolling. The rod was cheap ($25) and I figured the twilly would be better than having to replace a guide tip every year or so from wire cutting. Is this recommended for or against? Best practice in this case?

4) What knots do you use for attaching the backing to the wire?

5) What backing do you use? 20lb berkley big game is cheap and what I've used so far.

6) How much wire will you install on a reel? I will typically install a full 100yd spool onto Shimano Tekota line counter reels.

7) How long will you keep wire on a reel before you replace it?

Hopefully this will help some of us out there to keep more spoonplugs in the tackle box than on the bottom of the lake.

[John Bales]

C........... I started answering your post and realized that this may take a while to answer. Jeri Perry wants something for the national newsletter and if I can get your permission to use your post with the answers, this will make a good article. John

[Steve Craig]

Personally, I have not lost as many lures with wire.
One of the problems new Spoonpluggers run into when using wire is they tend to "throw back" their line, like they do when using NOBO.
Similar to trying to remove debree from a fouled lure. This will put kinks in your wire. The kink then becomes weakened and will break.
While you can give the line a good "jerk", do not allow the line to have any slack as it starts to straighten out. It must be done on a tight line.
Also when allowing your lure to sink to gain extra depth, you need to sink the line on a taught line. If this is not done, your lure will tumble and cause a kink.

My own rods are loaded with wire down to a #10 barrel swivel and then some kind of 3 foot piece of mono(usually NOBO), then to a snap. Sometimes I use another piece of wire for the leader or a heavy 60-80 pound mono leader if Zebra or Quagga mussels are present.

I will use your posted point to try and answer your questions.

1. I use what Buck says to use in the Book. The haywire twist. Wire end through the barrel swivel and I like 20-25 wraps around the running line without any over laps. Never had this to fail.

2. Once in a great while I have had to retie after a bad hang and a hard pull. I simply cut off a couple inches of the wire and retie.

3. I some use a twilly, but i prefer a good carbon/carbide tip. Simply replace if you begin to see wear.

4. I use the same setup as is used on the leader end. A #10 barrel swivel to the backing and I make sure it is pressed in as i wind it onto the reel so it doesnt catch my wire as it plays out.

5. I use either NOBO or Berkly Big Game in 30 pound test.

6. I prefer to use at least 150 yards for my waters out here in the west.

7. I keep it on until I see it starts to become brittle from extended use. When it happens, I spool it onto another reel or an empty spool, then onto another reel or empty spool and then put it back on to my reel so that the other end of the wire is fresh, and continue to use it until I notice it begins to get brittle. Then change to new wire.

Wire is wonderful tool and I use it more and more all the time and have for many years. follow the guidelines to the tee in the Green Book and you cant go wrong when using wire.
Steve

[Consigliere]

C........... I started answering your post and realized that this may take a while to answer. Jeri Perry wants something for the national newsletter and if I can get your permission to use your post with the answers, this will make a good article. John

John...of course, use anything you would like for the newsletter...great idea!

[Consigliere]

One of the problems new Spoonpluggers run into when using wire is they tend to "throw back" their line, like they do when using NOBO.
Similar to trying to remove debree from a fouled lure. This will put kinks in your wire. The kink then becomes weakened and will break.
While you can give the line a good "jerk", do not allow the line to have any slack as it starts to straighten out. It must be done on a tight line.

Steve....thanks for the great response...I think the above quote may be a big contributor to my wire simply breaking. As a new spoonplugger, my trolling technique leaves much to be desired so trying to troll the weedline I regularly am fouled. To clear the lure, I will always try a few hard jerks before reeling in to clean it. Sometimes, I will put the rod back first to slow the lure down and then jerk it forward hard. I'm wondering if putting the rod back is creating a kink and eventually a break in the line.

Luckily I have not tried "throwing it back" with the wire line, can only imagine what a brutal birdsnest with wire would look like.

[Duplex]

Consigliere,

John Bales once told me, running wire is no different from running NO-BO, it's just a matter of practice. After awhile, running the 800 SP on wire will feel like running the 500 SP on NO-BO. Two things to remember; 1) if you get a birds' nest on NO-BO, you're screwed; if you get a birds' nest on wire, you're screwed. 2) The biggest mistake all new Spoonpluggers make when they get a snag trolling, is that they try to muscle it out. Wrong. Ease up on the line and go back and get it. This is where a good lure knocker comes in handy. You should also set your drag as light as possible. On a snag or a big fish, simply take your thumb off the spool and let it peel out. Once you've got the situation under control, you can re tighten the drag.

