Leaders for Braid

[lordofthemanor]

Recently went out with guide Wayne Olsen on Lake Anna. He uses braided line exclusively, but he does not attach any leader to it. He says it is not worth the effort and hasn't realized any drop off in catch rate by not using a leader. I always thought that a fluorocarbon leader was necessary when fishing braid.

What do you guys think?
Bruce

[JKay]

There's plenty of freshwater guys that get away with tying braid directly to the lure. I usually use Yo Zuri Ultra Soft Hybrid as my main line for freshwater. I only use braid in freshwater when I'm in the river fishing for pike. Besides the abrasion benefits of fluorocarbon leader, it also gives me something with more diameter to grab a hold of when landing a fish. You don't want to wrap your bare hands around braid.

For saltwater, I always use leader with braid. Same reasons as above. Also, some species can be very line shy...like false albacore. When fishing for albies, I'll try to go as light as possible with the leader and always use fluorocarbon. They have great eyesight.

[ComeOnFish]

So far, fish haven't bought a single product yet.
I know a very good bass angler fishing in a very clear water in PA. He does not use leader. He connect the lures directly to the braided. For him, it's the lure type, color and presentation.

I don't know much about the warm water fish and freshwater trout. My opinion is based on available fish in NY, DE, MD, VA, and NC water. Fish bite lures with ridiculous shapes and colors that don't resemble real baitfish at all. To me for many fish (the available fish in my water), visibilities of leaders (to human eyes), don't matter. But presentations can be different based on types of lines, thickness of the lines, and stiffness of the lines. For example, one day, you may catch none using 20# test mono, but you catch as soon as you change the line to 15# test.

I use Mono leaders because it is easier to tie knots than braided. Also mono leader takes beatings from sharp objects (like barnacles) better than braided.
Though mono leader looses knot strength by 20-25% when it's very wet. I soaked mono and Fluoro lines over night and tested knot strengths years ago. I used 20, 25, 30, and 50 LB dumbbells and a fish weigh scale. Mono lines stretch by 20+ percent. Amazingly Fluoro also stretches about 15 percent unlike the manufacturers claimed.

I found that knot strength dropped by 25+ percent on the wet mono lines and the knot strength of wet fluoro lines dropped 18+ percent. hmm....

it was difficult to test stretch and knot strength because of inconsistent knots I was making. I was making improved clinch knots (95% knot strength when dry).

I conducted human eye visibility test on mono and fluoro lines. I dove with lines, put lines in cups and bottles filled with tap water and lake and bay water). I don't see any differences between mono and fluoro.

Fluoro sinks faster than mono based on my test. And also Fluoro is stiff. But I am not sure if there are significant real life differences because of sinking rates, when used as short leaders. Though I think these have something to do with successful fishing in certain water and certain species.

When I was in Bahamas, the most of captains (from Florida) use Fluoro leaders in a billfish tournament. They spent thousands of dollars for the flouro leaders as they believe in Fluoro.

Just my opinions and observations..

Joe

[Romo]

It depends on the application. Largemouth arent gonna hit your bait hard enough to break 20 lb braid and probably arent gonna pull you into any rocks. But if you're fishing for stripers even a 10 lber will smack your lure so hard that sometimes the lines will snap immediately if there is no give from a flouro or mono leader. Braid is also useless near rocks or concrete. You can take 100 lb braid in your hands and take one swipe on the corner of a rock or concrete and it will part. Surf casting is another instance where a shock leader of some sort is required to give the line some stretch if you're making a OTG or pendulum cast even.

I think confidence is the #1 tool you can bring with you on the water. I always fish flouro leaders because I don't want to worry about any goofy braid happenings and losing a nice fish. Not using a leader is setting yourself up for failure.

[JohnE]

I am pretty much only a saltwater guy and I use the fluoro leaders religiously. But I have caught fish attaching jig heads and hard plastics directly to braid. When there is potential to catch very large fish, the leaders are also important for grabbing the line to wrestle fish into the yak. If your hands are soft from being out on the water, braid will slice right through your skin.

I only used mono for years and caught plenty of fish on it before switching to braid with flouro leaders...I do catch way more/better quality fish these days, but not sure how much the line has to do with it.

[HJS]

I change lures, or retie lures, so often that an 8' mono leader keeps me from whittling down my Fireline with each retie. As others have said, a 20# mono leader is much nicer to grab than the much thinner Fireline. You only get cut once with Fireline and you will never grab braid bare-handed again... jeez, that stuff cuts deep in the blink of an eye. The bigger the thrashing fish the quicker/deeper the cut... and that kinda wreaks the rest of the day.

[Mr.Mahiya]

I personally did not notice any difference in the amount of fish caught. I lost 2 spools of braided line to the skates this summer, because I didn't have the leader on them. I had a basic double bottom rig, tied directly to braid line. Skate picks it up, starts running, the line needs to be able to break off before you loose the spool. If you have the leader tied on, that is where it will break off. If there is no leader, braid will not break off and you will risk breaking your rod or busting your reel, unless if you can cut the line yourself.

[Skidsteer]

Also, stripers can abrade or cut braided lines with their dorsal fin when they turn away. A leader prevents this.

[Cowpokey]

I tie direct to the lure with braid on conventional tackle, fly fishing requires a leader.

[JohnE]

I tie direct to the lure with braid on conventional tackle, fly fishing requires a leader.

Better wear some gloves if you get into some pig stripers out there that won't fit in your net. That braid will slice you up man.

[Turtle135]

I fish for largemouth and smallmouth bass over 90% of the time. Most of the time I am using mono (that has a break strength of 20 pounds or more) on baitcasting setups.

There are two situations where I have found braid to be a good tool. One is finesse fishing for largemouth and smallmouth and I do use a mono leader for that. If I have to break off I want it to break the leader.

The second is jigging for stripers. The thin diameter of the braid allows you to get that jig down to the bottom without current putting a bow in your line. The no stretch aspect of braid allows you to feel what is going on down there with your jig. Again I will use a mono leader for that application for break off and abrasion reasons.

[kevinfry]

Fishing topwater without a mono leader is a ppain. Especially in fading light. If the braid gets fouled on the front hook (which it does more often with powerpro nd other soft braids) the small diameter makes it a pain to untangle. I don't like to stop, get out my reading glasses and sort it out. The larger diameter, stiffer mono is far more easily cleared and usually without putting on my specs

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[JKay]

Fishing topwater without a mono leader is a ppain. Especially in fading light. If the braid gets fouled on the front hook (which it does more often with powerpro nd other soft braids) the small diameter makes it a pain to untangle. I don't like to stop, get out my reading glasses and sort it out. The larger diameter, stiffer mono is far more easily cleared and usually without putting on my specs

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I could not agree more! Once braid fouls on anything, it's about 5 times harder to get untangled than mono or fluoro.

[Cowpokey]

Better wear some gloves if you get into some pig stripers out there that won't fit in your net. That braid will slice you up man.

I have never taken a net on the kayak. So far I've lifted a 25" striper into the kayak, and got a big cownose ray unhooked.

[Romo]

25 inchers are a nuisance and not even keepers up here!