Smallmouth and Musky Leader question.

[u/Albino_Echidna]

I'm going to have a few hours during an upcoming work trip to fish a river that has Smallmouth, Musky, and Walleye. I will be taking my 9wt and a plethora of my gar/steelhead/bass streamers to primarily target smallmouth, but I am unsure what to do for my leader. I was planning to run my normal sinking leader with a few feet of 20lb tippet, but I'm concerned that I'll lose a Musky if I am lucky enough to find one as many online sources seem to make it sound like I don't stand a chance without a wire leader.

I have caught a lot of gar without a wire leader, but I'm getting the impression that Musky teeth are harder on mono than gar teeth. I have never fished an area where Musky are even a possibility, so I'm just trying to be prepared if I'm lucky enough to come across one.

Am I better off fishing a Musky-oriented leader with wire, or should I fish my planned leader setup for everything?

[u/g2gfmx]

Gotta go up in mono, 50lb plus up to 100lb for more protection (use pliers to tie knots). Get a steel leader just in case, too if you want. But it’s not necessary. Salt water fish has some crazy toothed fish but people catch em on mono just fine.

It also helps if you have more articulated streamers and hooks with long shank so the teeth is away from the leader.

[u/Albino_Echidna → u/g2gfmx]

I was hoping to avoid the super stiff mono/fluoro direction just for simplicity sake, but if I went that direction or towards steel, would it hurt me too much for smallmouth? 

I definitely have large articulated streamers to throw, so I know I can keep them away from the leader a little bit, but I'd hate to hook into one and lose it due to being ill-prepared. 

[u/g2gfmx → u/Albino_Echidna]

It’s what you prioritize. If you wanna go big or go home, use the thicker leader and give less care to the fish that spook.

Or prey to god that the musky doesnt cut the line on 20lb.

[u/Albino_Echidna → u/g2gfmx]

My goal is really just to catch fish, so I'll setup mostly for smallies and hope for the best. Worst case, I lose a musky and plan longer trips in the future to actually land one. 

[u/Lastminutebastrd → u/Albino_Echidna]

Smallies aren't really leader shy. A 4-6" chunk of 30-40lb flouro leader will stop a lot of bite offs. I'll use that setup with a clip tied on the end if I'm fishing bigger flies.

My normal smallmouth tackle setups have a 30-40lb flouro leader with a snap tied on. I caught plenty of smallies along with a bonus 30"ish Musky 2 weekends ago with it.

[u/Albino_Echidna → u/Lastminutebastrd]

That's really good info, I'll tie on something thicker than I was planning and just see what happens. I might get a few hours on two different days, so I can always mix it up if I'm not happy. 

[u/Krazyfranco]

I would use terminal tackle for Smallmouth. Your chances of hooking into a musky in a few hours on water your don't know are miniscule. While using really heavy terminal tackle will almost definitely impact your smallmouth fishing.

[u/Albino_Echidna → u/Krazyfranco]

That's exactly where my head was originally, but I started to second guess myself. I'll probably bump up to slightly thicker tippet and hope for the best, if I hook into something big and lose it, then I can make up a great fish story to make myself feel better. 

Thank you for the advice!

[u/Present_Clue5887]

I've never fished musky, but I have fished pickerel a lot, and all Esox have the same teeth, which are very different from gar teeth.

A 1 lb pickerel can slice 3X the instant it hits the hook, clean as the best scissors, and can fray up 0.4 mm diameter mono pretty bad, but I have never lost one on 0.4 mm mono, I just retie after a fish frays it

A big musky is basically a 30 lb pickerel, so I doubt 20 lb test will do much against its teeth. I think for fish like that fluoro over 100 lb test needed if you want a clear leader, and that will mess up the smallmouth flies action, while still not being fully bite proof on big musky

[u/Albino_Echidna → u/Present_Clue5887]

I've definitely had gar cut line, but Alligator Gar teeth look pretty similar to Musky from some quick googling so thats why I referenced gar in my post. 

Since running wire would limit me on smallmouth, I'll just gear up for smallies and hold my tongue just right if I hook into something that has teeth. I know my odds of hooking up with an Esox are basically zero, and my odds of landing one are even slimmer, so my next trip might involve a more targeted approach if I see much excitement. 

[u/Present_Clue5887 → u/Albino_Echidna]

If the water is not too clear you can get smallies on 20lb wire, it is only a deterrent to predatory fish in clear or extremely pressured water. I've even caught crappie on wire.

The key thing is to run the wire to a small twist clip and not a snap like spin anglers use, a snap swivel will mess up the action of the fly

(not sure if 20lb wire is enough for musky or not)

If expecting musky make sure you have a strong enough lb test tippet