Wire Traces: What You Actually Need (And What's Just Marketing)
Share
Every close season there's a new wire trace on the market promising to be lighter, stronger, more "invisible" than the last one. Strip away the packaging and it's still the same job: stop a pike biting through your line and getting away with a hook in its mouth. Get the trace wrong and it's not just a lost fish — it's a welfare issue.
Here's what's actually worth your money.
Why You're Using One At All
A wire trace sits between your main line and your lure or bait, usually 6 to 12 inches of stainless steel or coated multi-strand wire. Pike teeth go through mono and braid without slowing down. If a fish bites off and swims away trailing a lure, that hook sits in its mouth indefinitely. A proper trace means a break-off drops the lure straight away instead.
This isn't optional kit. If you're targeting pike, you're running wire — full stop.
The Brands Worth Your Money
Drennan Soft Strand is the one most experienced pikers default to. Fine, multi-strand, and soft enough that it doesn't kill the action on a lure the way stiffer wire can. The 28lb breaking strain is the one to buy if you're only buying one spool.
Fox Rage covers you on both ends — trace wire and the crimping tools to build your own. If you're tying traces rather than buying pre-made, their crimping pliers and trace blades are the standard the rest of the market gets measured against.
Savage Gear and Sakuma round out the reliable end of the market — consistent breaking strains, decent crimp quality, and they're stocked everywhere so you're never stuck mid-season waiting on a delivery.
What to ignore: bulk multi-packs of unbranded wire from marketplace sellers promising huge breaking strains for next to nothing. There's no track record behind them, and a trace is not the place to find out the hard way.
Buy Ready-Made or Tie Your Own
Ready-made traces are fine for most sessions — convenient, consistent, no kit needed. But if you're out enough through the season, tying your own with a spool of Drennan and a set of Fox crimps pays for itself fast, and you control breaking strain and length exactly.
Either way: never fish a damaged trace. A kinked wire snaps under a fraction of the pressure a good one holds. Carry spares in a rig bin. If you're out of good ones, that's the end of your session — not a reason to push a compromised trace into the water.
Gear For The Session, Not Just The Rig Bin
Traces sort your rig out. What you're wearing on the bank is a different problem — standing at first light in October is a different kind of cold to standing there in a t-shirt hoping for the best.
Built for the bank, not the sofa.
More from Tales From The Bank: browse the blog for more on rigs, kit, and the pike season ahead.