[thebigman]

Now im not a serious rough ground man but ive been trying out various tactics on the mixed groung venues that i fish.
Fishing 20lb main, 60 lb leader, pulley with 60lb rig body and 20lb snood with a 12lb weak link i lost a shed load of leads, but on a much rougher venue i just clipped the lead to the rig body without a weak link and didn't lose a single lead???:g: I just bullied it out and i think i had to change the snood and hook 3 times. Obviously a lot cheaper.

So what are your experiences with rotton bottoms? personally i dont think i will bother any more.

 

[EoinMag]

I tend to flatten my leads with a lump hammer, it does the job as a lead lift and I haven't lost one since I've started doing it.

 

[Ravelling Tangler]

12lb (labelled) is going a bit light for the rotten bottom (with 20lb main line)
YES - it does have the advantage that you won't be struggling to break the r.b. while a fish has time to snag your hook-length (and you could have winched it to the surface if the r.b. had broken earlier)
BUT - you do tend to lose a lead to any sort of 'light' snag

If you decide to use r.b.s again, try 17lb, 16lb (or15lb) length with a single overhand knot in the r.b.

The breaking strength drops significantly (to about 9 or 10lb) after a few seconds of pulling hard with the lead snagged, but at first it is something like 14-15lb...just the first time you start pulling, and just for a couple of seconds.

It sounds like your hooks are getting caught at least as often as the lead.

 

[DINOBOY]

rich,using 20lb snoods will bring tears when you hook something worth hooking in the rough,up the strength by at least double (i use 100lb)body and trace.you also want a minimum of 30lb main line its normally strong enough to spring the hook from a snag. as for loosing leads in my opinion its worth it for the fish

 

[thebigman]

Its not the loosing leads mate-i was just saying that without a rotton bottom i lose less. Last sat i didnt lose a single one-just pulled them out

 

[DINOBOY]

but that aint rough ground mate far from it.

 

[Bluebeard]

Some people tie their main line to the top eye of a swivel

on the bottom end they tie about 6 inches of say 40 pound line to the weight

then off the top eye goes the hook legnth

on really really rough ground this is as good as anything but not casting far

 

[David Gould]

Bigman, make your own weights from a lead mould that way it is only pennies if they come off and you don't feel so aggrieved by number 24 in one session .
You also know what weight you are casting with rather than differing weights for bits of scrap or bags of sand etc.
Even a cheap Ron Thompson break out type mould should easily see you run 400 weights through it before its worn out at the wire inserts

Dino partly hits it on the head when saying up things a bit .... a nice wrasse will munch through a light hook length no probs as will a conger ...seeing as your rough fishing you can also expect those sort of fish and as RT says use a knotted rotten bottom at the slightly higher line strain

 

[billfish]

the ground i fish u can loose a lead a chuck & that useing 15-18lb R-B.
dont loose many rigs, 30lb main 60lb rig body & 40lb amnesia, 9 times out of 10 the hook will bend out with great pressure.
if its the lead that is fast good style then the 18lb R-B will give but is also strong enough 2 pull out. ive even used 20lb R-B with a half hitch 2 save on leads if im running short on a mark
could'nt get away without a R-B on the ground i fish

 

[thebigman]

Like i say guys. im not fishing serious rough ground. I make my own leads already. Thanks for the advice guys but this wasn't really the point of this thread. I was saying that mayby it isnt worth using a rotton bottom in certain situations.

 

[Ajohn]

The thing that gets me about rotten bottoms is shock leader comments that say thou must use 60lbs etc to the lead. RB isn't something I have used much but as I know that 20lb test line will take the heftiest overhead I can give it I use that. I use a 30lb test main line that actually breaks at over 40. By test in this case I mean I know it's rated at that including knots because I've tested it. What it states on the packet is best disregarded on lots of lines.
For hook lengths I find going even as low as 15 can cause problems. They seem to have powerful crabs in Pembrokeshire. 20 seems to be ok but I'm looking for some 25 otherwise it's 30 or 40. I'm no fan of amnesia as it often seems to be rather weak and use memorex which is generally weaker than what the packet says but not by as much.

John

 

[DINOBOY]

Like i say guys. im not fishing serious rough ground. I make my own leads already. Thanks for the advice guys but this wasn't really the point of this thread. I was saying that mayby it isnt worth using a rotton bottom in certain situations.

If you aint fishing rough ground you dont need a rotter mate simple really:g:

 

[David Gould]

The thing that gets me about rotten bottoms is shock leader comments that say thou must use 60lbs etc to the lead. RB isn't something I have used much but as I know that 20lb test line will take the heftiest overhead I can give it I use that. I use a 30lb test main line that actually breaks at over 40. By test in this case I mean I know it's rated at that including knots because I've tested it. What it states on the packet is best disregarded on lots of lines.
For hook lengths I find going even as low as 15 can cause problems. They seem to have powerful crabs in Pembrokeshire. 20 seems to be ok but I'm looking for some 25 otherwise it's 30 or 40. I'm no fan of amnesia as it often seems to be rather weak and use memorex which is generally weaker than what the packet says but not by as much.

John

John ,
The heavier shock leader line is more to do with abrasion on rocks and coarse gravel ( at least it is in my case ) though the crabs and lobsters here in South Wales do some time make a mockery of the thinner lines with a real clean cut

 

[Ajohn]

I'm cheesed off with the crabs etc David. I find I catch more on 8lb snoods - no chance of using that especially in the summer.

John

 

[blankerman]

fished a venue which known for it's cobbly nature and most people use rb's there,but i too was losing loads of leads as the lighter line was damaged to easily,resulting in only a few pound required to break 12lb line.tried watch weights which were a waste of time,then found out purely by chance that leads with longer than standard wires seemed to hold the lead out of snags,now rarely use rb's.also use circle hooks which seem to rarely snag on anything