No leader with braid

[cjrat33]

So,  I just converted a couple of my spinning reels to braid.  Originally I had tied on a FC leader with an FG knot.  After a few days of intense fishing I noticed my leader was awfully short.  I then cut the leader off while on the boat and could not get the knot tied back while on the water.  I continued fishing the rest of the day that day and the next with straight braid.  I noticed it did not effect the number of bass I put in the boat.  My question is: Where do you all stand on using a leader?  As hard as an FG knot is to tie, I would rather not have to worry about retying and use straight braid, as it did not effect my fishing.  I was mostly fishing jigs and texas rigs on this set up so I know the bass was looking at my line. 

[wdp]

I don't use leaders. Just straight 10 - 20 lb braid depending on the technique. 

[Hawkeye21]

Zero leaders on any of my poles.  I use all braid or all fluoro.

[rippin-lips]

If you're fishing waters that have toothy fish they'll cut through braid in the blink of an eye. Also if you're fishing in waters with zebra mussels they'll do the same thing. Braid is great but it lacks abrasion resistance and sometimes you need it. That's where a leader comes in handy. 

[Bent]

I also use the FG knot, and I tie long leaders so that I don't have to retie on the water.  The FG knot is a pain to tie but it is amazingly thin and strong, I let it go through the guides and don't have issues with connection knots failing.  I don't know if it affects the number of bites I get, and in theory I think the only way you could know would be to have two anglers of equal skill fishing exactly the same presentations for a HUGE number of hours in varying conditions to get a meaningful sample.  On that day you still got bites with straight braid, how do you know you wouldn't have gotten more (or fewer) with a leader?  That question alone isn't enough to get me to go through the trouble - one of the lakes I fish often has really clear water, I can't imagine that straight braid would get more bites, and I have confidence in my connection knot, so I tie a leader.  I know I'd still catch fish without the leader, but I feel better having it tied on.

[Jar11591]

When using braid, I usually have a leader attached to it, thick fluorocarbon or monofilament. The reason for this however, isn't always due to line visibility. More often it's so I can break off if I'm really stuck without losing $45 of braid while doing it. 15lb mono is a lot easier to break off than 40lb braid. 

 

If I'm fishing water that is super clear, I will tie on an 8-10' fluoro leader. I can't tell you for certain if line-visibility will turn off a fish in clear water. But I do know for certain that if bass do get line-shy, a fluoro carbon leader can only help. 

 

Dont worry about a leader knot being a weak point in your line---a properly tied one should not fail under normal fishing circumstances any more than the knot to your hook.  I have never had a leader knot fail on me....ever. 

 

Im sure @Darren. will be here soon to chime in with his leader expertise, or should I say "leader-ship"?  lol 

[cjrat33]

Thanks so much for all the replies so far.  So far on my spinning reels I have 30 pound braid.  I loved the point about a leader being easier to break when I get hung up.  Most lakes here in Southwest Virginia have very little water clarity.  I fished a lake last weekend that might have had 1 ft visibility.  I am just experimenting with it for now.  Just hate being able to tie that not with ease in the house but not on the boat.

[MassYak85]

13 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

When using braid, I usually have a leader attached to it, thick fluorocarbon or monofilament. The reason for this however, isn't always due to line visibility. More often it's so I can break off if I'm really stuck without losing $45 of braid while doing it. 15lb mono is a lot easier to break off than 40lb braid. 

 

If I'm fishing water that is super clear, I will tie on an 8-10' fluoro leader. I can't tell you for certain if line-visibility will turn off a fish in clear water. But I do know for certain that if bass do get line-shy, a fluoro carbon leader can only help. 

 

Dont worry about a leader knot being a weak point in your line---a properly tied one should not fail under normal fishing circumstances any more than the knot to your hook.  I have never had a leader knot fail on me....ever. 

 

Im sure @Darren. will be here soon to chime in with his leader expertise, or should I say "leader-ship"?  lol 

ditto

[Scott F]

8 minutes ago, rippin-lips said:

If you're fishing waters that have toothy fish they'll cut through braid in the blink of an eye. Also if you're fishing in waters with zebra mussels they'll do the same thing. Braid is great but it lacks abrasion resistance and sometimes you need it. That's where a leader comes in handy. 

 

If you think a pike or a zebra mussel won't cut FC line, you are kidding yourself.  I have fished nothing but braid with no leader for many years and have never had a break off from line abrasion and I'm using mostly 8-10lb line. To the original poster, your unintended experiment with no leader gave the same results that I have found. Even if you could prove that I'd get 10% less fish without a leader, I still wouldn't use one just to save me the trouble of having to buy extra line, tie extra knots, and have that knot reduce the length of my casts as it catches on the eyelets.

