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Braid and leader for kings?


Fishing_Maniac

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Hi everyone,

I am planning to target some kings of wharfs this summer.

What size braid and leader is recommended? I don't want to go too heavy since I still want to have a bit of fun whilst catching them. But I also don't want to go too light since there is a good chance I will be busted off. I will be encountering mostly rats with a chance of hooking up to a bigger specimen.

Cheers,

James

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Billfisher's suggestion sounds pretty right.

Remember, land based your going to have plenty of structure to deal with and even rat kings will give a good account of themselves.

You are going to need that line class for any larger specimens,

Edited by fragmeister
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I am not sure braid would be an advantage. Mono will be less tangle prone and more resistant to abrashion. Perhaps 30lb mono and 60lb leader would be a good compromise.

The only problem I have with mono is that it has strong line memory. I have heard stories of heavy mono curling up and being ineffective.

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I use 30lb mono all the time and never had a problem with memory. We're talking30lb mono here not 130lb

Thats the great thing about the interent ......You read so much rubbish that it propagates itself into a truth.

Edited by Crossfire63
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Yes it's not that heavy. If you are wanting to cast 100 + m off a beach with a threadline then the curling/ memory might be a factor, but not for fishing for kingies off a wharf. Overhead reels handle the thicker lines better but another option is that you can get extra fine diameter mono lines. Ie 30 mono with the thickness of normal 20 or 25lb mono.

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60lb is overkill, whilst kings are dirty fighters they also aren't dumb, if they see your line they wont touch your bait. All the kings ive been getting recently have been on 10lb fluro. You've just gotta play them out and angle your rod so they don't get you under. You will also hook up a lot more

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60lb is overkill, whilst kings are dirty fighters they also aren't dumb, if they see your line they wont touch your bait. All the kings ive been getting recently have been on 10lb fluro. You've just gotta play them out and angle your rod so they don't get you under. You will also hook up a lot more

I use 80 -100lb leader for kingies off the rocks and for jigging and it doesn't seem to put them off. If they see a livebait or jig and they are in a feeding mood they just make up their minds to hit it without regard to the leader. Also your rig is only as strong as the weakest link, with 10lb line you will have no chance of stopping a kingie if it's headed for structure.

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I use 80 -100lb leader for kingies off the rocks and for jigging and it doesn't seem to put them off. If they see a livebait or jig and they are in a feeding mood they just make up their minds to hit it without regard to the leader. Also your rig is only as strong as the weakest link, with 10lb line you will have no chance of stopping a kingie if it's headed for structure.

Where i fish is in very tight structure and you have to give them heaps of stick to turn them around but i catch more than i lose on that gear. Where youre fishing off the rocks bigger kings 15-20kg and rocky terrain you dont have much choice. Where i fish the kings are picky and are hard to trick I guarantee you if i fished 100lb there it wont get a touch.

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Where i fish is in very tight structure and you have to give them heaps of stick to turn them around but i catch more than i lose on that gear. Where youre fishing off the rocks bigger kings 15-20kg and rocky terrain you dont have much choice. Where i fish the kings are picky and are hard to trick I guarantee you if i fished 100lb there it wont get a touch.

What line set up do you use for those picky kings mate?

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Interesting topic... I have a 12ft rod... 6-8kg, with 20lb braid on a 8000 shimano reel, using 40lb fluro leader... i wonder if that would be enough for a king (landbased) xD

A 12'' rod will give a lot away in leverage and 20lb mainline is a bit light. Is the reel a baitrunner? This handy for letting them run a bit before striking eg when livebaiting.

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I run 20lb braid to an improved albright knot to 10lb fluro to a size 2 livebait hook,size 2 not 2/0. Reel is a stella 4000 on a custom built 6'10 ft rod rated at 8-12kg. Thats the entire rig, and i just fish small liveys or pilly cubes unweighted, obviously if im using a live squid i change to a slightly bigger hook maybe 3/0 or 4/0

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10lb sounds ok, I agree it might be a touch light, I go 20lb Max to pull them away from structure. If you use 60lb+ you may as well throw on a winch and broom handle to skull drag the King in. Certainly no challenge or decent fight once it's hooked.

Krispys keeping it to a fair fight.

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10lb sounds ok, I agree it might be a touch light, I go 20lb Max to pull them away from structure. If you use 60lb+ you may as well throw on a winch and broom handle to skull drag the King in. Certainly no challenge or decent fight once it's hooked.

Krispys keeping it to a fair fight.

I suggested 60lb as a leader, not the main line (though it's not a bad idea for the 12kg plus ones off the ocean rocks and certainly not unsporting)!

It's usual practice to have a leader about double the breaking stain of the main line. I suggested 30lb mainline if you wanted to land kingies bigger than rats.

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I fish for Kings with 30lb braid main line and 60lb flourocarbon leader.

...not that I have needed it for a few seasons!

The main reason for using 60 lb leader is so that it maintains reasonable breaking strain

under conditions such as a Kingie wrapping you around structure or taking you over some reef.

30 lb mainline gives you some stopping power so they are less likely to reef you in the first place.

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