I use 20 pound 832 braid pretty much for all my bass fishing and of course encounter plenty of pike. And the subsequent bite-offs. I've tried fluoro leader material to 20 pound test but at 20 the leader is stiff enough to mess with the action of the plastics I am tossing and the small pike still nip the baits off. I have some 18 pound test titanium wire that can be tied but I can't get past the messy knots, so now I am going to use some small crimps, clips and barrel swivels and make some 12" leaders. Lately I've found favor with a couple of line-thru baits that are pretty durable so I'm going to pre-rig a half dozen of these baits on the titanium and carry them in lure bags.
It must be the fluoride used in our own drinking water ending up in the river that has given pike better dental gear because even a couple pound snot rocket makes short work of the fluoro leader stock and braid this summer. I can't recall ever having so many baits being lost to pike as what we are seeing this summer. Are any of you seeing an uptick in pike problems this year? Its not like we don't have plenty of pike around when we're tossing bass baits but we've never seen so many bite off's as we have seen this summer.
