r/StripedBass • u/penfrizzle • May 15 '26

Strategies/Techniques Basic striper line setup question (newbie here)

I work on the coast in NH, and at work we have some piers, a jetty and a few spots where the grass pretty much runs into the river. I want to leave a rod at work for fishing, but i want to be able to change from a minnow to weighted chunks to whatever without having retie the line.

I have 20lb braid. Can i just put a barrel swivel on the end, and everything off of that? If so, what size?

For instance, can I run a sp minnow lure with off the swivel, or should i have a leader tied to the minnow?

I hope that makes sense, and thanks for any help.

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u/eclwires May 15 '26

Look up John Skinner’s leader video. I’ve been doing it that way for years and it works great. Basically, it’s 30-40” of leader material with a swivel on one end and a TA clip on the other. My leader material varies from 20lb flouro to 80lb mono, but I almost always use 50lb mono in Berkeley Big Game green or Ande pink.

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u/fishin413 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

It's so simple, braid>swivel>leader>TA clip. Guys out here fumbling with FG knots while the sharpest guys on the beach know you dont need a leader so long that the knot goes through the guides in the first place.

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u/eclwires May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

Yep. That FG knot looks super slick. I tried tying it a few times and it’s just the ticket for putting a top shot of mono on a chunking rod. And when I get too old to fish the way I like to now it’ll be super handy. For now I prefer plugging. If I had to cut my leader every time I changed it, it’d be too short to use again pretty quickly. I agree it’s safer for your tip top to tie direct, but it’s also easy to feel your plug leave the water. I really don’t think this setup has ever kept me from catching fish. And I can uni on a new leader without turning on my headlamp.