Tapered Shockleader?

[BigPhil]

used to use it believing it would give me greater distance, nonsense.
as has been said before, a good mono shockleader of at least 10lbs breaking strain for every once of lead used will do every bit as much good.
and i normally find that no matter what size your knot is, if you get weed collecting on your knots , every bit as much will gather on a small knot as a big one as it piles itself up on top of itself after sliding down your line.
only my opinions on it!

ps....ok , ill tell the truth, its too expensive!!.....im a ballymena man afterall!!!

[Cooke]

I have used tapered leaders on fixed spools that hold 8lb mainline and up to 4os of lead. They do work but are really only good for the first session. These light line knots are easily weakened by weed build ups. I cut off sections after every trip at both ends so pretty soon you loose the advantage of a small knot at one end plus cannot quanantee whether the line is strong enough to withstand a power cast at the other. I have recently been using two leaders, one a length of 15lb tied to the 8lb and then a 50 or 60lb leader tied on to this. I join the two light lines with a double grinner and replace them after every session. This also lets me let line hang loose wken I'm fishing close and the 15ln takes the abrasion in the backwash. Early results are encouraging on snag free venues.

[BigPhil]

interesting idea cooke, must give it a try!

[Rockhopper]

Brian,

How long do you make your light leader, I take it your shock leader would be the normal kind of length, right.

I tried a similar method but the medium line was very long and found the knot jammed into the spool line and cut short the cast.

Tom.

[Drow]

I use tapered leaders on all my multipliers with level winds on and have never had a problem, but then again I am not going for massive distance.

I trim the thinner end of the taper off until the diameter near enough matches the diameter of the main line I am using. Once i have attached both lines I then use a drop of superglue to seal the joint (Yeah I know its cheating)- Works a treat and the leader is plenty long enough even for a 16ft triplex.

Carl.

[kieran]

Hi

I've been given a batch of five tapered shockleaders by Sakuma (nite crystal I think) and having used one before (like once years ago and suffered a crack off at the time) I've never looked at one since...

Some good stuff here in between the "differences of opinion"

It seems to me that the main issue is safety - these are 13 metres long from 70 lb down to 15 lb. That 43 foot in old money. My beachcaster is 13' 6' so I suspect that with a 4-6 ' trace, I would have 11' + 2' at most of the leader showing. That means there would be around 30 of the 43 foot on the reel, and if you a continuous smooth drop off in line strength, then that comes out at just short of 49 lb breaking strain, so presumably okay for anything up to an old 5 oz lead? Am I missing anything here?

Has anyone tried it for other applications? I noticed someone mentioned the possibility of using them for lighter fishing, say bass on clean beach?

Thanks

[Lee337]

I only use tapered leaders on my bass rod now as the knot from say 80lb shockleader will pass through the rings of any of my beachcasters with ease. The rings on the bass rod can be a tad snaggy so I find that the tapered leaders are great for this, the only thing I would suggest would be to cut the first few feet off the thin end of the leader- this gives a stronger connection between the lines.

Lee