Fluorocarbon leaders

[Lukie]

Today I went fishing by a local dam and I was throwing a football jig with 50 lb spider wire and I had a berkley 14 berkley vanish fluorocarbon as a leader and I lost my personal best fish and lure today to a very aggressive small mouth and the braid didn't break but the fluorocarbon broke up to the knot and I still kick myself for losing the fish I just got to know the problem  

[CroakHunter]

The vanish made your fish vanish. I would suggest a leader that is actual leader material. It is better suited than vanish. 

[Crappiebasser]

I have never had good luck with Vanish but it was most likely your knot. It's very easy to nick FC when tying. You also need to retire your leader to the main often if it's passing through the guides.

[Lukie]

13 minutes ago, Crappiebasser said:

I have never had good luck with Vanish but it was most likely your knot. It's very easy to nick FC when tying. You also need to retire your leader to the main often if it's passing through the guides.

Thank you that is probably is the real problem with it

[Bluebasser86]

I only use leaders with braid when I have to. I'd rather either use straight braid or straight fluoro/copolymer. I'd never use Vanish for any bass fishing though. 

[ww2farmer]

I don't like to bash any products...........but I hate Vanish. 

 

If you want a good economical fluoro for making leaders, try Seaguar Red Label. It's pretty terrible as a main line, due to management/memory issues, but it very good leader line. It falls somewhere between InvizX and AbrazX for abrasion resistance. If you are always fishing really really nasty, hard, abrasive cover, skip it and go straight to AbrazX or bump UP one lb test of Red Label. 

[Crestliner2008]

I've been using Vanish for leader material for more years than I care to think about. From 4# test on my panfish braid to 17# test on my baitcasters. I have not experienced the horrific problems most folks have with this line. I take my time tying knots correctly - using only the Alberto knot for the joint. Have had to break off a lot of snagged jigs in my day and most times the line breaks at the jig knot. Again, I do not have a problem with Vanish - sorry!

[Oregon Native]

10 hours ago, Crappiebasser said:

I have never had good luck with Vanish but it was most likely your knot. It's very easy to nick FC when tying. You also need to retire your leader to the main often if it's passing through the guides.

X2

[Darren.]

I had some 8# vanish years back. Don't recall problems with

it breaking or anything. But obviously some do not have issue

with it, while some do.

 

I'd look at your knots for one. Are you tying them carefully and

slowly cinching down, using saliva to moisten (if u need to)?

 

And how many fish have you caught with the Vanish leaders 

you've been using? Is this an anomaly? Yeah, I know, you may

have had a PB, and you lost a fav lure, so anomaly may feel

more like a devastating blow! I get it. Happened to me, too.

 

If you've completely lost confidence in the line with this experience,

there's no reason to keep using it, IMHO. If you want to stick with

fluoro, as @ww2farmer suggested, try Red Label. Or you can go

with a copoly/fluoro bond like Yo-Zuri Hybrid which is crazy strong.

[NHBull]

I have found blue label to be one of the better leaders.

[IndianaOutdoors]

47 minutes ago, NHBull said:

I have found blue label to be one of the better leaders.

I use red label and invisx. How does the blue label compare?

[BuzzHudson19c]

12 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

I don't like to bash any products...........but I hate Vanish. 

 

Yup. I tried Vanish this summer. After one trip I took it off my reel and threw the rest of the spool in the garbage.

[NHBull]

9 hours ago, IndianaOutdoors said:

I use red label and invisx. How does the blue label compare?

Far more abrasion resistant and more user friendly 

[j_blaze14]

learn the fg knot, learned it about 6 months ago and it has changed my world of fishing.    all the sensitivity of braid with the invisibility of fluoro.  i only run straight braid on topwater now.  

[JustinJ]

Berkley big game or trilene xl. Hate fluoro

[Jaderose]

I use Stren Fluorocast as leader material.  Cheap, available everywhere, ties good knots, never broke while fighting a fish.  What's not to like?

 

[Attila]

I've been using InvizX with a lot of success, but given the nature of your fishing, I'd go with AbrazX as you're probably encountering a lot of rocks and debris around that dam that you're fishing. I'd also practice your knot tying and keep the leader length as short as you can get away with. For me, I average about 5-8' of leader.