Panfish are not line shy nor are any other species

Today I confirmed once and for all that fish are not line shy as has been suggested over the years by those that insist using the smallest diameter line possible. Granted, a smaller diameter line is best for smaller lures in that it allows for the best lure action versus lines that mute lure action. I wouldn't use 20# test mono with a 1/32 oz jig for example, but 8# is within the upper limit of line diameter that is okay given a soft plastic design rigged on that light a jig. But even that argument is a bit flawed considering what I discovered today.

Like many that lose lures to pickerel, I fish a lake that guarantees at least half dozen lures lost to razor sharp pickerel teeth. So I decided that enough is enough and attached a thin wire leader directly to different size jig heads - no clip. The wire comes in different diameters for attaching deep sea lures prone to being attacked by toothy critters. Today, not one pickerel made off with my lures - especially ones that were deeper hooked inside the gum line. What's more were the variety of fish and fish sizes that bit the lure all day long! Even small sunnies got caught, ignoring the 3" of firmly attached steel wire.

Normally I would use a 6lb test fluorocarbon leader with light jigs to allow a faster drop and better lure action using rod tip twitches, but when picks enter the equation, they give me no choice - better to boat those slime rockets than have nothing left on the end of the line, having to retie another lure.

This was one of many fish, including large crappie that didn't seem to mind the wire:

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I agree...EXCEPT when fishing Gin-Clear water....At my "Stained Home Lake" and other local fisheries, I have been using Hi Vis yellow braid for 2 years now, with no drop in production...actually I think I am catching more fish because I can see the line move now!

I did an experiment by accident once. I had rigged half my poles with some braided line I had got free some years ago in some promotion. The other half of my poles were rigged with my normal fluorocarbon 8# test. the wife and I set up for a morning of drift fishing with slip corks and minnows. I immediately started catching fish and the day was looking good. After 5 or 6 fish on my poles with fluorocarbon, my wife asked why aren't I catching any. We checked depths made sure everything was the same. I told her not sure but I was trying out some new braided line which just happened to be on her poles. After catching a few more crappie and her absolutely nothing I switched position with her while I re rigged her poles. Needless to say we finished out the day with a nice mess of crappie. I disposed of the remainder of the braid and haven't used any since. Just saying, that's my experience.

I learned a long time ago that there's now absolutes. Most lakes it doesn't matter. Some of the clear lakes it's a major thing.

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when i am tightlining thick lily pads, i use #12 hi-vis yellow. they seem to pop it without concern as to how thick the line is and I am not retying jigs all day.

You can't use any line (or wire :yikes) in a gin-clear trout stream with educated brown trout. They'd laugh at you.

I use the hy-vis now also in the 8 & 10# ,depending on the cover..seems to work great.

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Originally Posted by lowe175

I learned a long time ago that there's now absolutes. Most lakes it doesn't matter. Some of the clear lakes it's a major thing.

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Agreed.

I was reading a article on swordfishing in a saltwater mag a few years ago. These guys were fishing at night, 200-300 feet deep, and they said they got significantly more strikes with flouro leaders than with mono.

I use hi viz line for myself. I really don't care if the fish like it or not.

I use hi-viz yellow in 2 & 4 # and add a fluorocarbon leader if the water is clear. Admittedly I don't find water clear enough to bother unless I am fishing a few of the creeks I frequent.

I don't know about once and for all. I've seen bream like that hit a bare hook in the hottest part of the summer. Doesn't mean it doesn't matter. Maybe if that had been 6lb clear, you would have caught something besides catfish bait. No Absolutes in crappie fishing.

What you may have seen or discovered means zero to me when my buddy is using the same bait, same size line, same presentation, but I'm using hi-vis line and he's using clear and outfishing me 10-1 within 6 feet of each other.

I'll take my chances on lo-vis or no-vis on gills and redears since seeing that play its self out more than a few times.

Wish somebody would tell those big shellcracker at Tippa Lake in MS that !!! Tested the high vis on them this spring. Same diameter, same bait ... Clear out fished the Hi vis 10 to 1 . I think it varies from each body of water.