[rippin-lips]

13 minutes ago, Scott F said:

 

If you think a pike or a zebra mussel won't cut FC line, you are kidding yourself.  I have fished nothing but braid with no leader for many years and have never had a break off from line abrasion and I'm using mostly 8-10lb line. To the original poster, your unintended experiment with no leader gave the same results that I have found. Even if you could prove that I'd get 10% less fish without a leader, I still wouldn't use one just to save me the trouble of having to buy extra line, tie extra knots, and have that knot reduce the length of my casts as it catches on the eyelets.

I'm plenty aware that'll cut fluoro or mono. All my waters have both things I mentioned in them. However, it doesn't cut through those types of lines as easy as it does braid. If you're not breaking off with #10 braid due to abrasion then you must not be fishing around much stuff that's abrasive. I normally use #30 and had it cut many many times, but if it's working for you then great. 

[NYBasser]

23 minutes ago, Scott F said:

 

If you think a pike or a zebra mussel won't cut FC line, you are kidding yourself.  I have fished nothing but braid with no leader for many years and have never had a break off from line abrasion and I'm using mostly 8-10lb line. To the original poster, your unintended experiment with no leader gave the same results that I have found. Even if you could prove that I'd get 10% less fish without a leader, I still wouldn't use one just to save me the trouble of having to buy extra line, tie extra knots, and have that knot reduce the length of my casts as it catches on the eyelets.

I find that 10lb and even 20lb braid gets chaffed up pretty quickly when fishing near docks, rocks, and stumps. A leader makes a world of difference in terms of abrasion resistance. Would rather spend the time tying leaders than cussing over lost fish.   

[EllisJuan]

When the water is clear, and the bite is tough, I will tie on a leader for slow presentations.  It is a confidence thing.

 

 

You should be able to tie a braid to leader knot on your boat.  Practice.  Maybe try a double uni.

[fishwizzard]

I use floro/CP leaders mainly because I fish a lot of weightless or lightly weighted plastics and having a bit of sinking leader seems to help me work the lure and keep it at the depth I want.  I find, for example, a weightless Super Fluke will stay at a nice 2-3' depth with even a short 2' 8lb YZH leader tied on where with straight braid it wants to rise with most every rod twitch.  

 

I fish for a white perch and pickerel a lot with UL spinners and this spring I am going to try to use a very heavy and short floro leader, maybe like 6-12" of 15lb, in front of my tiny inline spinners.  I hope that it will one, provide me a bit of pickerel protection, and two, help get those light lures to stay down when I reel them in fast, which is often how the perch want them.  

 

 

[Oklahoma Mike]

I will use a FC leader for certain types of presentations where I think braid might inhibit the action of my lure or if I think I need it for abrasion resistance. Or in very clear water, which I rarely ever fish. I will also use one in situations where I have a high chance of snagging so I can break it off without losing a bunch of line. 

 

In these situations I tie my leader with the Alberto knot. It works great for me and is fast and easy to tie, even on the water. 

 

Otherwise I am fine with going straight braid. I like a double Palomar for tying direct with braid. 

[Angry John]

I was a strait flouro person for a while and in WA state i did not get many bites if i was using above 6lb test.  I had battles with many 3,4,5 lb fish in 6lb line in pads and under docks.  I used to hit them hard and reel like mad to move them to me before the battle heated up.  I never broke off but i put my line to the limit.  Now that i live in TN the need to use leaders or flouro for that matter seems a lot less.  I hate dealing with knots and flouro so now i use YHB for leader material and am a lot happier.  I will continue to test to see if i need it but certain lures dont work well for me on strait braid.  Spinner baits and buzz baits dont cast very well without some type of leader.  

 

And i also use the Alberto which i can tie on the boat but try and plan ahead and tie before i hit the water

Edited March 9, 2017 by Angry John
added knot

[bassguytom]

I use a leader with braid all the time. I fish clear water lakes and would love to use straight braid for the simplicity but never seem to do well. I use the Alberto knot and can also tie quickly on the boat if needed. I'm confident I will catch fish this way so I stick with it.

[FishOnLMB]

I usually use a fluro leader with an FG know in two scenarios. The first one is if the water is clear; if the water has at least 3 feet of visibility, I tie on a leader. The second reason is if I am fishing a bottom bait slowly. This could be on a jig, texas rig, or any other lure that you would drag or work slowly. 

