Last night I went out sharking off the beach in Sarasota. Just took out my large spinning gear in hope of a mid sized black tip. We were using cut mullet as bait. Almost as soon as the bait hit the water on 9500 baitrunner. Something grabed it with enough force to sever the 120lb braided steel leader. This leader was brand new. Had never even seen water yet. So either it was a faulty line or there is a big shark crusing of the bank. Either way I have changed out the leader with some stronger stuff and will be heading back out with my big stuff tonight.
if it was that plastic coated stuff that doesnt surprise me
Nope it was not the plastic coated kind. It was regular steel cable that I wraped with electical tape.
I used #9 wire on blacktips and I got
cut a few times and #9 is probably around 100lb test.
I use 275lb cable about 8ft long and a 12 0 J hook
on my blacktips now but I haven't lost my rig yet
& I've caught over 25 blacktips on the same rig.
But its a bit overkill for the blacktips if you ask me.
Yeah that seems a little heavy but I would rather go to big then keep getting broken off. I am uping my game and heading back out tonight.
I am old school, I use the coated cable 3/32 had it chewed down to the cable but did not lose my fish, take that wire bend it back & forth a coulp of times and it will break. I would be MAD 
!!! it my OPINION make them 16 to 20 ft long this is for MONSTER SHARKS!! FISH ON!!
I have found that 30ft is the perfect length for shark rigs.
Thank U!! I Will go 10FT More, Thinking about it make sense. Been makeing them for 20ft. 20 years. Fish ON !!!! 
I have found that 30ft is the perfect length for shark rigs.
THANK U!! James_Norman41
Where we fish at our tackle stores sometimes its hard to come across heavy cable adnw e landed 7ft plus hammers ive caught 6ft spinners and alot of decent 5ft blacktips when we have to resort to crappy cable we just double up the end lol
I think you all are getting mixed up a tad.
Sharkoutlet... 30 foot, I am with ya, but that 30 foot is section of bite leader between 6-9 feet then the rest heavy mono. Not 30 foot of bite leader. correct me if I am wrong.
James_Norman41... There is guys that fish 30 feet of 900lb cable. A monster rig for me anyways is connected to one 24/0 circle hook is 10 feet of #19 single strand and 480lb cable to 25 feet of 480lb coated cable... total length 35 feet.
The OP Crossbow was using a casted rig.
Casted rig for me is a basic fish finder with around 2 foot of #10 coated wire or 200 lb coated cable to a rod length shock leader of 130-200lb mono.
Another point to make... when using J hooks you have a much better chance of getting bit off just because the J's will stick where ever causing the bite leader to rub back and forth on the teeth.
If you use a circle hook and it finds the corner of the mouth, which it will 99% of the time, the bite leader is never rubbing across the teeth. Shoot you can catch sharks on mono bite leaders when using circles.
FISH ON !!! MY HARD CORE FISHING FRINDS>>
I think you all are getting mixed up a tad.
Sharkoutlet... 30 foot, I am with ya, but that 30 foot is section of bite leader between 6-9 feet then the rest heavy mono. Not 30 foot of bite leader. correct me if I am wrong.
James_Norman41... There is guys that fish 30 feet of 900lb cable. A monster rig for me anyways is connected to one 24/0 circle hook is 10 feet of #19 single strand and 480lb cable to 25 feet of 480lb coated cable... total length 35 feet.
The OP Crossbow was using a casted rig.
Casted rig for me is a basic fish finder with around 2 foot of #10 coated wire or 200 lb coated cable to a rod length shock leader of 130-200lb mono.
Another point to make... when using J hooks you have a much better chance of getting bit off just because the J's will stick where ever causing the bite leader to rub back and forth on the teeth.
If you use a circle hook and it finds the corner of the mouth, which it will 99% of the time, the bite leader is never rubbing across the teeth. Shoot you can catch sharks on mono bite leaders when using circles.
I think you all are getting mixed up a tad.
Sharkoutlet... 30 foot, I am with ya, but that 30 foot is section of bite leader between 6-9 feet then the rest heavy mono. Not 30 foot of bite leader. correct me if I am wrong.
James_Norman41... There is guys that fish 30 feet of 900lb cable. A monster rig for me anyways is connected to one 24/0 circle hook is 10 feet of #19 single strand and 480lb cable to 25 feet of 480lb coated cable... total length 35 feet.
The OP Crossbow was using a casted rig.
Casted rig for me is a basic fish finder with around 2 foot of #10 coated wire or 200 lb coated cable to a rod length shock leader of 130-200lb mono.
Another point to make... when using J hooks you have a much better chance of getting bit off just because the J's will stick where ever causing the bite leader to rub back and forth on the teeth.
If you use a circle hook and it finds the corner of the mouth, which it will 99% of the time, the bite leader is never rubbing across the teeth. Shoot you can catch sharks on mono bite leaders when using circles.
met up with Fish hunter 904 he was useing that same Rig U are TALKING about with one circle hook , and it works!! we got a MONSTER lemon. HOOK in corner of mouth. I need to ADAPT. THANK U! Hope FISH HUNTER 904 puts up pic?
Thanks guys I know and have had experience with the monsters in these waters. That night we were targeting blacktips and went with the lighter stuff. I loaded up the next night and ended up having my 9/0 all but spooled by what we think was a large bull. We were not even able to make it think about turning. Ended up straightening the hook. Needless to say I am planing on ordering a 14/0 later this week. We did end up doing pretty well as far as blacktips went. We beached 5 tippers and a lemon over the week. All released safely. We had several good runs as well. Still want to go out after that bull. But I do not plan on swimming off Lido anytime soon.