Braid For T Rigs?

[Jake P]

Anyone use braid for your standard T rigs w/o a flouro leader? I want a frogging setup with braid but I dont fish them enough to make one exclusively for this. I was thinking about using my jig/t rig rod for frogging and spooling some braid but I have never used braid before.

[Long Mike]

With the exception of my ultralight trout rod (flouro only) and my slop rod (60# braid only,) all off my rods are loaded with 30# braid and a flouro leader. That includes both baitcasting and spinning. That combination gives you the best of both worlds.

[Capt.Bob]

X2, every rod I own baitcast and spinning have braid for mainline, and use 4# to 25# Fluorocarbon for leaders, the clear the water or the spookier the fish, the longer the leader, fishing slop maybe only 3 or 4 feet, gin clear water or heavy pressured fish up to 12 feet, as LM said, best of both worlds!

[BASSclary]

I mainly use straight fluoro, because the cover I fish doesnt dictate the use of heavy braid for t-rigs. Now if we're punching or pitching, thats a different story. I use fluoro because when fishing a texas-rig, your often fishing a semi-slack line. Fluoro will transmit vibration on semi-slack, as where braid you will feel nothing until the line is taught. The only exception I would make to use braid and a leader would be EXTREMELY heavy cover, but im that situation, i'm probably opting for a different technique

[ClackerBuzz]

sure you can do it. i use one rod for frog and c-rig. 65lb braid for froging and i tie a 12lb fluoro leader w/ c-rig. i would use straight braid if in heavy cover or stained/muddy water. if in clear water learn a connection knot ur comfortable with ie albright knot is easy with fluoro; blood knot easy w/ mono. like long mike i have braid on all my reels and love it. let us know how u like it

[SirSnookalot]

Not that I'm against having many outfits, have about 25 myself, but could easily whittle it down. I have both freshwater and inshore gear, I could use both in either venue and sometimes I do. I'm a spinning and braid guy, never use anything more than 20#, my leaders are short about 20-30", and I've given up F/C. This works well for me, I'm not suggesting others follow suit, my conditions may be different than yours.

[fishking247]

i don't see the point in using a leader with braid when bass fishing.first off from what i've found bass are not line shy, second of all i use braid for the ability of fishing heavy line with a thin diameter which allows me to slice through heavy cover and vegetation. using a leader basically defeats the purpose of the braid. the only time i would see using a leader is in crystal clear water and even then if i was fishing crystal clear water i would be using mono.

i can't help but laugh when i hear guys using 50 or 65lb braid with a 12lb leader

[Bass_Fanatic]

i don't see the point in using a leader with braid when bass fishing.first off from what i've found bass are not line shy, second of all i use braid for the ability of fishing heavy line with a thin diameter which allows me to slice through heavy cover and vegetation. using a leader basically defeats the purpose of the braid. the only time i would see using a leader is in crystal clear water and even then if i was fishing crystal clear water i would be using mono.

i can't help but laugh when i hear guys using 50 or 65lb braid with a 12lb leader

The reason people use 65lb braid with a 12lb leader is number one, because of line diameter, not lb test, and number two, the bigger the line diameter of the braid, the less digging it will do.

[ClackerBuzz]

i don't see the point in using a leader with braid when bass fishing.first off from what i've found bass are not line shy

we don't have those blind bass in my part of the woods

[SirSnookalot]

The reason people use 65lb braid with a 12lb leader is number one, because of line diameter, not lb test, and number two, the bigger the line diameter of the braid, the less digging it will do.

Hard to argue with a "southern boy" when it comes to bass fishing. I use 15# braid on spinning always with a leader about 15# or so, which probably has the breaking strength a bit over 20#. If I do have a weak spot it would be the knot, which seldom is an issue. For me cutting thru Florida slop with 15# braid has been no problem, since I don't use b/c gear digging in is no concern either.

[fishking247]

The reason people use 65lb braid with a 12lb leader is number one, because of line diameter, not lb test, and number two, the bigger the line diameter of the braid, the less digging it will do.

why not just fish with 12lb fluoro or mono then? lol you still have that lighter leader on the end of your line which is a lot more prone to break then the 65lb braid

[ClackerBuzz]

b/c it makes one rod multi-functional which is exact question/purpose of the post. he wants to use his frog rod (w/ braid)...add a leader and use as t-rig. if you only had 12lb fluoro on the reel you would not be able to go frog fishing.

[fishking247]

b/c it makes one rod multi-functional which is exact question/purpose of the post. he wants to use his frog rod (w/ braid)...add a leader and use as t-rig. if you only had 12lb fluoro on the reel you would not be able to go frog fishing.

i'm sure it will work but my texas rig rod is a lot different then my frog rod

[Siebert Outdoors]

I do. I use it for t rigs and jigs in heavy cover.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

My belief is that bass are not inherently line shy due to visibility but rather line diameter. I feel that heavy line moves more water and affects the bait's action and can be a turn off in that regard. I fish braid on the majority of my reels and add leaders only for abrasion resistance, and in the clearest open water fishing finesse baits. I sometimes add a leader during tournaments so I can actually break off if I want to rather than ask the boater to hold up while I try to straighten a snagged hook. I'm experimenting with a hand tool that will allow you to grab the braid quickly and get a strong and safe grip to yank them loose.

