HOW LONG A LEADER?
Leader length is a grey area for many. Most  anglers use leaders either too short or too long and its all done by guesswork.  So just what are the criteria for deciding leader length to find that essential  compromise between casting and fishing?

First off your leader strength needs to be  judged against the weight of lead you are casting. A safe guide is to factor by  ten. For 2oz use a 20lb leader, for 4oz leads a 40lb leader, and for 5oz a 50lb  leader. Really powerful casters with good technique tend to use 60lb for  general 5 to 6oz fishing.

When power casting the leader knot joining  the leader to the main line needs to be off the spool and fully through the rod  rings just before the spool of the reel hits full speed. If its not, then the  knot will catch in the lower butt or intermediate rings and cause a crack-off.

The best way to measure the required length  of leader for casting over cleanish ground is to tie the main line to the  leader material outside the top tip ring, wind on the leader counting it around  the reel spool 8 times, then cutting the leader off beyond the tip ring leaving  about 36-inches hanging free for simple casting styles like overhead thumps.  This gives you a good drop using average length rigs of around 30-inches, and  keeps plenty of line wrapped around the spool for casting strength. You need  the leader wrapped around the spool a minimum of 8 times to give the strength  when casting to initially pressurise only the leader and still have some in  reserve on the spool until the spool hits full momentum to protect the weak  reel line underneath from early stress.

For casting with half and full pendulum  swings using anything up to 10-feet of drop from the rod tip to the lead, then  cut the leader leaving 6 to 8-feet of line off the end of the rod tip depending  on the type of rigs you’ll be using and their average length. Adding the rig to  this gives you the full drop to suit your casting style, but also gives plenty  of turns around the spool to protect the main line, again from initial casting  stress.

On occasions, say off rock ledges, piers or  breakwaters, it can pay to use a much longer leader, say between 30 and 40-feet  to ensure that once a decent fish is brought below you, you have the strength  of line to handline the fish upwards if need be. In these cases though, power  casting is rarely used, so there is less chance of the leader knot fouling on  its travel through the rod rings as the overall speed of line during the cast  is less. A more subdued cast is the key with leaders longer than 30-feet.

You can see from this that it pays to use a  different leader for different types of casting and fishing. This means a new  leader for every trip judged against the fishing situation you’re tackling.  Using a new leader each time also guarantees you have no inbuilt weakness in  the leader left over from the previous trip that might cause a crack-off.

TIPS AND TRICKS
Bead chain swivels are basically metal  beads linked together and each individually turning when under pressure. They  are used by Big Game anglers for attaching hooks to lures etc, but here’s a tip  for using them another way.

If you attach a small size 8 or 6 treble  via small split ring to one end, these chain swivels make a superb light line  lure that imitates a live sandeel when worked through the water. There is  enough weight in the bead swivels to cast a fair way on light line, plus they  are slim in profile and cut through the wind well. They sink easily, avoid the  worst of any suspended weed in the water, and catch bass, mackerel, pollack and  garfish as well as any other lure. They are chrome silver and come in sizes  45mm, 90mm, 120mm and 160mm. The smallest size breaks at around 100lbs and the  biggest is rated to 175lbs. The 45mm cost a quid each and the biggest £2.25.  That makes them cheap spinners in my book!

ESTUARY PLAICE TACTICS
One of the least exploited plaice fisheries  exists in our smaller to medium sized estuaries. Few anglers realise that  plaice move in to the outer estuary channels from about mid March onwards and  stay through until about late June when they seem to move offshore.

Areas likely to hold plaice include areas  of mussel beds around the estuary mouths where the tide current flows strongly,  a deep hole in the main channel usually found either just outside a man made  structure such as a breakwater, or on a major bend in the channel, and over  sandy ground close to permanent mooring chains.

Although plaice are mostly caught in  daylight, the quote that plaice are never caught at night is wrong. Plaice will  take baits at night especially in clear water and bright moonlight, and on very  overcast days. Estuary plaice also feed on both neap and spring tides, though a  low water period of a spring tide is often the best giving a short but intense  feeding period. High tide slack water is much less productive at most venues.

Tackle need not be heavy. A 2lb test curve  carp or pike rod, fixed spool reel holding 200-metres of 10lb line with a 20lb  shock leader and lead weights between a half a 2ozs, occasionally 3ozs, will  allow the bait to trot down with the tide and find the plaice holding holes.  Use a sliding ledger rig with a longish 24 to 36-icnh hook trace of clear 10lb  line and size 2 Aberdeen  hook. It doesn’t hurt to add a few coloured beads or flashy silver and gold  sequins just above the hook to alert the plaice as the rig moves in the tide.

Over dead slack water or when there is  little tide running, deliberately inch the baits back towards you a few inches  every minute or so. This induced movement will attract plaice laying half  buried in the sand. He lead also kicks up small puffs of sand which is another  attraction for static plaice to come in and investigate.

Top baits are two or three small to medium  ragworm just lightly hooked through the head leaving the tails to move, peeler  crab with a sliver of squid to tip it off, mussel and lugworm. The combination  baits using crab and rag tend to work the best.