Further North

Yep. I've not had that happen, but have heard of it.

I don't count follows*, but it's somewhere between "a lot" and "metric f-ton." ? *...but I don't measure fish, weigh them, or take pictures of 'em either, unless they're exceptional, so I'm an outlier on the musky-angler curve. ? We had one on a well known Wisconsin flowage a couple years ago...came out and ate my buddy's jerk bait twice on successive casts, got off...then went to hide for a bit, then came out and hit a green and black #5 Mepps I was throwing...then hid for another few minutes, so I swapped in a #5 Mepps in Brown Trout...It came blasting out from the weeds, missed, then hit and missed 4 more times on the same retrieve before it finally ate right at the boat. This was all within about 20 minutes. That fish was gonna eat.

Caught a 35" pike on the fly yesterday. 50# mono to 30# wire to an 8" black/purple/red collection of fur and feathers that looks like nothing that ever has, or ever will swim in that water. A young guy who was with us, had two musky follows, one right to the boat. First was on a #10 double cowgirl - fluorescent green and black - ain't no line shy going on there, the 2nd one was on a Firetiger top-water thing with more hardware on it, and attached to it,than a kid's bike...

Weird. We see the opposite here.

I don't think Steve knows any tree huggers...but that seems an obvious point. We're the ones that provide the $$$ and most of the work. But at the end of the day, making those distinctions, and creating division is causing problems and helping nothing.

I looked at them a while back, I thought they had more chapters than that?

Interesting - I use wire, mostly Tyger Leader, or Knot-2-Kinky, but there's some light AFW in the mix lately. I find Tyger Leader and AFW much more flexible than heavy fluoro. Interesting to get that info. We don't have pickerel here, that I know of.

I'm curious why fluoro rather than wire?

I've been there... There's very little that I don't fish with some kind of wire...Senkos and Ned Rigs are two of them. Everything else, including pitching jigs, gets wire. Fish don't care...

It might help that the hook is way back in that rig.

?????

That's awesome! ...my Dad got me involved, on the upland hunting side of things, when I was a kid, so I've been at it, in various places, and varying levels of involvement for 40-some years. Keep up the good work.

Ditto. Context matters. "Why" is far more important than "what" and "how". I'm wanderings off topic...but I absolutely hate the new-ish "news" format where they summarize an article with a stack of bullet points at the beginning. I'll read the article and draw my own conclusions, rather than take a summary from some "news" writer who'd love to program me with their perspective...

I thought the context was important, and it took me less than 4 minutes to read... But I read two or three books a week...and 4 minutes is nothing...

Not sure why you felt the need, but OK.... The piece was excellent as is.

https://www.eauclaireanglers.com/post/a-common-goal-wild-fish-in-pristine-places I put this here because I wasn't sure where else to put it. It's not political...the opposite in fact. If it should be somewhere else, please move it. If this crew can't have a conversation without trying to turn it into a political discussion, please delete, or lock it. It'll me disappointing...but that's up to the audience, I think...to act like adults and follow the rules It's blog post by a local guide that a friend and I have fished with, and will fish with again at the end of October. IMO, he nails this:

The smaller pike here in WI will cut that 12 - 20# mono like it's not even there.

BTW: Caught several yesterday, all with leaders. Just for fun, I also caught over two dozen smallies, all in super clear water, with above normal pressure...all on rigs with with steel leaders...

Pike are not line shy, IMO. There's too many other variables: Tremendously effective lures (Mepps, spoons, spinner baits, hard plastic lures in colors like Firetiger, big surface baits that mimic nothing natural, and so on...) that don't occur in nature and look nothing like food. Big metal hooks hanging off lures. Weather/water conditions Presentation Placement ...that impact the equation to even begin to focus on the leader/line. For example: anyone who thinks a pike (or a musky) that doesn't hit a #5 Musky Killer Fire Tiger Mepps because there's a metal leader attached to it hasn't thought that all the way through...

I'll die before I'll ice fish... ?

Yeah, it's a PITA. A lot of the folks that use it use crimps and such, like with commercial steel leaders...which are an obvious fail point, to me...but if they like it that way, that's fine. One of the biggest drivers for me, going down this path, was to eliminate the swivel at the top of commercially available steel leaders. Anyone who has fished with them has run the #(&% things into their guides, and I know of of more than one person who has broken a tip guide, or knocked the insert out...then cut their line on a cast, or when setting the hook on their next Esox. I run a similar leader on all my fly rods, but those are 40# or 50# Maxima Alberto knotted to a foot long piece of tieable wire, with just a Mustad Fastach clip (no swivel, I don't want the weight) on the business end. Some of these are on their 3rd season.

I have several. My favorite, Tyger Leader, is no longer in production. I have a big stash of it, but will run out, sooner or later. AFW Surflon is almost as good (IMO) as Tyger Leader, and I have that in weights from 13# to 50#. The coated 7 x 7 is the best, for my applications. Rio also makes a coated, tieable wire that's aimed at fly anglers, and I have some of that. All of the above are much more flexible than heavy (80# - 100#) fluorocarbon that some folks like, and ties a heck of a lot better, again, IMO. I find the FG knot to be the best way to attach all of the above to the main line. It's the smallest knot available, and I've never had one fail. For some specific set ups - I have a rod built to throw #5 Mepps as an example - I run single strand nickle-titanium from Knot-2-Kinky. This stuff - if tied in right, you must use an Alberto knot and go at a least 8 wraps up and down - is freakishly durable. I won't kink, and I've had it last two full seasons without damage. ...as you might be able to tell...I've put a fair amount of time into thinking about this, and trying different things. ?

Leader is critical, unless you like donating lures to the fish gods. To avoid running them into the guides, I build my own: Tieable wire (20# - 30#) tied directly into the main line with an FG or Alberto knot, with a Mustad Fastach swivel tied into the business end with a Perfection loop. I have several of these in use that have lasted over one season. As far as lures: Look at #5 Mepps (red and white is a favorite here, but brown trout works well too), spoons (I prefer Doctor spoons over Daredevils, but both work) in both one ounce sizes and the next size down, regular spinner baits, and any noisy soft plastic (I rig mine Texas style, with a wire leader to the hook, and pink or orange plastic bead between the weight and the eye of the hook). I hope that helps.

Good for you, and for her!

The problem with grippers and Esox, in my opinion, is the potential to have to deal with a 15 to 20 pound fish, 40" long, that freaks out when you try to unhook it...which happens a fair amount. Even a 30"+ fish at 10 pounds or so is more than most anglers are ready for. ...the gripper creates a fulcrum on the jaw that the rest of the fish levers against...