When building a leader for light jerkbaits use stainless steel wire with a diameter of 0.8 mm. For more heavier jerkbaits use a diameter of 1 mm. Cut off a piece of 25 cm.

Take this piece of wire with a pair of roundnosed pliers, at approximately1cm to 1,5 cm from the end. Take the wire in your left hand, so that the long end passes through your right hand. Turn the pliers away from you and while you hold the wire firmly, turn the wire until the pliers bounce. Now use your left thumb as a counterweight and push a little harder in order to get a nice indentation in the semi-circular shape. Then you turn the wire 180° round the axis and repeat this.

After some practice you get a nice round eye.



When you have bent a nice eye, put the eye in a vice and let the small piece of wire point up. With the help of a pair of combination-pliers you can wrap the small piece of wire around the long one.






Sometimes it can be necessary to finish the wrappings with the combination-pliers. To do so, put the pliers on the wrapping and turn, while you squeeze firmly, in the direction of the wrapping. If you wish, you can file of any points that stick out. The wrapping should at least have two wrappings next to eachother.




In order to finish the eyes completely, slide two pieces of shrink tube over the wrappings. These are not just used to enhance the leader's looks but also to prevent the line from getting cut off by the sharp edges of the wrappings.






Then it's time to bend the other eye. You do this by bending another eye like discribed before. The position of the eye opposed to the other eye should be in one line.







Now slide the two pieces of shrinking tube over the wrappings. Make sure that the tubes are long enough to cover all the wrappings, including the sharp end of the wire.



Put the lighter under it for just a moment and the tube will shring nicely around the wrappings around the wrapping. Make sure that the shrinking ability of the tube is sufficient, regarding the thickness of the wire you used.



The jerkbait Leader is finished. All you have to do to be able to use your leader is to add a snap. You can buy these in a tackle-shop, but they are easy to build aswell. Check out Accessoiries/Various.