6 kg is fine if you are fishing over sand, if there is lots of foul and or the fish a very big you may want to go up to 15kg. I usually 4kg to 8kg line weight with a 40lb trace but a lot of guys using soft baits only use a 20lb trace. For smaller fish I sometimes just tie the hook direct to the line when straylining but it often ends in tears and tantrums.
Ditto with smudge, over non foul ground the lighter the better and use Fluro carbon trace. Expensive but invisible to the fish. I have noticed the difference between ordinary nylon and fluro, cannot compare the two. (Approx, $1.00 / meter)
I STARTED THE DAY WITH NO FISH AND I STILL HAVE PLENTY LEFT
Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Location: In our thoughts
Status: Offline
Points: 23636
i agree with smudge, 6kg is the norm these days.... learn a couple of decent knots throw out the swivel learn how to join two different line weights and your on your way... first off you have to remember that using light line, if you get snagged on the bottom and have to break your line, this section of line from your reel to the trace has been stretched to its limit... line stretch to its limit like this will now break easier than before, because what makes up the line have all been pulled outa place.... but the reasons for using lighter line far out weighs the use of heavier line... first off the line is thinner and this creates less drag in the water which means less weight has to be used which in turn means the fish has less chance of feeling that something is wrong when running off with your bait.... ive landed snapper over 30lb on 6kg and Kings up to 50lb, i put it down to the fish feels the resistance but also senses it can swim away when threatened, this is why they dont crash the weeds or rap you up around the snags on the bottom, it may take you longer to land the fish but then pitting your skills against the fish is what its all about right???
here are a couple of videos of just a few ive landed on 6kg just to prove im not talking rubbish....
Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing
Joined: 04 Dec 2005
Location: Westside Hard
Status: Offline
Points: 14740
My personal choice for snapper is either 10kg/22lb mono and 27kg/60lb trace when fishing baits or 10kg/22lb braid and 18kg/40lb trace when lure fishing.....I just like the feel of 'heavier' gauge mainline especially in tiger-country and of course skull-dragging fish is where it's at.
I like to get on to catching the 'next' fish rather than stuffing around on 'light' line using up valuable bite times.....caught plenty of good fish on 6kg just not my cup of cha!
There you go Mark two different perspectives from two very successful big snapper fishermen. It goes to show there are no rules around this, merely advice and although those two differ they have their own styles and let me assure you they do know what they're talking about.
To prove a point, I was out fishing at Shearers Rock today with Moggy. He was bringing in a large kahawai and I am always looking for kingfish in that situation especially in a place like that. Two greenbacks were chasing the poor old fish and they were approx twice as long as the 65cm ky, so they were respectable fish. I grabbed my 8kg strayline set with a 40lb trace and dropped a livey down. Pretty soon I had a good fish on and 5 mins later the trace parted. Now it's not too smart to target kings with 8kg but I've caught them on lighter gear and I always remember Lethal telling me about a 76lb king he caught on 6kg. The secret is to not put too much hurt on them. Well today I was just thinking, should I ease off the drag and hopefully get the beastie swimming sideways instead of plunging for the bottom? Well I didn't and there was a little Lethal on one shoulder saying 'c'mon Smudge you should know better!' and a little Kerren (bet thats the first time he's been called little) saying 'c'mon Smudge use some real gear!'. Both those little huas were right of course and consequently I lost the fish, so I swatted the pair of them off and went back to snapper fishing on 6kg with my hook tied directly to the main line. I'm off to get some medication now for these hallucinations I'm having, after all neither of them are oil paintings.
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