ryanlcomer

Here are my 2 cents worth...I'm an inshore and bass junkie who focuses on lighter fines presentations. Most of my inshore and bass fishing is done on a 7ft. med. light custom inshore rod with the stratic CI4+ 3000. I use 10lb 832 and change out my leader depending on what I'm going after. For bass fines fishing I've settled on 8lb. Invisx and 14lb. Snipper and 20lb blue label leader for inshore if there a lot of sharp rocks/oysters/structure. It depends on water clarity and structure. I have tried a ton a different leaders and there is a significant difference while only using it as a leader. You need to look at overall diameter/stiffness/quality. Leader material typically is much thicker and stiffer and provides the best abrasion resistance. I'm usually doing a 6ft. leader so I can rip thru a spool of leader pretty quick. This season almost only use standard fluro and haven't noticed any more break-offs. I have not yet been able to justify the price difference of good fc vs fc leader. I hope this helps.

I have gone back to the double uni for spinning. Still my question remains if anyone is having problems using the FG with casting reels on 30lb. braid to 14lb fluro or mono. I just ordered a spool of 14lb. sniper. I was having problems with 14lb. trilene mono and vanish 20lb. main line and leader. I'm pretty confident in my FG not tying but who knows. I've casted it thousands of times for saltwater with little issue but with spinning gear. I think the better leader will help.

Thanks for the great input. I've been lucky and have had a couple days of fishing this week. I'm still interested to know how people are using casting reels with 30lb. braid and 12lb. leader. I usually do the 20 turn version recommended by Luke at staltstrong. I have also read that fewer turns tend to bite down better on thin line. I ran my standard 20 turn on my spinning setup but with 20lb. fluro and it worked flawlessly. The water was heavily stained and the bottom was nasty otherwise i would of used straight braid. I used the good old uni-uni but it slammed hard thru my Shimano SLX guides. The knots looked perfect at the end of the day and held great.

I guess my more specific question is how well are people using the FG on casting reel when most use 30lb. braid or more for the main line and use a 10-20 mono/fluro leader? I got a half day of fishing in yesterday. For casting rods I went back to the double uni and hand no problems. It was loud going thru the guides but the knots looked fine. For spinning I used the FG but on 20lb. fluro. Not a single failure. Dink-I think the issue is strength and not diameter. The FG knot puts a load on the leader. Plus 30lb. braid is equivalent to 8lb. mono.

I agree, 10lb. braid would be better. I’m using my light inshore spinning setup for double duty and need the 20lb. It’s a custom Laguna rod ml-mf with the Shimano ci4+.

I've used the FG knot with a ton of success saltwater fishing for a couple years. I'm using spinning gear and 20lb. suffix to 20lb. vanish fluorocarbon. But I'm having slipping and breaking with my bass setups. I just re-watched saltstrongs video on the FG knot and at the end Jon says NOT to use the FG when using a smaller leader. I think this may be the problem. For spinning i'm using 20lb. suffix to 8lb. invisx. Many times I have to retie to have the braid bite and change color showing its cinched in. For casting I'm mostly using Shimano SLX combos with 30lb. suffix 832 with either 14lb. trilene xl or vanish 20lb. Most of my breaks are during casting or when snagged . I use about 6ft. of leader so the knot is never next to the tip while casting. Everything I'm throwing well within the rod specs. These breaks can occur after a few casts or a couple hours. The breaks happen at or near the knot on the leader side. Any ideas?

I'd go with the Lews LFS. It has a nice feel and has received great reviews.

I have the SLX 7'mh and the 7'2 heavy. Both only cost $30 with the purchase of the slx and slx xt. For the money, I can't complain. I'm using the 7'2 for light punching/frogging with the base slx reel on 50lb. braid. It's a great rod and it's sensitive enough.

Just a thought, have you looked at the Shimano SLX for $99? I've had Lews and Revos but I switched over this year to Shimano and am very happy.

My biggest concern is with break-offs. Line capacity was fine until I had to cut about 20 yards off due to a nasty snag. Thats when I was hitting the end of the line often. Froggin with a 65mm frog was bad but when your throwing a 1 oz. weight on a t-rig that abrupt stop isn't fun. I tied a uni to uni and filled the spool as much as I could. Then I reversed the line so the connection knot was closer to the end of the spool. At least it will give me a warning when I'm getting close to the end. When I flipped my line over is when I was curious to see what the actual capacity is and paced it out. It's not like a bass is going to spool me with 12 lbs. of drag locked down so it's not the end of the word. Tight lines...

I agree, companies like to use the best case numbers for everything. I just thought it was odd that on their website it says it will spool 105 yards of 40 lb. powerpro at .012 inch diameter and i am trying sufix 50 lb. 832 at .014 inch. I spooled it tight and to the top. Maybe for this application I need to jump up to a 200 size spool.

I’m enjoying my SLX and would highly recommend it but I’m questioning the line capacity. It’s supposed to hold close to 105 yards of 40 lb PowerPro braid but I can only spool 63 yards of 50 lb. of sufix 832. The line size is almost the same diameter and I have the spool filled to the top. The issue is I can throw a frog and empty the reel and have a hard stop ware I tied into the spool. I bank fish mostly and need to get some distance sometimes. Is this normal for manufacturers to be this much off on their capacity rating? Maybe I’m missing something.

Best Ned rig hook I’ve found. I lost dozens of zman standard and weedless to our Texas weeds and junk. I don’t I’ve lost more than one or two since the beginning of the year. I’ve lost count of how many bass I’ve caught on this and how many casts I’ve thrown into nasty stuff.

To answer the OP's question. I have two SLX setups that I bought. I bought the 7'MH with the SLX XT reel. I also just bought the 7'2" heavy with the basic SLX for punching/frogging. Paying $130/$140 for the combo makes this an easy bang-for-the buck recommendation. I like the SLX road weight/balance/looks/sensitivity vs my previous veritas, vendetta, and speed stick. I liked the feel of it better than the furry in the store but who knows once your on the water. Is it a high end killer-nope. It's not even close to my custom inshore rod and stradic ci4+ (10.8 oz. spooled). But I don't think anything is that much better at $100. Jump up to $160 for a sierra or a Laguna liquid and you can notice a difference depending on technique. I hope this helps.

I need some help on this one. I know line is based a lot on preference and environmental elements. I finally have a dedicated heavy pitching/frog rod. I tried Sufix 832 50 lb. in camo and its very stiff, highly visible and it's very hard to walk my normal frogs. I've used 20 lb. suffix 832 for inshore for a long time and love it except that it does fade quickly. At 20lb. it doesn't seem to stiff. I also use 30lb 832 on a couple of my casters and it's ok-I does tend to bite into the spool. I tried spiderwire and didn't like the coating, feel, and had a lot of casting issues (both spin and casting). I have also used the original power pro 4 carrier 50lb and I liked how soft and easy it was to cast but it was very noisy thru the guides, lost color fast, retained water (mist would fly off the line when I casted), and I felt like I was casting a rope. Base on what I can figure out maybe I would like the power pro maxcuratro or sunline fx2? I hope to find a line that is: -somewhat limp -doesn't have a ton of coating -quieter -decent abrasion resistance -holds color longer Maybe I'm looking for a unicorn?