I am hoping to be in the Charleston area in the near future and would like to be a little more prepared when I do make it to the beach. I typically fish with shrimp but also put out a larger spinning rod with cut bait. My typical setup is a fish finder rig, 4/0 circle, 3 oz pyramid, 50# mono leader. I am not targeting sharks but I think it is time to switch to wire so I can see what is on the other end of my line when I do get a good run. Any suggestions for what test wire leader? Hook size? Weight amount or type?
Not trying to catch any giants and not trying to spend much. I will probably order online so including a brand name or a link would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for you help.
Malin is probably the most common brand you’ll find at your local tackle shop. More importantly, make sure you look up how to do a proper haywire twist. Any kinks in the wire will create a weak spot and most likely break.
Do a lot of sharkers here use braided wire over single strand to avoid kinks? I’m going to try and make some with a crimper tomorrow.
Anyone here ever kept a larger shark? I’ve kept smaller ones before and they were decent. I plan on releasing the sharks if I catch any tomorrow, but if I catch a large gut-hooked one, I wouldn’t be averse to keeping it so as to not waste it (I know anecdotally sharks may survive a gut-hook). I have a large and willing family to share it with.
Go with the braided wire. I think Malin is used more often due to its price point being a lot less than 7 and 47 strand. I think crimping is easier than a haywire twist too.
The reason to use single strand over cable is for bite offs. Even blacktips can bite through 480# 49 strand. The advertised # on cable is a pulling weight , but each strand is much less and can be gnawed through on a fight or bit clean if a tiger shark is on the other end.
I am a bit more of a renascence man here, yea cable will get bitten thru but cable rocks for live bait, the bait moves around better, so with live whiting i use cable, with dead baits i use wire. i figure if one out of 100 bites thru (still never seen one make it all the way thru) and i get twice as many bites im still a head. on heavy rods i us #19 wire only.