[skeletor6]

You mentioned you do not frog often, but want a setup to handle frogging and t-rigs. These are two entirely different techniques and most have a setup for each. Since you don't fish frogs much and it will be mainly for t-rigging you surely can go with straight braid for that purpose.

There seems to be split opinions on whether or not the visibility of braid affects the fish deciding to take your bait or not. Either way, how I see it, you should attach a fluorocarbon leader since you are mainly going to be t-rigging. That allows you to have many advantages. (less visibility, abrasion resistance, and ability to break off if you get a bad snag and you can save your line)

The connection knot is easy to tie and when you decide you want to change over to a frog just cut the fluorocarbon off and proceed. You are going to have to tie a new knot anyways when you switch between frogging and t-rigging so taking a couple extra minutes to tie the leader shouldn't be too bad.

As a side note, I am with BASSclary as far as going straight Fluoro for t-rigging because of the slack line sensitivity, but to each there own. I have setups with braid and fluorocarbon. I believe both have there places

[Jake P]

On 8/16/2012 at 4:20 PM, skeletor6 said:

You mentioned you do not frog often, but want a setup to handle frogging and t-rigs. These are two entirely different techniques and most have a setup for each. Since you don't fish frogs much and it will be mainly for t-rigging you surely can go with straight braid for that purpose.

There seems to be split opinions on whether or not the visibility of braid affects the fish deciding to take your bait or not. Either way, how I see it, you should attach a fluorocarbon leader since you are mainly going to be t-rigging. That allows you to have many advantages. (less visibility, abrasion resistance, and ability to break off if you get a bad snag and you can save your line)

The connection knot is easy to tie and when you decide you want to change over to a frog just cut the fluorocarbon off and proceed. You are going to have to tie a new knot anyways when you switch between frogging and t-rigging so taking a couple extra minutes to tie the leader shouldn't be too bad.

As a side note, I am with BASSclary as far as going straight Fluoro for t-rigging because of the slack line sensitivity, but to each there own. I have setups with braid and fluorocarbon. I believe both have there places

I dont see really any difference between T rigs and Frogs. Both require a MH-H F-XF rod depending on conditions. Where i fish a MH/F works perfectly. I am not fishing heavy lily pads and extremely dense weeds. It is more moderate cover. I know some people prefer a longer 7'6" rod for longer casts and to pick up more line and get the fish to the boat and out of the mess quicker. Again, I do not have that thick of cover and i personally dont see much casting distance difference between a 7 and 7'6". Which is why i was asking about line. I really love Yo Zuri but I think I will get another setup with braid to use for frogs and Jigs.

[craww]

My reasons for braid to mono leader on my all purpose rods are

-it saves line. Retieing over the course of 4-5 trips can take a good bit of exspensive braid off the spool

-i think bass can be line shy at times. With the leader i dont worry about visibility

- The strech of mono as a mainline stinks

-Im a topwater nut, braid has a bad habit of wrapping around the trebles. The mono leader has. Nearly made that a nonissue.

[SirSnookalot]

My reasons for braid to mono leader on my all purpose rods are

-it saves line. Retieing over the course of 4-5 trips can take a good bit of exspensive braid off the spool

-i think bass can be line shy at times. With the leader i dont worry about visibility

- The strech of mono as a mainline stinks

-Im a topwater nut, braid has a bad habit of wrapping around the trebles. The mono leader has. Nearly made that a nonissue.

Have to go along with these reasons.

[skeletor6]

I agree with those reasons as well. For fishing top water I fill up 1/3rd spool with cheap mono. The rest with braid then a mono leader. Braid lasts a long time and I can keep switching the leader to use it for multiple purposes.

I am trying to get more rod and reel setups to cut down on having to be so multi-purpose with mine but I think that is OP's best option with what he is doing. If one has many setups it makes it easier to be more specific. Without the really thick cover your rod will work, but will not be as good as a frog specific rod. I am in the same boat as you and only have 4 setups pending the arrival of my Powell Max 683c.

I know you mentioned you don't see a difference between frog and t-rig fishing but there is many differences IMHO. Fishing a weightless or light weight t-rig I have much more success with fluorocarbon. There will be times of slack line and many of my strikes occur during those times. Sure, you can line watch, but the added sensitivity of fluorocarbon for slack line fishing really helps me detect strikes and set more hooks which consequently lands me more fish.

Plenty on here use braid to Fluoro for that purpose so try that out and if it works for you stick with it. As far as rod differences for frogging and t-rigging, you can get away with using the same rod.