Just curious guys…what is your preferred leader (brand, weight) when targeting dolphin? Throw in the also the possibility of running into yellowfin in the 20-50lb class or maybe even a sailfish. Tackle is TLD 20/25’s …with 2 Tiagra 50w’s for long rigger use.
I’m working on tying up some sea witch’s this week for an upcoming trip to the OBX and debating which pound test leader to use on those TLD’s.
I have several tied with 80lb momoi right now and feel like that should do it, but I know a lot of charter boats up there tend to use heavier leaders when the yellowfin are around.
I don’t know…just looking for any ideas if you have any. 
Thanks in advance.
Billy
USCG Licensed Captain
—Team Pitt Crew–
Sailfish 236CC
F225 Yamaha
Solid single strand #9 wire to take care of the wahoo or barracuda that happens along.
Pioneer 222 Sportfish
Yamaha 250
80lb should be plenty. We use 80 for our tuna direct rigs and 60 when we are dredge fishing.
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations,neither are you here to live up to mine” Peter Tosh - I Am That I Am
We’ve always used 6-8’ 80-100 mono for trolling for dolphin/wahoo. Scaled down to 60 flouro and longer leaders when targeting the tuna, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if it really makes that much of a difference or not. People say the tuna are leader shy and I believe there’s certainly some truth to that. How much, that’s anyone’s guess. We’ve caught plenty of sailfish on 80lb leaders without a problem. That’s Charleston though; I don’t fish OBX. Make sure whatever your leader, your terminal tackle is at least as strong, if not stronger. SPRO makes a decent swivel for the money.
May all your favorite bands stay together…
quote:
Originally posted by Lowcountryboy
80lb should be plenty. We use 80 for our tuna direct rigs and 60 when we are dredge fishing.
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations,neither are you here to live up to mine” Peter Tosh - I Am That I Am
Thanks. Makes sense to me. I appreciate the info.
Billy
USCG Licensed Captain
—Team Pitt Crew–
Sailfish 236CC
F225 Yamaha
quote:
Originally posted by 23Sailfish
We’ve always used 6-8’ 80-100 mono for trolling for dolphin/wahoo. Scaled down to 60 flouro and longer leaders when targeting the tuna, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if it really makes that much of a difference or not. People say the tuna are leader shy and I believe there’s certainly some truth to that. How much, that’s anyone’s guess. We’ve caught plenty of sailfish on 80lb leaders without a problem. That’s Charleston though; I don’t fish OBX. Make sure whatever your leader, your terminal tackle is at least as strong, if not stronger. SPRO makes a decent swivel for the money.
May all your favorite bands stay together…
Thanks - great info. Yeah - I’ve heard all my life about how leader shy tuna can be and the importance of fluorocarbon. I want to say that the Captain I’ve fished with up there over the years uses 120lb fluorocarbon for yellowfin. He probably goes a little heavier because he charters every day and charters can be a little tough on the equipment.
I know he uses 80lb leader for white marlin rigged on TLD 20’s so it should easily do the job on any dolphin and most tuna…and now that I think about it (this jarred my memory!), I have caught yellowfin up to 65lbs on those TLD 20’s rigged with 80lb leader in the past on his boat…we got smashed once by a school of big yellowfin and we boated 8 of them between 60 and 81 lbs, a couple came on the “light” white marlin rods but the majority were on the Tiagra 50’s - so I’m just going to go with the 80lb leader and roll with it. I may tie up a few 100lb leaders as well just for good measure. I will double check the swivels too.
Thanks again for the info.
Billy
USCG Licensed Captain
—Team Pitt