colour of shock leader

Message

#1 Post by **frodo baggins** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:22 am

i've always used neutral coloured shock leader for rig bodies, but lately , all i can get my hands on is brightly coloured leader(it's bright pinky red)made by shakespeare.have any of ye found that the colour of the rig body makes a difference to your fishing? it all just looks a bit gaudy, and i don't feel very confident fishing with it!

#2 Post by **magelite** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:54 am

i can honestly say i have had similar joy with both coloured or clear shockleader from personal experience, when fish are hungry dont think they care! But hey other people may find different results but for me it seems fine.

#3 Post by **blowin** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:26 am

I always use coloured leader for casting practice on the field . Makes it a lot easier to find the lead after it's cracked off .
Not so sure about the fishing but at least it gives you something to blame the blanks on .
N/

daven · #4 Post by **daven** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:47 pm

Read in a magazine that the colour doesn't matter really.Red (after that is green) is one of the first colours to dissapear in the spectrum of light the deeper it goes in water.Something got to do refraction of light or something!! If it is deep water the fish shouldn't be able to see it I think

#5 Post by **frodo baggins** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:54 pm

cool.... i fished with a couple of rigs the other night, all of which were made up with the red shock leader as the rig body, and i had a pile of doggies......it really helped shake off any nervousness about the bright colour.....isn't physics brilliant?!

#6 Post by **m.b3** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 6:41 pm

wouldn't worry 'bout it too much. however in shallow, clear seas, bright leaders/snoods can go against you. have had it happen before. changed to clear and started getting more and better bites. moreso with the colour of the rig body and snoods than leader though. ever see the bright coloured fly line used to catch trout in shallow streams?? dosen't seem to put them off, even when using a short lenght of mono to the fly??

#7 Post by **rockyb23** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:02 pm

I know a fair few trout anglers that might disagree with you there mark, some would say you're right but others would point to tan or neutral coloured fly lines, and there are very few who would use a leader of less than 9 or 10 feet long, tapering down to as little as 3lb bs at the tippet.
haven't got a bull's notion about shockleader though :D

#8 Post by **m.b3** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:17 pm

ah yes Rockyb23. agreed. that's why i had the question marks at the end of the 'statement'!! i would normally fish a 9 foot long leader on the rivers/ lakes that i fish myself. a 2lb. tippet on very bright days using small flies. there are times though when it is too troublesome and i go shorter, particularly with weighted flies/lures. never really had a huge impact on results. i am more confident with longer leader though and i therefore pressume i fish better. the bouyant 'booby fly' is often fished on a 3 foot long leader on a sinking line so it fishes just above the lakebed. it catches lots of fish when fished this way!!! often when fished on neon coloured fly lines!! if only i knew what the fish thought? confusing little buggers at times.

#9 Post by **rockyb23** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 8:51 pm

(apologies in advance to whoever started this thread looking for info on shockleader, you may want to stop reading now)

mark i've been thinking about this a bit more and on small streams and shallowish rivers in particular, the colour of the fly line is not going to matter a damn as long as your leader is long enough, due to the way the trout see. As you know, trout have a "window" of sight on the surface, which grows larger, but probably (I'm guessing) less clear the deeper they are lying. Given that the area of this window is calculable based on the depth of the trout, we know that end of of a fly line, that big neon monstrosity, will be out of the window if you are using a long or normal length leader and therefore invisible to the trout, so the colour of the fly line doesn't really matter and most fly lines, cheap and high-end, are neon to enable the angler to see them better.
on dudder hand, this is assuming that you are casting to a rising fish and doesn't take into account the fact that if you are wet fly fishing blind, you may be spooking fish by bringing the fly line over their window, but you would never know and might just assume you have the wrong fly on if you're not getting any pulls.

anyway, by this theory perhaps the booby fly, because the line is under the fly, is still out of the trout's window.
I agree with you that long leaders can be troublesome though, I usually cut mine down to six or seven feet when it gets dark. It may catch less fish but it sure cuts down on damn tangles.
As you said, it would be nice to know what the fish thought. It's probably a case of as delicate as requires - difficult conditions require more delicate presention. If the fish are mad on the feed they probably don't give a s*** either way but if they're being tricky maybe these are some of the things you have to think about.

#10 Post by **m.b3** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 10:54 pm

valid pionts. heavily loaded topic!! must have a chat over a pint or a fishing session about this one(for fear of boring people on the forum to death)?!!

#11 Post by **Drew** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:37 am

Well last time i met Shockleader off the Forum he was sort of a Palish colour :P

#12 Post by **rockyb23** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:35 am

right i'll shut up now.
And I think that should be "pints" (plural)