Anybody long leader bottom fish?

[1eyefishing]

A few years back I caught a 23" trout on saint mark reef You had a rather long piece of forty or fifty pounds flouro carbon hanging off the hook in his mouth.
I guess he rocked a fisherman who went home with a story about a wise old grouper.

 

[notnksnemor]

I don't like the idea of fifty feet of sinking flourocarbon laying on the bottom, especially a rocky bottom.
And I think a lot of the coniption about getting 'rocked' by a fish is due to this, not the fish actually being in a hole.

Post #4 again.
I use about 10' of flouro and let out about 40' of main line.
It's not for everybody.

 

[1eyefishing]

Post #4 again.
I use about 10' of flouro and let out about 40' of main line.
It's not for everybody.

Not knocking it because i haven't tried it. I don’t have alot of experience reef fishing.
Q: If you let out 40 feet of line after the bait reaches the bottom and the pen, fish only swims off with 10 or 15 feet of line before a grouper gets it and then swims off another 10' and settles , how do you know you have a bite?
My tendency would be want to use an EXTRA HEAVY sliding sinker so I could let the line out little by little and keep in touch with the bait on the other end instead of just having a lot of slack in the line. When a fish hit I might could detect it before the extra heavy sinker moves around on the bottom, spooking the fish...

 

[Bodine]

60# braid, add sinker, weight size according to current, tie on swivel, tie on 6' of 40# flouro with a snelled circle hook attached.
When fishing ledges or hard bottom with holes in it, you want to feel the fish asap, reel up and get it away from structure. You want your leader to break before ;your main line.
Been doing it this way for decades.

 

[notnksnemor]

Not knocking it because i haven't tried it. I don’t have alot of experience reef fishing.
Q: If you let out 40 feet of line after the bait reaches the bottom and the pen, fish only swims off with 10 or 15 feet of line before a grouper gets it and then swims off another 10' and settles , how do you know you have a bite?
My tendency would be want to use an EXTRA HEAVY sliding sinker so I could let the line out little by little and keep in touch with the bait on the other end instead of just having a lot of slack in the line. When a fish hit I might could detect it before the extra heavy sinker moves around on the bottom, spooking the fish...

Most places I reef fish have sufficient current to carry the bait away from the sinker.
Live bait (pin fish) I hook between the anal vent and tail. The weight of the hook and line usually keep it trying to swim away from the pull it feels on its tail.
Most times you will have contact with the bait due to the current.
If you get down to PSJ sometime I'll give you a demonstration. Marquadt Barge site is the perfect place for this technique. 70' of water and bare sand around the barge. Nice mangroves there.