new to making bait rigs and leaders looking for advice

[hustler]

I am new to making leaders and bait rigs but I have seen a few that are really appealing so I would like to give it a shot.
Ive been watching alot of european pike fishing videos where they build there own bait rigs and leaders with steel cable and crimps and Im wondering if this is common to do here aswell?
Im looking to make some 24" leaders that will hold up well and dead bait rigs with 2 trebel hooks about 6" appart with a bar weight that can be inserted in the mouth of the bait like the old wobble bars.
Is this stuff common around here? Are there kits a guy can buy to get right at it or are the tools pretty costly?
And what are you guys using/building? Florocarbon or stainless ect?
Thanks for the help :)

[Braun]

waynechristie has started building his own rigs and was running experiments this winter using floro leaders. I watched him catch a couple monsters with them and no marks on the floro what so ever. I would assume this would be a cheaper route to go over stainless and it works just as well. So i would talk to him for sure. the tools shouldnt be too bad. All you need is a decent set of crimpers. as far as the bar you want to stick into the bait..... i have no idea. interesting concept though

[hustler]

from what Ive seen, They use larger sized smelts, mackerel ect and the bar makes them wobble back and fourth and gets them nice and deep without having any splitshots or anything else outside of the bait itself and they all have monsters on the hooks so...... I gotta check it out lol

[Gators]

I make leaders and some bait rigs that I use for ice fishing. You can buy all the supplies you need at the fishin hole. The nice thing is you can make the leaders any length you like and use black wire, silver wire, flouro or stainless wire. I mostly use the 15lb black wire and have never had a fish break the leader. Some advice, don't cheap out on the crimpers. You will use them forever so you may as well get a decent set, also use good quality snaps and ball bearing swivels that have soldered split rings.

[Dust1n]

heaveir the wire less flex
lighter the wire more fex but less strength
find one in the meduim
30lb

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

heaveir the wire less flex
lighter the wire more fex but less strength
find one in the meduim
30lb

Again my friend your wrong , I can order wire from my supplyer who I get all my materials from 310 lb leader material and you could swing from trees with it , its not rigid at all .

[Geezle]

Get yourself a decent set of crimpers and you can build yourself whatever kind of rig you want. :) I really like going this way because you can control the components that go into making your leader/bait rig, and as long as you trust your own workmanship you can come up some quality gear :)

This winter for pike fishing I started building my leaders and quick strike rigs with 50lb Big Game fluorocarbon leader material and have absolutely no complaints about its performance. Now that I'm fishing open water again I also grabbed myself a spool of 30lb Big Game fluorocarbon leader material for where the 50lb is severe overkill.

I started off with a Berkley kit I believe, that came with the crimpers, some black braided steel leader material and some crimp sleeves. Was under $20 for sure. The fluoro leader material I use is $20-$25 for a 25 yard spool. Crimp sleeves are cheap.

[WayneChristie]

I am a fan of the big game flouro for pike now after this ice season. Only fish I lost on it was on a rig I made using the perfection knot instead of a crimp sleeve just for an experiment. It was about the 6th or 7th pike I got on that rig, and the heavier line I guess let the knot slip, so maybe with a drop of glue it would have lasted, who knows. I do prefer the sleeves though. I used the 50 pound test. I find the wire kinks after a few decent size fish, and the flouro just bounces back.

[packhuntr]

I have been building my own pike/big game bait harnesses etc for a while. 50lb fluorocarbon is the ticket. Lots of different ideas to build and test, Im down to one rig out of a built, tweaked and proven approx 10-15. Every aspect can be manipulated and tuned. You will be happy you started to build your own. Biggest secret is the hooks and how your rigging the baits! Lots to be said about all that, lots to be said about it all, but the bottom line is where you fish em, if you cant produce sloths, you arent testing your equipment! This winter we produced over 7 between 15 and 30 lbs, been some fun. Good luck and build em right!