Nothing crashes the rush of fighting a big pike or muskie faster than a break-off. In a split second everything breaks loose and you’re back on the ground—you inspect the terminal end of what’s left and find a failed leader. The last time you checked it was yesterday, six fish ago. “Man, I know better than that,” you think.

Wire is strong, so it’s often taken for granted as far as details are concerned. Leader comes in different materials and constructions, offering an array of choices to match your fishing situations. How wire’s made also determines its working properties of diameter, strength, flexibility, and suppleness. If you use the right wire, make good connections, and check it frequently, you can avoid those break-offs and land more fish.

Single Strand

Single-strand wire, available from companies such as Sevenstrand (Magnum), American Fishing Wire (Tooth Proof), and Gudebrod (Tooth Tamer), is made of one solid stainless-steel filament. It’s thinner but less pliable than stranded wire of the same break strength. Wire up to about 30 pounds—30 being tough enough for most pike situations—is thin and still quite flexible, coupling well with casting swimbaits, rubber-skirted jigs and plastics, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. The stiffer nature of single-strand makes it less likely to hang on treble hooks while working erratic presentations like jerkbaits and topwaters.

If fish aren’t shying away from thicker wire, you can get away with 40- to 60-pound tests for casting and trolling big baits. Tests of 100-plus pounds are often used for jerking and trolling up big muskies. Leaders in the 12-inch range cover most pike fishing situations, though leaders of up to 3 feet are often used for muskie trolling.

To make a basic leader, attach one end of the wire to a swivel for mainline connection. On the other end attach a sturdy cross-lock snap for connections to lures, or tie the wire directly to the bait. Cross-lock snaps are handy for quickly switching baits. They tend to collect weeds when fishing through heavy cover, so it’s often best to tie direct for a lower profile.

The haywire twist is the most reliable link between single-strand and the eye of a lure, hook, swivel, or snap. Pass the end of the wire through the eye, leaving a 3-inch tag end. Retaining a small loop, hold this tightly with the fingers of one hand, while with the other hand you make a series of semi-tight wraps of the tag end and mainwire. Make sure the wires are wrapping around each other rather than just the tag end around the mainwire. Thinner wire requires more wraps. The wraps act as a cushion that prevents collapse of the knot structure. For breaking strengths up to about 30 pounds, make 8 to 10 wraps. Use 6 to 8 wraps for 30- to 65-pound wire. Tests approaching 100 pounds need only 3 or 4 wraps.

The semi-tight wraps need to be followed by 4 to 6 tight barrel wraps to prevent unraveling. Bend the tag end at a 90-degree angle to the mainwire, grip the top of the wraps with your fingers or pliers, and wrap the tag end 4 to 6 times around the mainwire. If you have trouble making wraps by hand, you can make good ones quickly and easily with tools from Du-Bro (E/Z Twist) and American Fishing Wire (Haywire Twist Tool).

To get a clean break of the tag end, In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange showed me a trick. Bend the tag end into a crank handle, then rotate the tag end around and back until it breaks free. Most times the break is flush to the connection and is cleaner than can be accomplished with a cutter.

Single-strand wire can kink, compromising its strength, so it’s best to replace a kinked leader. Solid wire also bends, but bends aren’t a problem strength-wise. However, they can throw off the action of a bait and might make the leader more visible to the fish.

You can remove bends quickly with the Wire Straightener tool by Du-Bro. Clamp the straightener on your leader, apply pressure, and slide it along your leader a couple of times and you’re ready to fish again.

After fighting a fish, check the wraps to be sure they haven’t slipped (pulled against the connection point). Slipped wraps weaken the shock absorption characteristics of the connection, so it’s time to retie.

Titanium: Single-strand titanium wire boasts strength, flexibility, and stretch. It’s also kink-resistant, maintaining its shape after abuse. It’s thicker than stainless-steel of the same test, which might be a slight disadvantage when stealthier presentations are required. At a diameter of 0.012 inches, for example, titanium ranks at about 20-pound test, while stainless-steel ranks over 30 pounds. Titanium’s durable and knottable properties make it a good option. And it’s also easier on the hands than steel when grabbing leaders to handle fish at boatside.

