I have had a number of questions by email through our ask a question page about slip sinker rigs and catfish leader length and how to choose the right catfish leader length for a slip sinker rig or a santee cooper rig.
There really is no magic answer on the “right” catfish leader length for the slip sinker rig or the santee cooper rig. When I wrote the articles about the santee cooper rig and the slip sinker rig I did include some “standard” lengths for the leaders that are pretty common and will give you a good starting place for your catfishing rig.
The length has a lot of effect on your catfishing and you need to take some consideration into the length when using a slip sinker rig or a santee cooper rig.
The longer the leader is the more action your bait is going to have, or the higher it is going to sit in the water column if your using a santee rig. This is especially important if your drift fishing or fishing with live bait, but more importantly if your missing bites. The longer a leader is also effects how quickly you will have an indication of a bite, as a longer line allows a fish to move around more with a bait until it meets resistance, this is especially true when fishing with a bait clicker or line alarm.
The shorter the line is the less movement or action you are going to have and also the more quickly you are going to know when there is a strike.
Like I mentioned in choosing a hook for fishing with punch bait, with many things involved in fishing you have to learn to effectively read what the fish are doing and begin to experiment through trial and error. For instance if you are fishing with a slip sinker rig and using a 24 inch leader and are missing fish or losing baits it might be because the fish has too much room for movement. Cutting back on the leaders length might make the difference and help you start catching more fish.
If you are not getting many bites and you are fishing with an 8 inch leader it might be because there is not enough action in your bait, so making the leader longer could make the difference. I do find that most often people need to go shorter with their leaders rather than longer.
If you are not sure what line to use or what tackle to use check out our tackle page.
By experimenting and trying to get in tune with what the fish are telling you, you should be able to start putting more fish in the boat on your next catfishing trip.
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Chad: I learned about leader length the hard way, losing bites and finding a hook without bait. I started using 2 or 3 poles with differnt length leaders and the first one that gets a fish is the length I use that day or week. Since most of our catfish are under 10 pounds, sinker weight is also important, but I know you will cover that another time. You challenge me to think about not just what I am doing, but why. I have become more flexible in what rig I will use, because of learntocatchcatfish.com Thanks, Bob