Making Your Musky Own Leaders Craig Sandell © 2020 As most of you have read in printed periodicals and books, you should always use a solid wire steel leaders when you fish for our Musky friend. With the advent of Spectra line, some anglers are foregoing leaders. Leaders can be bought over the counter in all sizes with and without swivels and with a variety of snaps. There is nothing worse than to be in some remote location fishing for Musky only to discover that you are short on leaders or that the leaders that you have are not quite what the conditions dictate. In this article, I will show you the tools you need to be able to make good quality leaders anywhere. You can't make leaders without wire. Wire that is 174 pound test (.029 gauge) is a very good choice. It will not weigh down your lures and will provide that strength needed during a Musky encounter. Some folks like a leader that is beefier. To me, it makes no sense to have a 200 pound test leader when you are using line tested at 35, 40, 50 or 80 pounds. The heavier leader will also impede the action of your lure in the water. You can pick up a package of 30 feet of this type of wire (shown here) for around $3.00. This amount of wire is usually enough for most Musky anglers for a season, however, it is cheap enough so you might want to get a couple of 30 ft. coils.
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