Titanium can be tied to tackle with a clinch knot, or use an Albright to make a line-to-wire connection. You won’t be able to cinch knots down tight, but the connection’s strong. Terminator Lures (Titanium Leader) and American Fishing Wire (Titanium Tooth Proof) are sources of this wire, starting at 20-pound tests.

Stranded Wire

Stranded wire has the advantage of being more flexible than single-strand but has slightly larger diameter at similar break strengths. It works well with crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs and plastics, and inline bucktail spinners. A better choice for trolling situations when heavier gauge wire is needed, stranded wire has the flexibility that helps retain the action of trolled baits.

Thinner stranded wire is a good choice when tentative pike require finesse presentations like bunnystrip jigs, smaller rubber-skirted jigs, leadhead jigs, and plain hooks paired with soft plastics like eels and jerk shads. Stranded wire helps to maintain the subtler actions of these baits and also allows them to swim more freely on livebait rigs.

The number of filaments in stranded wire typically ranges from 7 to 49. More numerous and thinner filaments increase pliability. Seven-strand wire needs a wrap or crimp to make connections to terminal tackle, although an Albright knot can be used for connecting it to line. Wires with 19, 21, and 49 filaments are supple enough to be classified as knottable.

Stranded wire comes in coated and non-coated versions. Bare wire has the advantage of being thinner than coated versions of the same break strength. Coatings increase abrasion-resistance, and the fatter wire and smoother surface have less chance of damaging fish that roll in a leader. This coating also reduces kinks and curls.

Sevenstrand offers uncoated seven-strand wire and nylon coated Sevalon from 18- to 250-pound tests. American Fishing Wire’s seven-strand lineup includes bare (Surfstrand) in 10- to 325-pound tests and coated (Surflon) in 10- to 250-pound tests.

To connect uncoated seven-strand to a lure, hook, snap, or swivel, thread it through the eye leaving a 2-inch tag end. Clip a locking forceps onto the tag end. Hold the lure with one hand and the mainwire with the other, then swing the forceps around the mainwire, wrapping progressively up the wire about an inch. Trim the tag end. For coated wire, twist wires together with your fingers, then use a match or lighter to melt the coating around the area of the wrap to help bind the connection.

Crimping is another option for stranded-wire connections. Use the right size crimping sleeves and don’t overcrimp (too much pressure), which can cut or weaken wire under or at the edge of the sleeve.

Slide the crimping sleeve onto the mainwire and pass the wire through the eye of a swivel or snap. Then thread the tag end back through the crimping sleeve, leaving a small loop. Before crimping, make sure that the two wires aren’t crossed in the sleeve. With the crimping tool, crimp the sleeve snugly but not too tightly. For extra holding power, follow the above steps with two sleeves crimped side by side along the wires. Trim the tag end clean.

Knottable Wire: Knottable wire offers the option of tying directly to lures, hooks, and swivels, and for making direct connections between mainline and leader. Thin, supple leaders can help prevent bite-offs by toothy fish while bass fishing and increase the chance of landing a bigger bonus pike or muskie. Knottable wire is also used to make connections to leaders and flies for flyfishing.

Last season Stange tied on a 15-inch leader of knottable 13-pound-test American Fishing Wire while surface fishing for smallmouth bass, and it withstood a big muskie. He tied to the bait using a simple loop knot and connected to the line with back-to-back uni-knots. (Both of these knots are illustrated in the Feedback Column in this issue.) Another strong knot for connecting wire to line is the Albright.

American Fishing Wire’s knottable selections include 19-strand coated (Surflon) and bare (Surfstrand) Micro Ultra in 6- to 61-pound tests, and coated and bare 49-strand Micro Supreme in 13- to 90-pound tests. Several knots work, including Albright, clinch, uni-, and loop knots. Other knottable wires include Toothy Critter from Cortland and Tyger Leader.

The fundamentals of working with wire take you through most angling situations. Take the time to experiment, and with practice, you can tie strong, reliable leaders with confidence.