NO-BO/any mono or braided line will break with wear and tear/abrasions. Wire breaks due to kinks in the line. When reeling in either, run the line through your fingers. If you feel abrasions or kinks, cut or replace the line.

I've tried roller guides, ceramic/carbide tips, and the Twilly tip. Stay away from the roller tips; they get caught in the components that comprise the tip. Beware of any wear on ceramic/carbide tips and replace when necessary. All around usefulness, I prefer the Twilly.

As far as joining wire line to a leader, I employ the Albright knot recommended by Gino Testone from our club. Google it. I've used swivels and swivel snaps; too much hardware. I've twisted wire around swivels and snaps, as suggested by Buck, but the twisting degrades the wire. The Albright knot is the answer. NEVER had it break, NEVER had it fail. Easy to tie and it can be done on the run in the boat.

For leader material, I use 60 lb. Berkley Trilene Big Game. You can get it at Bass Pro for like $7/$8 for 235 yds. I use it with mono, braid, wire, and NO-BO. I prefer 60 lb. because our lakes have zebra mussels, northern pike, and muskies. NEVER had the line cut by mussels or fish. I make about a 2'/3' leader and cut it when it becomes worn. All joined with the Albright knot.

As for backing, use whatever you have laying around. If you should ever get to the backing, it means you don't have enough wire on the spool in the first place.

Hope this has been helpful,

Jim

[Kevin McClure]

Steve, What kind of Berkley Big Game line do you use? I know there is a leader coil, monofilament and a normal or regular kind that is clear or green I think?

[Steve Craig]

I use whatever they have on sale. Usually the clear.
On my casting rod, I use the light green in 15 pound test.
It doesnt seem to get brittle as fast as some of the premium lines out here in our dry heat.

[Jerry Borst]

Hi Dave,

Some very good questions and some good answers as well.

As you can see from the responses so far we all have a few things we like about what were using but we all have learned that through use and time that wire deserves respect and it must stay straight at all times, or it's gonna co$t ya!

I'll tell ya what we do, I use 2 different wire set ups, 1st if we're on a bass lake with decent color were probably not gonna have to go to any extreme depths and we'll use either the 17 or 20lbs wire from Bucks Baits, always buying the 200 yard spools which doesn't require any or much backing on a Penn 109/ 10 / or  Okuma 20d Convector size reel etc. 

However if we're on a more clear body of water and expect to be fishing deeper than 30' or will be pulling large John Bales size Spoonplugs or similar deep diving crankbaits then I'm gonna go to 30lbs wire on a 30d size type reel. I want at least 200 yrs on the reel at all times. It takes about 280'- 300' to reach 60'+ plus if you get a 100' hang in the wind, your by yourself, or you need too reel up your second rod, you loose some line due to operator failing to check lure for running straightness etc etc etc, motor failure ha ha, it happens... Maybe... 

I like the Off shore brand 80lbs mono for leader material, it's cheap as well, 330yrd/ $10...... like Jim said about a 3' piece is good. I use the haybail twist but probably only twist about 6-8 times. We twist the wire to a 80lbs swivel then tie it to the 80lbs mono then tie to a 80lbs snap to the lure. 

For the bass lakes we use the lighter stuff purchased through Bucks Baits, swivels, snaps, mono etc.

Always checking for the lure to be running straight is a good habit to get into.
We all have times when we do dumb things and I try and learn from them and not repeat but then again... I still remember the time we were on a really good pike lake and just slamming em hard and all of the sudden they quit. Like most we except that to happen eventually but in this case that not what really happened. After not getting hit for about 11/2 hrs I finally decided to check our lures and discovered the problem, both baits were running off and not reaching the desired depth. Luckily or maybe not but the 2 baits were running in opposite directions and never got fouled. We tuned both baits and immediately began catching again, probably missed a few that day but from that time on we have made it a point to always look at our baits for straightness. It's such a small thing but it's such a big thing and it will not only save you a lot of headaches but cash as well.

Hope you have a great 2013, Happy new year!