Thread: Worth fighting the lettuce for these snapper

Weed not too bad yet but could be Feb / March before it clears.Ball of lettuce on sinker ,snapper attached to hook 1m away on end of trace.
Reason I fish up the coast when it gets bad.
Problem with braid is no stretch as Gibo said,load goes onto the rod .

Dont do what I did a while back either when trying to catch a bronzie at Pukahina beach (probably outside Pointers house )
I shot up to the house and grabed a surf caster and a skippy head and attached a wire trace, came roaring back down the beach rigged it all up, sighted the shark and proceeded to give it the best cast I had!

Fuck me! Forgot it was braid and let it ping of my index finger as I would with mono........damn near lopped the top off my finger! Bloody beers have a lot to answer for with my scar count!

Originally Posted by Gibo

Dont do what I did a while back either when trying to catch a bronzie at Pukahina beach (probably outside Pointers house )
I shot up to the house and grabed a surf caster and a skippy head and attached a wire trace, came roaring back down the beach rigged it all up, sighted the shark and proceeded to give it the best cast I had!

Fuck me! Forgot it was braid and let it ping of my index finger as I would with mono........damn near lopped the top off my finger! Bloody beers have a lot to answer for with my scar count!

hahahahahaha I'm sorry but that is waaaay to bloody funny!!!

Originally Posted by Gibo

Dont do what I did a while back either when trying to catch a bronzie at Pukahina beach (probably outside Pointers house )
I shot up to the house and grabed a surf caster and a skippy head and attached a wire trace, came roaring back down the beach rigged it all up, sighted the shark and proceeded to give it the best cast I had!

Fuck me! Forgot it was braid and let it ping of my index finger as I would with mono........damn near lopped the top off my finger! Bloody beers have a lot to answer for with my scar count!

That is why it is recommended to have a shock leader attached to braid when surfcasting.

Originally Posted by stingray

hahahahahaha I'm sorry but that is waaaay to bloody funny!!!

Yeah and it was mate! I for good or for bad am part of a group of mates etc that love seeing the other either flying of off the back of motorbikes, falling off various objects or just in general love seeing our mates in pain! Dont know what it is but its challenging at this age to keep it up

Obviously some have gone quite far but thankfully none too far

Originally Posted by hunter308

That is why it is recommended to have a shock leader attached to braid when surfcasting.

Is that so you cast with the mono on your finger? If not dont see how it could help?

Nylon has alot more strech / give in it than braid, so when you load your rod to cast nylon will strech and still have some give in it where braid comes up tight/hard and becomes like a knife also this helps with not point loading you rod.. ie when striking or pulling on snag nylon has will give a liitle where braid won't. so you wont rip the hook out of the fishes gum / lips.

When people talk about a shock leader thats is about 20 - 30foot of nylon tied to the end of the braid. (others will be able to explain better... But a tip i have for surfcasting even when using Nylon is use a slice if old bike inner tube over your casting / trigger finger or some eletrical tape this will cut down the abrasion / cuts you get with mutiple casting.

Originally Posted by stingray

Nylon has alot more strech / give in it than braid, so when you load your rod to cast nylon will strech and still have some give in it where braid comes up tight/hard and becomes like a knife also this helps with not point loading you rod.. ie when striking or pulling on snag nylon has will give a liitle where braid won't. so you wont rip the hook out of the fishes gum / lips.

When people talk about a shock leader thats is about 20 - 30foot of nylon tied to the end of the braid. (others will be able to explain better... But a tip i have for surfcasting even when using Nylon is use a slice if old bike inner tube over your casting / trigger finger or some eletrical tape this will cut down the abrasion / cuts you get with mutiple casting.

Ah yes got ya. I only use braid on my jigging rig and soft bait rig, jigging doesnt get cast so no issues, soft bait is light as so no issues with load.
I learnt a lesson that day so wont be casting with that sort of rigour without thinking it through

Originally Posted by Gibo

Is that so you cast with the mono on your finger? If not dont see how it could help?

yes it is to cast with your finger on mono the one thing I do like about braid for surfcasting is you can detect your bites alot easier, you get your distance that you want for getting into deeper water plus it does not get dragged up the beach in a stron current as much. I fished kawhia harbour the other week one rod had straight mono the other had braid and it was the rod with braid that got all of the hook ups even though they were only small snapper where as the one with mono did not get a single thing apart from being dragged up the beach by the outgoing tide which rips through there pretty strong and the same on the incoming. Sure it does load up the rod more and hook up rates seem to have improved now to see if I can catch some of those sneaky shits with the braid at Whiritoa that seem to elude my line or tease me with nicking my bait lol.

Cheers I compute now so what knot are you using for braid to mono? Would have to be tough if you are casting it through the eyes every time.
I use FG and PR for jigging and snell for soft baiting but dont cast them when jigging obviously and dont have a trace of fluro that goes back past the eyes on my softy rig. Have lost a few rigs with the softy when the knot has gone back past the eye in my earlier days.

I use the slim beauty knot to join mono leaders to braid and use that same knot for my mono to mono shock leaders it is a very strong knot easy and quick to tie FG and PR knots just fuck me right off when trying to tie them. Also with the slim beauty it goes through the guides nicely when casting and does not catch at all due to the taper it has.

Originally Posted by hunter308

FG and PR knots just fuck me right off

I know that feeling mate, used to do the same for me. I dont use the PR much anymore, FG is piss easy once you find a technique that suits you. Cant imagine any knot with a lower profile to be honest but havnt looked at the slim beauty (thats a lie, sounds like my wife )

1. Tie a double overhand knot in the end of the leader.

2. Pull knot only semi-tight to form a figure eight.

3. Double 15-24” of main line and pass through top and bottom of figure eight. Wrap 4 times down the leader and 3 times back again. Pass loop through first gap formed by the wraps.

4. Tighten down the figure eight knot in the leader (pull 1’s). Then make a fast, steady pull with the leader and the doubled main line (not the loop) (pull 2’s).

5. Trim off loop and tag ends of the double line.

Originally Posted by hunter308

1. Tie a double overhand knot in the end of the leader.

2. Pull knot only semi-tight to form a figure eight.

3. Double 15-24” of main line and pass through top and bottom of figure eight. Wrap 4 times down the leader and 3 times back again. Pass loop through first gap formed by the wraps.

4. Tighten down the figure eight knot in the leader (pull 1’s). Then make a fast, steady pull with the leader and the doubled main line (not the loop) (pull 2’s).

5. Trim off loop and tag ends of the double line.
Attachment 15880

Fuck me that looks way harder than a FG

I find it easier than an FG and that knot stood upto the eagle ray I caught in the surf at Kawhia so I swear by it.