To take advantage of the recent southern migration of Spanish mackerel and kingfish occurring inside and outside of the passes, you might want to consider adding a bit of wire leader to your line to prevent cut offs from these razor-sharp toothy critters.

I like using single strand titanium wire because it has no memory and won’t kink like regular single strand wire. Many times when using regular wire, after one or two catches, the leader is so kinked and bent that it’s not usable.

Always use the thinnest diameter wire leader you can get away with as these fish can be leader shy. Anyone using mono or fluorocarbon for leader material usually gets more bites, but will end up donating more lures and possibly lose a real trophy while a buddy is catching fish after fish on wire.

Manufactures have come out with a wire leader that’s so flexible it can be attached to your line with regular knots, such as the back-to-back uni-knot. Consult your local tackle dealer for these wire products.

To attach regular wire leader to mono or braided line use the Albright Special knot. This knot looks difficult to tie, but after a few practice runs you will find that it’s not and that it’s a strong reliable way of adding a bit of wire to fishing line. A lot of people will want to use a line-to-swivel-to-leader connection, but this is bulky and often the fish, especially Spanish and kings, will strike the swivel, still cutting the line.

Leader does not have to be long. Usually, six to 12 inches will do the trick for Spanish.

Wire not only is used for sharks, kings, and mackerel, but can be used for tarpon as well. The theory is that when a tarpon bites down on a typical piece of 60- to 100-pound test mono/fluorocarbon leader, its jaws are so strong that it grips the material so tightly it sometimes can impede getting a good hook set. When the tarpon clamps down on wire, it slides much more easily through his jaws so that more of your hook set energy is transferred to the hook and lodges deeper in the jaw tissue resulting in fewer lost fish.

I mostly use this method when fishing live ladyfish or dead baits around the bridges at night. The wire leader is much more visible than the fluorocarbon I employ in the daytime. Typically, I will use a six- to eight- foot piece of single strand 100-pound test wire (depending on water depth, of course) attached to a small high quality swivel (100-120-pound test) using a Haywire Twist wire knot and using the same wire knot attach my hook to the other end.

I tie my main line to the swivel using an assortment of knots, but always will double my main line using a Bimini Twist or Spider Hitch knot. If you prefer not to use the swivel, make your doubled main line connection to your wire leader with the Albright Special.

The Bimini is a bit harder knot to learn compared to the Spider Hitch, but is well worth the effort to learn because it is stronger and more reliable.

Fishermen often ask why double the main line before connecting to leader or swivel? Obviously, you are increasing your main line strength at the point in the line that receives the most shock from a hard-hitting, large and powerful fish, such as a shark or tarpon. Several times I have caught tarpon and found one strand of my doubled main line broken. When using a single line attachment to leader or swivel, that fish would have been considered broken off, or a lost fish.

Doubling your chances for that one fish of a lifetime sure makes sense to me.



Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. Contact him at captgeorget3@aol.com, or (239) 282-9434.