Leader for Wide Glide bait

[MuskyRuss]

Larry, What have you found to be the best leader (wire or flouro), length of the leader and test to get the maximum glide our of the wide glide bait? thanks MuskyRuss

[TonyS]

Not larry hear but a solid wire leader is best for any gliders and wtd topwaters. better action and hooksets with no slack in the leader. slack is the main reason you miss with wtd type lures

[dahlberg]

Hi T
Are you really as absolutely positive about this as you appear to sound? I thought this through for a sec, and tried to visualize it and here's what I was pondering.
Have you considered the radius arm of the stiff leader and the number of degrees it can be angled and does in fact angle as the lure zig zags and considered that distance (where slack must occur until it is entirely straight and on the same axis as the lure) against any potential slack that might occur in a steel or even fluorocarbon leader that's connected to a line that's much more flexible than said leader?
Also the possibility that a small amount of slack might actually generate a steeper increase in applied pressure on impact and thus better break the grip of teeth on the surface of a lure.
An interesting experiment is to place a heavy (2 oz plus) glide bait even surface lure in the water with big, live, sharp hooks on it then, with your hand just underwater strike and grab it and fast and violently as you can.
Quite honestly, I have not tried it, and I'm not about to because I suspect I would be badly hooked. I guess I am not quite as sure as you are about the slack thing. I suspect there has to be some kind on inertial component to the equation but, like I said, I'm not entirely sure.
Depending upon what you are trying to achieve, changing the weight of the leader can either affect balance or sink rate.
The stiff steel is best for preventing tail hook ups, but has the most weight and because it falls quickly at rest reduces glide.
A knot to knot fluoro or lighter wire doesn't drop and create drag or cause as much "nose dip" at the end of the glide.
Just thought I'd toss in a few variables you may not have considered.
Thanks for the post!
best
L

[ajelstein]

dahlberg wrote:
> The stiff steel is best for preventing tail hook ups, but has the most
> weight and because it falls quickly at rest reduces glide.

Larry, do you really mean that the 1 strand steel has the most weight? I would think it would be the lightest steel material for a given lb test (as compared with 7 or 49 strand); although I would agree if you said it is the least buoyant (due to the trapped air in strand), which you seem to be implying...perhaps that is what you meant?

As for inertia, I would propose that the inertial mass of the leader materials is relatively insignificant as compared with the effect of water resistance on materials of various diameters...at least for short leaders...I suppose inertia grows in significance as the leader grows in length?...

I totally agree with your point on leader stiffness, resulting slack and the implications there of.

Interesting topic, I hope you are willing to explore it further. If you think I erred in any of my comments above, please tell me so.

Regards,

Andy

[dahlberg]

The inertial component refers to the lure.
All you have to do is weigh the leaders then you know. THe single wire that came standard on the first "heavy" wood jerk bait (eddy bait) is significantly heavier than the wire I suggested using. It's also lots thicker.
L