Been making my own leaders,but they have been breaking. Using 50lb mono for hook and clamps...just feels like hook is fixed with no play...been getting lots of rod loads but not hooking them...can someone tell me step by step how to make a great leader that I can trust? Should I use clamps? Snells? Swivels at every end?

Santee cooper or three way?

Did like u said,using single swivel with 50 lb mono for hook...three way...just dont know if the hook should have free play like on a clip,or tied tight. Just need a basic run down so I quit wasting time and money and being OCD...how long should everything be,snells or regular knot etc...

Snell about 16 inches of 50# to hook. Tie it to one end of swivel. Tie a 30 to 36 inch weight leader to the other end of the swivel with a slip float and weight. Then tie the main line to the weight leader end of the swivel.

You attach a float to your weight leader? Why? See, my line to the hook was about 6 inches at most and line to weight was about 12-18 inches...and I think a palomar knot used to tie. Im still bank fishing just having a hard time with the hook ups and it seems when they do hook up its just barely...this has happened since starting to make my leaders...when I bought the store bought they seemed to work better,maybe because the clips? I dont know. Love the santee by the way...thank you for turning me on to that...just wish I could get that rig out to the deep.

The float keeps your bait out if the mud.

So attach float to line with hook, like santee? Or on line with weight?

Float on the line with the lead.

Just my .. Don't need Leader sleeve's! Guess what you mean by clamp's Never tried Santee Cooper myself, but will this year!! Here's all i ever use.. Only thing that changes is my hook size or style.

Your leader needs to be at least 12-15" long on your hook line for the circle hook to be able to turn and work properly, if your leader is too short it can't turn the way it needs to. Also leave pleanty of the hook exposed if you are using a circle hook, if the hook is loaded too deep, most of the time the fish won't get hooked.

Let the float slide on your weight line, it falls down to the weight for casting and floats up to the swivel after it hits the water to keep your bait out of the mud, make your weight leader about 36" long and out of 20# or less, and your hook leader about 12-15" long out of 50-60# line, I snell my hooks and use either Palomar or Trilene knot to the swivel.

Let the fish load up your rod if you use circle hooks and don't jerk on it after your rod is loaded up, reel about 3 or 4 cranks then pick up the rod!

Use a barrel swivel and not a 3-way swivel, tie your main line and your weight line to the same hole on the swivel and your hook leader to the other hole in the swivel, a 3-way will cause your line to get twisted around it and weaken your line!

Good Luck to Ya!!!

Chase was our leader but he abandoned us.......see.... this was one of his threads -
3Way (and its variations) vs Santee Cooper ....w pics
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/6758754/1

Read It.....Learn It.....Use It.......

Here.... Learn ya a cpl more things (thanks to StinkyTom, Chase, Bobby, Tiny, Chad and others).........

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/7318733/1

Thank you everyone for your help. This place is awesome and always is beneficial. Made the rigs last night...seem really long, dont know if they will be harder to throw than my shorter rigs, but am anxious to try them out. Hopefully fix the problem! Any more suggestions are definetly welcome

Read the tips section, you can learn a lot from Tiney,

http://www.catfishing.tv/Main/tips-section/TipsSection.html

http://www.catfishing.tv/Main/tips-section/TipsSection.html there are some different rigs on here, I most always use a slip sinker rig or sante rig. 8/0 or 5/0 team catfish double action hook