Howdy,

Planning my first trip to the boundary waters and I am wondering what tip it to use on my 7wt?

I dont want tog et bit off but Id like to be able to tie everything as usual. Nail knot to fly line and improved trilene (clinch) to the fly.

I have heard that some use AFW 13lb Micro Supreme Wire but Im worried that this will be too hard to tie with. Iv also heard of folks using 30-40kb mono but Im worried about that being to wide to tie onsome of my smaller buggier patters.

Thanks for the info.

For pike I use rio 20# tieable wire, cabelas has it or your fly shop. Smallies i use 3x tippet. For pike tou may want to just pick up a rio pike leader, usually 1 per trip but i carry an extra. Mike

13lb 49 strand isn't too bad to tie with. To me the question is, what are you targeting? I would think with a 7wt you'd be focusing more on Smallmouth and less on Pike.

One thing I use a lot when bass fishing (to reduce pike bite offs) is 20lb fluorocarbon. It is thin enough to work great on bass and smaller flies but it does reduce pike bite-offs a bit.

Its a one size fits all rod. Ill be targeting things with fins.

I need to figure out a solution to keep the pike and walleye form biting me off while fishing for smallies. I will however be taking all comers. Atleast those with fins....

I have tried most options. The AFW 13lb Micro Supreme Wire is the best. It is quite fine and will fit the hook eye of most wire hooks. For example I use it easily with size 6 Clouser leeches. It is much easier to work with than heavy fluoro. The surflon spools are very small compared to a big spool of heavy fluoro so it is no big deal to take some along in a shirt/PFD pocket. I think that one spool of Micro-Supreme lasts a full week of popper fishing in June for me. I take extra because I have cheap friends who "borrow" my wire.

I use the 13-lb wire fishing for pike and have caught pike put to 40 inches without any break offs. I also use it fishing for smallies when pike are around to prevent bite-offs. It is not heavy enough to sink poppers so you can fish slowly. I prefer the brown or camo color to the silver. It will tear up most standard nippers - I use fishing pliers. My friend uses nippers though. You would need to verify with your gear. I use an 8-wt rod with 10-lb Rio bass leaders + the wire tippet.

As for knots, it ties easily. You could attach it to the leader with a loop knot (e.g. perfection loop) but I prefer a double-uni with 5-6 wraps of the wire. For tying on the hook, a loop knot is a huge improvement over the clinch knots. You will get better action on poppers and subsurface streamers. It is well worth spending some time this winter learning that knot.

This is a good video although I tie mine slightly differently:

Lefty's Loop Video

Double Uni Knot for leader to tippet:

Double Uni Knot Video

You don't have to worry about Walleyes biting you off, but then I don't use bite leaders for my local gar either. Pike are another matter... they have sharp teeth (even though I catch quite a few every winter on 2-3lb mono). Thin wire is the best compromise unless you are willing to "sacrifice" a number of your flies to pike