Just got back from the beach about 3 weeks ago. Tried a little bank fishing and was catching lady fish, redfish, pompano, and whiting. The monofilament got cut off 4 times in the process of the morning so I switched to a wire leader. I caught a few fish, but thought the bite was slower due to the sun being higher in the sky. What was cutting me off never bit. The next morning I started with the wire leader and was getting no bites. I changed to a multi-hook monofilament rig and immediately the bite was back on, sometimes the catch was 2 at a time.

You could fish every Saturday for a year at say four different lakes in three different states and average 30 fish a Saturday fishing with whatever method you wanted. And at the end of that year declare that your method used is preferred or proves other methods are not needed because you caught 1,560 fish during the year. But you can't know if it makes a difference because had you used another method you might have caught 2,500 fish with an average weight 40 percent heavier than the ones you caught.

I remember when a lot of people still used dacron line and not everyone used monofilament. You think watching people switch from dacron to monofilament over time was not because they were catching more fish with mono?? That they just got suckered in by a new fangled product?? I remember when people use to fish a lot with cane poles and dacron line...heck that's how I caught my first fish. By the time I was 10 years old chasing bluegill around the bank of local creeks,ponds,lakes,swamps and rivers I had figured out that it did matter....and that's been about 50 years ago.

The funniest thing in the world is to hang on a tree limb,or bluff over clear water....drop in your bait...and watch 10 fish rush up to it and then stop cold and just stare at it...then slowly lose interest and swim away. And you change up something and it repeats itself over and over.And then you find the right combination and drop that thing in and the fish start fighting over who can grab it first. And fish can see better than we think even in fairly heavy green tinted water.

I caught a bass in a farm pond one time on tan colored dacron line and a bare hook with a duck feather tied on the line an inch above the hook. On any given day you might catch some fish on anything fished about anyway.

But if your goal is to give yourself every chance to have the most attractive presentation in lure,bait,terminal tackle that will attract the greatest number of strikes from the most wary of ANY given species.....then EVERYTHING matters some of the time....and most of the time.

The late, great, Elwood "Buck" Perry taught me some seriously valuable lessons back in the 60's. He looked at line, lures and even your boat, with one perspective only: depth & speed control. To Buck, it mattered not if your line was visible or not. (As a matter of fact, he wanted the fish to see his line, which would lead them to the bait he was using!). Buck boiled down line size as a tool enabling you to keeping your lure in the depth that the fish were at, with the ability to stay there throughout the retrieve or troll.

Being the accepted "Father of Structure Fishing", I've always approached my fishing based on these two vital controls (depth & speed) which Buck taught extensively through seminars & books. It has yielded tremendous successes for me over 50 years of wetting a line. Now with all that in mind, I always use the lightest line possible for crappie fishing; and most often, this is a main line, high vis braid with a fluorocarbon leader. This affords me the greatest degree of sensitivity - and invisibility at the end where it counts. I approach my crappie fishing with the same perspective as that of an avid fly fisherman pursuing trout in a gin clear stream. It's just how I enjoy our sport. Fishing is whatever you want to use that gives you the greatest pleasure. :)

There's more to it than just color and diameter. One line might make it easier to feel or see bites. Another might impart a different action to the lure or bait.

In order to prove it once and for all, you'd have to do extensive testing of practically all variables. Then you'd have to get others to do the same to confirm your results.

Reads like the Pickerel and Crappie are competing hard for the amount of bait fish in the lake.. they still hit with a wire leader ,it has to be fun to fight Pickerel on light tackle. My opinion Light ,clear, Line catches more when the fish has time to look at it bait (under a float or ice fishing) I use a rod with 4# mono for slip float and 6 # if casting an drifting. BUT you can't be catching if you're tying on lures every other cast

How do I ever manage to catch a fish?????????????

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BUT you can't be catching if you're tying on lures every other cast

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I can tying on lures every 10th fish using the same lure. (Always have at least three poles rigged with different lures and rotate between them).