Lead thrower,
I'm not so sure if it was the great fight they put up or if it was more of the teeth raking over the leader that made it break.The typical 3-6lber's don't fight like the 7-12lber's.Most fish that I boated in 2000 ran 7-10 pounds with the biggest being 12lb's.Some of these fish fight hard and some roll over.Like I said before nothing less then 30lb leader.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE