There are times when you have to deviate from a standard knotless leader, almost always because
you’re fishing for guys with sharp teeth, gill plates, or rough skin. Northern pike, sea trout, bluefish,
barracuda, sharks, and even the little Spanish mackerel have needle-sharp teeth that can cut through 20-
pound monofilament. Sharks are double trouble because their sandpaper skin can wear through a leader if
their teeth don’t get it first. Tarpon and snook have very sharp gill plates that can wear through a leader
in short order. So you need to add either a wire tippet or a monofilament shock tippet to the end of your
leader.
There are as many types of shock-leader formulas and knot suggestions for shock leaders as there are
fishing guides in the Florida Keys. In fact, if you’re going to fish anywhere with an experienced saltwater
guide, don’t even bother bringing your own leaders. Their business depends on strong leaders and good
knots, and most will immediately cut off any leader you have and throw it in the trash bucket, replacing
it with one of their own.
However, you may be going to a remote destination without experienced guides, or you may be just
fishing by yourself. The next best thing is to buy some premade shock leaders or leaders with wire
tippets already attached
. However, at some point you’ll need to replace a section, or you’ll get sick of
replacing $10 leaders every time you need a new one.
Monofilament shock tippets can be anything from 20-pound for small sea trout to 80-pound for large
tarpon. Saltwater shock leaders are usually constructed like this: 2 feet of 25-to 40-pound monofilament,
18 inches of tippet (called the class tippet because records are classified by the pound-test-class the fish
has been caught with), and 12 inches of heavy 40-to 100-pound monofilament. The tippet is there to
make things more sporting. To qualify for International Game Fish Association (IGFA) records, it must
be at least 15 inches long; the shock tippet must be no more than 12 inches long.
The butt section of a saltwater leader can be connected to the class tippet by tying surgeon’s loops in
both pieces.
Connect them with the same loop-to-loop connection you use to attach your leader to a
permanent flyline loop. The shock tippet is then attached to the tippet with an Albright knot, or, better
yet, a Huffnagle knot (see the paragraphs about these knots at the end of this section). By permanently
attaching a butt section to your fly line and tying a surgeon’s loop on the other end, you can tie up extra
tippet—shock tippet sections in advance. If you wish to change tippets, it’s an easy matter to make a
simple loop-to-loop connection
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