Braid To Fluro For Wacky

[buzzfrog]

i have my weightless sit up, mainly wacky. it is a M- XF falcon hd with a okuma trio 30, i have 10 lb fireline fused, i fished stained ponds and the strike is always a slam with a stick bait. anyway i fished today and only caught one, of-course it could be sucky fishig but it got me thinking do i need a fluro leader and what lb. also how long the leader if needed

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

For one. Not saying it doesn't work but a wacky generally produces better in clearer waters at least from what Ive seen. No, I don't think theres really too much wrong with the braid if you are fishing stained water.I don't think it's a problem with the fish seeing the line. The biggest problem with the braid especially low lb test is the lack of contact with the bait. I mean in the slightest breeze it blows a huge bow in your line. I find it kind of a pain when fishing light texas rigs or weightless baits. Flouro will increase the sink rate of your bait plus give you more direct contact for a better hookset. If you use a leader go 3-6 feet and in my opinion it never really is a bad thing to use leaders when fishing braid anyways.

[dumfish]

On spinning gear I use 14 lb. fireline with 15 to 18 inch. of 20 lb. flouro leader , they like it alot.

[Crestliner2008]

You might want to consider adding a fluoro leader. Not specifically because of visibility (or lack thereof), but more importantly, it's abrasion resistance. And with Fireline, I also use a crane (Spro #6) swivel. Again, not for the more obvious reason of line twist elimination, but rather to quickly get the Fireline to sink faster and keep track with your weightless bait. It has a tendency to float, so I try to counter that characteristic as best I can. I am a big fan of Fireline though; been using it for a lot of years now.

I've recently been using a similar set up with the relatively new 12# test Nanofil. I put on a 2' section of 17# test fluoro and have done quite well with it, fishing light jigs and/or weightless Beavers.

[buzzfrog]

yea i noticed the breeze thing, but i was recommended braid, if i had experiance with the giants bow in my line i reseive yesterday i would be sticking to mono or fluro straight. Also for a stained pond they sure do tear em up, it usally on the fall or twitch though..

also why such a high lb test, the biggest bass in this pond is maybe 2 lbs, i have a ton of 8lb left on a spool that wont fill up another reel, just lying around

[J Francho]

I don't use a fluoro leader for this at all. Too pricey and P-Line CXX in 10# works great when paired with 20# braid on this combo. Why such heavy line? Abrasion. I use an Alberto Knot to join the two lines.

Result:

[buzzfrog]

thanks J, i beleive i has some cxx, lying around may give it a try this weekend

[TxBankFisherman]

thanks for the tip on the alberto knot... I'm not too good at tying a lot of knots, but this one was easy, and is very secure.... it seems it would take quite a large fish to break this knot... highly recommended

[WookieeJedi]

It depends on the sink rate I want. FC is the fastest. The knot strength of FC has me only using it when I just gotta. I stick with braid unless I need a really fast drop or have to deal with clear water.

[J Francho]

it seems it would take quite a large fish to break this knot

The leader will break before the knot will, if correctly tied. Knot strength is very close to breaking strength of the braid used.

[Shad_Master]

Both my T-rig and Weightless rigs are set up with 20 lb Power Pro and 12 lb flouro as a leader. I set my leader length at about 6'. I connect 'em with a double uni knot.

[TxBankFisherman]

well this may be a stupid question because when I used braid, I tied directly with no leader... but am interested in trying it with the alberto knot...so my question is, when you go to cast you have a little knot where you joined the 2 lines.... does this knot interfere with casting???

[Mike L]

No..

The Alberto or Albright are small enough that it won't hang up.

If you use a rod with micro guides it may if you load up on the turns with a heavier # leader.

Mike

[gobig]

I have used an Alberto knot for several years with out one knot failure. By far the best line to line knot ever invented in my opinion.

[WookieeJedi]

well this may be a stupid question because when I used braid, I tied directly with no leader... but am interested in trying it with the alberto knot...so my question is, when you go to cast you have a little knot where you joined the 2 lines.... does this knot interfere with casting???

Not stupid at all. Most of the time I tie my braid directly to the lure. Only in really clear water do I use a leader of any kind. Even then, that is only with the baitcasting setup. With spinning gear, I just switch spools.

[TxBankFisherman]

yeah thanks for the help... most of the water I fish is stained, but plan on doing some saltwater fishing this year, and sometimes the water gets pretty clear, so I will tie on a flurocarbon leader... and also will use it on some ponds I fish that get pretty clear.... can't wait to try it out....

Also, what size leader??? around 2 feet???

[Fishes in trees]

The latest issue of In-fisherman talked about how 65 lb braid would float a senko & hook, so in theory you could suspend a wacky rigged senko at any given depth using a fluorocarbon leader to get the senko down. (they recommended 20 lb fluoro.) I haven't experimented with this, but the theory seemed sound enough. It seems like something worth messing around with some.

[WookieeJedi]

I tie braid right onto my senko hook, she goes straight to the bottom.

[detroit1]

I use a swivel between my braid and leader for senko/wacky/fluke fishing.

[buzzfrog]

Good reads, guys, Ive been using UNi to UNi with no problem

[200racing]

i have never used the the alberto knot,because i dont think i cant tie it good everytime.

i use the uni-to-uni like shown in the little books that come in a spool of power pro. %100 faith in it.

i use long leaders, notice a little tick sometime as the knot goes out but no catching or screwing up.

if you use a leader shorter than 2' you can leave it outside the tip.

just a theory from the reading ive done on here you can fine tune your presentation. need a fast drop a very long, small dia., flouro leader would be a good choice. want slow that puppy down use a short, large dia. mono.

[A-Rob]

When fishing for largies (in my parts its all grass) I just go straight braid.

When I back outta those back bays I fish clear water for smallies I add a leader to my braid. Doesn't spook the bass at all.

I use 15# braid, 10# P-Line Floroclear, alberto knot or modified albright or whatever it is called.