Once in a while, an item of homemade tackle that's not commercially available proves too good not to be shared. Initially conceived for my local snaggy Northern reservoirs they have now become a standard component of all my running ledger rigs.
Much faith is given to buoyant ledger stems as an anti snag/weed solution when in practice they really don't do what is said on the tin. A buoyant ledger stem will lay flat to the bottom when placed under tension upon tightening of the rig and do not stay upright and proud of the bottom, fact! Only when a take occurs and slack line given with an open spool will the stem stand up. But think on if you will what follows after a pike/zander begins to take line before you pick up the rod! With bait and hooks in the fishes mouth it is the other end of the trace where problems are going to occur ..... a trailing length of wire with swivel/snap link and even heavier uptrace will (due to the laws of physics) drag along the bottom behind a taking fish. All this ironmongery dragging along looking for snags, weed and other bottom debris is not only potentially dangerous in the event of finding an immovable object, it will also collect crud/weed etc creating variations in tension which is not the resistance free runs we all strive for. Why go to all the trouble of pointing rods at rigs and using good indication to then let it all go wrong? Enter the "Snag Safe" buoyant leader which is designed to negate all the above problems and more .... heavy duty 65 b/s fluorocarbon (don't confuse with plastic carp leaders) with fused 1mm eyes and incorporating a semi fixed 30mm polyball. A QR swivel for trace attachment that sits inside the poly ball giving a neat and minimal connection profile while remaining uber reliable. All lays flat to the bottom under tension till a take occurs when the polyball immediately rises with an open spool and keeps all end tackle out and away from snags giving safe resistance free runs. The 1mm fused eyes run through any run rings as smooth as silk ...... additional features include, virtually invisible in water, massively abrasion resistance, flank/scale friendly and more tooth proof than mono or braid. Whilst not being a wire uptrace I believe the pro's outweigh the con's if used sensibly with good casting technique and application.
A full range of fluorocarbon anti-tangle ledger booms compliment the leaders and all will be available on the website from next week ... would have been earlier but the entire stock was sold at the P.A.C convention such was their popularity.