perch wire trace – Strike and Catch

If you are using a wire trace when fishing for perch, you have to make sure that it is as subtle, thin, and invisible as possible, so that the perch won't shy away from it and your lure. Many anglers actually make the mistake of using wire leaders that are way too thick and visible underwater, which will cost quite a few fish. A soft and thin multi-strand wire trace up to 10lb is your very best choice. Not only is this material extremely thin and flexible, but it is also a very soft type of wire that the perch will not mind at all. Another advantage of this type of wire material is that it is knottable. My personal favorite when it comes to wire traces for perch is the 10lb Drennan Soft Strand. Find it on Amazon here. Continue reading this article if you want to know all the advantages of using this incredible multi-strand wire and why it works so well for perch. What Is The Best Wire Trace for Perch? Courtesy of Alexander Sandberg Perch can be rather picky and line-shy hunters, which is why it is extremely important to use wire that is as thin and invisible as possible. Luckily, modern technology has come up with multi-strand wire traces, which fulfill all the above criteria! Multi-strand wire is made of 7 (1x7) or 49 (7x7) extremely thin wire strands that are woven together into one braided main strand. This makes multi-strand traces both unbelievably soft, smooth, flexible and thin. But the best part is that they have all the strength and abrasion-resistance of normal single-strand wire. Truly amazing tackle right there! Once I got tired of losing my perch hooks and lures to pike bites, I started to test different types of wire alternatives. Surprisingly enough, there is really only one wire that you can use for perch without risking to miss out on bites. This shows that the market's primary focus is on pike traces only. It took me a few years and many failed sessions with the wrong diameters or types of wire, but in the end, I finally found the one perfect perch wire trace. Here it is: Drennan Soft Strand This soft strand wire trace is so smooth, thin, and bendable that it actually feels like a conventional fishing line. I almost couldn't believe it myself! Only a few years back, multi-strand wire traces used to be rather stiff and prone to kinking, just like a normal wire. Their thin woven strands weren't all that resistant to abrasion or pike teeth, which caused a lot of line breaks. So, as they used to cost substantially more than single-strand wire, anglers just wouldn't use them much. This changed when Drennan introduced their amazing soft strand wire. Suddenly, there was this super soft and strong wire trace that was just perfect for perch, as you could literally not tell it apart from a conventional fishing line. The advantages of using soft strand for perch are plenty: very thin diameter that is hard to detect underwater an enormous breaking strength great flexibility for a better lure and bait presentation very cost-effective It really is highly cost-effective in several ways. For one thing, you actually get 30 feet of wire for less than ?10, which is phenomenal for such a high-quality wire trace. For another thing, you will save a lot of money as you will be able to keep most of your perch lures, and single hooks (if fishing with live baitfish on the bottom), when using this wire. It's very cheap insurance against those pike teeth! I recommend using 10lb breaking strength; it's super thin while still being strong enough to handle even bigger pike. If you want to test the Drennan Soft Strand on your next perch fishing session, you can purchase it on Amazon here. There is one more major advantage of using soft strand wire, and that is that you can tie it directly to your lure or hook! How to Tie Soft Strand Wire Trace As mentioned above, the soft strand's biggest advantage is the fact that you can knot it very easily. This allows you to tie your wire trace directly to your upper swivel that connects to your mainline, as well as your lure or single hook, which, in turn, saves you a lot of time when fishing. There are two simple, yet very reliable knots for tying soft strand wire traces: Figure 8 knotClinch knot Both take mere seconds to tie and both will hold extremely well, as the steel wire's surface isn't as smooth and slippery as that of monofilament or fluorocarbon line. I know it's sounds too good to be true; how can these basic knots manage a wire trace right? But they do just that, and pretty amazingly at that. Very when it comes to fishing tackle, simplicity is the right path to take, you just have to be aware of that path! Pro Tip: If you need to change lures frequently during a perch session, just tie a snap swivel to the end of your soft-strand wire trace! When Do You Need a Wire Trace for Perch? Courtesy of Simon Cronenberger If the venue you are fishing for perch in holds pike, it's always a very good idea to use a wire trace! For perch per se you don't need wire at all, as their teeth are simply not able to bite through your mainline. It is the presence of the sharp-toothed pike that makes using a wire trace a necessity. If you are just using your mainline all the way down to your lure or hook, it's almost guaranteed that you will lose a few of them to the pike. That's where the cost-effectiveness of using a wire for perch comes in, as you will save a lot of money on lures and hooks. Those ?10 will be paid off really fast, that is for sure! RELATED: If you want to read a more in-depth article on this very topic, make sure to also check out this article I wrote: Do You Need a Wire Trace for Perch? When to Replace a Multi-Strand Wire Trace? When the wire is kinked to a point that it will affect your bait presentation, or if there is even the slightest point of weakness in it, due to abrasion or pike teeth, it's time to change it out and replace it with a new wire. Like all types of wire traces, your multi-strand wire will eventually kink or have weak points, it's just not something you can avoid. This is why you should always bring the entire spool of soft-strand wire with you to the bank. Just cut off a new piece, take off the old wire trace, tie the new one to your lure or hook and you are ready to continue the hunt! Make sure to leave a comment below or send me an email if and when you try out the soft strand wire trace, I would really like to hear your opinion on it. Tight lines! Related Articles Perch Fishing at Night (Best Baits And Methods)Perch (A Species Guide With Facts And Pictures)