[dwh4784]

I fished straight braid for years with good results, lots of pike got the better of me when fishing jigs and plastics but the worst part was losing so much line on a snag and how hard it is to break off. Before you know it you are short on line and having to re-spool which sucks considering how long braid can last. Last year I started kayak fishing and didn't really want to see if I could tip my kayak over before breaking 50lb braid, so I went to the leader route this last year with the uni-uni knot and it's great. I tie on 5' or so and don't lose any mainline, plus it's definitely less visible. I use straight braid on my frog rod but other than that I'll stick with leaders. I had two hookset break offs one day with a 12lb P-line leader, but they were at the hook rather than the knot so it was either a nick in the line or a tiger muskie considering where I was fishing.

 

I'm surprised to see how many on here use the lower test braid. I might have to look into that as I've never tried anything under 20lb (6lb mono equivalent). The 10lb braid is so tiny I just never really considered it, no logical reason why though now that I think about it.

 

'

[Darren.]

3 hours ago, cjrat33 said:

So,  I just converted a couple of my spinning reels to braid.  Originally I had tied on a FC leader with an FG knot.  After a few days of intense fishing I noticed my leader was awfully short.  I then cut the leader off while on the boat and could not get the knot tied back while on the water.  I continued fishing the rest of the day that day and the next with straight braid.  I noticed it did not effect the number of bass I put in the boat.  My question is: Where do you all stand on using a leader?  As hard as an FG knot is to tie, I would rather not have to worry about retying and use straight braid, as it did not effect my fishing.  I was mostly fishing jigs and texas rigs on this set up so I know the bass was looking at my line. 

 

Your first issue is the FG knot. It is not easy to tie anywhere

but on a stable surface. Not in a boat, no matter what the dude

in the video says.  

 

Look, people have been using uni-to-uni and Albertos for years

without major issues. They are simple, and they work, and I can

tie either while sitting in my yak in 20 mph winds being rocked

about. I know. I did it the other week.

 

I know there's a religious following for the FG knot. And I get that

it is super thin and super strong. But it is not the answer for all of

us.

 

*Most* of the time I tie the uni-to-uni these days. I'm also a big

fan of the Mod'd Albright/Alberto knot. Practice tying them well

and they'll hold for you. Set your drag properly and get your whole

system in gear for the fight (i.e., learn to play the bass on the end

of your line, drag, rod position, and so on). You can land big bass

on light line.

 

As for no leader, that's totally cool. I've caught plenty of fish that

way, but once I discovered using a leader saves the number of

times I cut into my braided mainline (ok, so I'm married and have

four voracious-appetite boys, so $$ doesn't grow on trees for me

and I wanna save my braid!!) I never looked back.

 

Again, I can and have caught bass on straight braid as have we all

who use braid. I just prefer a leader tied on, and I never worry about

the knot breaking...

 

Good luck, mate!

[offsidewing]

When I braid, I use straight braid.  Suffix or Powerpro in a natural color.  I only use braid in shallow water with heavy vegatation.  Fluoro for everything else except crankbaits (mono).  

[Darren.]

3 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

ditto

 

3 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

When using braid, I usually have a leader attached to it, thick fluorocarbon or monofilament. The reason for this however, isn't always due to line visibility. More often it's so I can break off if I'm really stuck without losing $45 of braid while doing it. 15lb mono is a lot easier to break off than 40lb braid. 

 

If I'm fishing water that is super clear, I will tie on an 8-10' fluoro leader. I can't tell you for certain if line-visibility will turn off a fish in clear water. But I do know for certain that if bass do get line-shy, a fluoro carbon leader can only help. 

 

Dont worry about a leader knot being a weak point in your line---a properly tied one should not fail under normal fishing circumstances any more than the knot to your hook.  I have never had a leader knot fail on me....ever. 

 

Im sure @Darren. will be here soon to chime in with his leader expertise, or should I say "leader-ship"?  lol 

 

Humble thanks for the kind mention.  

 

[iabass8]

You will not catch fish without a fluorocarbon leader weaved from a yeti's nether-region and wetting the knot with unicorn tears.

[JDNKC]

2 minutes ago, iabass8 said:

You will not catch fish without a fluorocarbon leader weaved from a yeti's nether-region and wetting the knot with unicorn tears.

Yes I heard this is true.  I must be getting blind fish.

[Mr Swim Jig]

I do not use a leader at all with braid.  If I am fishing clearer water with little cover then I will just use fluorocarbon or a copolymer line... 

[Airman4754]

I run straight braid on my flipping, two top water, swim jig, and A-rig setups. Everything else with braid has a fluoro leader with an albright knot. I learned how to tie it first and I've never had it fail so I haven't even attempted to learn another.

 

I have been in multiple situations fishing clear water where a leader has made a huge difference as well as line diameter.