Choosing The Best Trace Weight

Do you really need heavy leaders to catch snapper, or are they counterproductive? Grant Bittle gives his thoughts on the matter.

Hangovers. No one likes them, yet for many they are a recurring theme, even with the best of intentions. Are you carrying around past fishing baggage, lingering hangovers? Are you using heavy leaders to stop big snapper busting you off? Are you still able to lift a snapper out of the water with your leader and have no chance of it snapping?

Heavy leaders can be an unnecessary and counter-productive hangover from bait fishing. When using bait, a snapper tries its best to eat and swallow it – the ‘get in my belly’ approach. Berley and strayline is the technique of feeding a snapper food until it eats/swallows your bait, putting the leader right in the firing line of those mussel- crunching jaws and sharp teeth.

But this is not so with lures – far from it. Using lures, fish are hooked in the mouth 99% of the time, making for an easy and successful release if desired. Both the lure itself and assist hook cord (if used) are an effective barrier between snapper teeth and the leader. With well over half of all snapper caught on the stinger (rear) hook with this style of rig, the snappers teeth are a long way from the leader.

Even without a stinger assist hook, the snapper’s teeth are well away from the leader as soon as they are hooked-up. Even a short assist like an inchiku or Kabura keeps the teeth away from the leader. As for metal jigs – most are rigged with a split ring to a solid ring of the hook at least (often with swivels, clips and more). Because the fish is usually hooked in the mouth, the fish’s teeth are actually a good distance from the leader. This is especially the case when keeping at least a little bit of drag or line pressure on the fish. It may shake, rattle and roll its head, and you’ll feel every movement along your braid, but the thrashing around and head shakes can actually help keep the fish’s teeth away from that leader. The point of all this is that with modern lure rigs it is rare for a fish to get its teeth near a leader, so the use of lighter mono or fluorocarbon leaders is unlikely to result in bite-offs but can provide a lot more hook-ups.

The range of leader materials available gives anglers plenty of choice.

Pros and cons

Not using heavy enough leader is a common worry of many snapper hunters – fear of getting spanked goes back a long way! But, in fact, there are a lot of downsides to using heavy leaders. A heavy leader is obvious to fish and can result in no bites. Smaller soft-baits and micro jigs won’t sink well with a heavy leader and line, either. Casting a heavy leader with a light lure isn’t going to end well at times. A light lure simply doesn’t have enough weight or momentum to carry a heavy leader and line very far. Thick leaders can also result in big ugly knots and tags that can make a great lure turn in a below average action.

For best results, use thinner leader. Be sure your soft-bait is straight on the lead-head, and it helps to have the leader-to-line knot outside the top guide for casting. This helps stop ‘wind’ knots. Also avoid big tag ends on your knots. Trim them properly for both casting distance and a straighter, non-spiralling retrieve in the water.

The number one excuse to use heavy leader is to allow enough drag pressure to ‘turn the fish’s head’ and avoid getting reefed. Given that there is a lot of open bottom in the Hauraki Gulf, the majority of snapper are caught well away from kelp forests and razor-sharp rock ledges. In open water, heavy leaders are more likely a compensation for dodgy rigging, lack of tackle maintenance, poorly tied knots, line damage from a nick in the rod guide, or a notchy drag.

The more pressure you put on a fish, the more it’ll fight back. It’s a natural response. It is better to use the technique of setting the hook, then using light drag with your lighter line and leader to lead the fish whenever possible. Let it run – this is what tires the fish and adjust your drag during the fight as required. Lighter leaders hook, and subsequently land, more fish.

Light leaders simply hook more fish, particularly when it's slow going!

The exceptions

Of course, there are times that heavier leaders are necessary. When the snapper are hungry and the bite is on, big fish are on the prowl. This situation would probably require much heavier leader (and line), up to 24kg say, especially in gnarly terrain or when sharks are around competing for your catch. If the fish are on the go, you can still get bites on heavier leaders.

What about land-based fishing? It depends on your fishing territory. On a beautiful sandy surf beach, a lighter leader is much better for distance casting and sensitivity, and therefore hook-up rates improve noticeably. But in reefy, gnarly, kelp and rocks, it’s time to go a lot heavier and to fluorocarbon for its abrasion resistance.

If there are toothy critters around, try using a short, heavy bite leader such as a wire trace or PE covered wire trace (it can be knotted like mono) – 200mm of heavy bite leader should do the trick.

In deeper water (say 50m or more), leader thickness plays a lesser part in terms of visibility – it’s darker down there and much harder for fish to see and detect the leader, so it’s not as critical.

PE coated stainless steel bite leaders provide extra protection from toothy critters.

Balance in all things

Balance your tackle – leader to lure size and weight is the key. You’ll probably need to change your leader or lures throughout tide, perhaps from light to heavy and back again. Here’s an example for fishing out off the coast in popular snapper areas (mainly open areas with a sandy/muddy bottom).

Start with a 10kg mono or fluorocarbon leader. Your braid mainline will probably be rated at below that. As most brands significantly over-test, it is safe to say 4-5kg braid is more like fishing with 10kg. So, a 6kg braid mainline with a 10kg mono leader is actually a well-matched combination. Use a rod and reel size matched to your lure weight. My rule of thumb for choosing a suitable lure weight is: twice the depth in metres = gram weight of lure. For example, if it is 30m deep, you’d be starting with a 60g lure.

My preferred knots for lighter tackle are: an Albright knot (which is great for quick, easy lighter leader weights up to, say, 40lb); the PR knot is my favourite for braid to heavier leader; and the FG knot is a good alternative. The back-to-back uni-knot is good, and fast to tie on a rocking boat/kayak/ski.

In open waters, lighter leaders can be an advantage. 

I normally have three rigs ready:

Light: micro jig rod/lightweight soft bait rod (for up to 60g lures), 3-5kg braid (which actually tests at around 5-10kg) with a 5-7kg leader.

Medium: the main snapper go-to is a 50-150g lure rated rod with a 2000 or 3000 sized reel, 10kg braid, and 10kg leader.

Heavy: the rod is rated to 250g jigs with a 2000-4000 sized reel, and 15-24kg line and leader.

The fish will let you know which one to use on the day!

August 2022 - Grant Bittle
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
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