Straight fluoro? Or leader?

[Mondo316]

What's up guys. I've recently been getting into more finess baits and chatterbaits. I currently use 30lb braid on my casting setup for chatterbait and sometimes for my finess set ups because I fish a lot of cover in the ponds in my area. I've read more people prefer or recommend fluorocarbon instead of braid. So my question is the braid good for this or should I use straight fluorocarbon or Maybe a fluoro leader? Thanks in advance. 

[J.Vincent]

The ChatterBait is an excellent Springtime lure, and probably one of my favorites for pre-spawn Largemouth. I choose a Medium Heavy Moderate Fast Rod with 15 or 17lb Monofilament. If you want more sensitivity and abrasion resistance, then choose a good quality fluorocarbon line in the 15 or 17lb test, but I don't think Flourocarbon is needed in this presentation unless you are catching bass in chunk rock or wood, and absolutely need the better abrasion resistance. Personally I like the most amount of line stretch I can get when fishing chatterbaits and will avoid Braided line like the plague on my ChatterBait Rod. Also, Brett Hite is the master of ChatterBait fishing and he actually uses a Graphite/Glass Composite Rod and Flourocarbon. Check out some of his tutorials on YouTube, you can get a years worth of knowledge in 10 minutes. Good Luck !

[tbone1993]

I like to use about 50yds or enough line to make a long cast and not cast the knot out of my reel. If I'm running braid on a jig or chatterbait its usually on 50lb braid. If youre using braid on a chatterbait or just using a chatterbait in general its best to have a forgiving rod. Most of the guys that I know fish them on a 7ft heavy glass or or a 7ft medium heavy graphite rod. Just something that is a little bit more forgiving. Then dont seem to run right on a straight heavy action flipping stick. 

[Mondo316]

4 hours ago, tbone1993 said:

I like to use about 50yds or enough line to make a long cast and not cast the knot out of my reel. If I'm running braid on a jig or chatterbait its usually on 50lb braid. If youre using braid on a chatterbait or just using a chatterbait in general its best to have a forgiving rod. Most of the guys that I know fish them on a 7ft heavy glass or or a 7ft medium heavy graphite rod. Just something that is a little bit more forgiving. Then dont seem to run right on a straight heavy action flipping stick. 

If I decides to go with a fluorocarbon leader do I need fluoro leader material or can I just get a spool of reg fluoro and tie that on as a leader? I'm still kinda new at this so any suggestions help. Thanks. 

[Boomstick]

On spinning rods, I prefer to go with braid to leader because or the way braid is far less susceptible to line twist issues so it's a no brainer. On casting rods, I am much more inclined to go with straight fluorocarbon but there are exceptions, for example I run 40lb braid on my MH/F rod so I can fish frogs, so I may toss on a fluorocarbon leader to fish soft plastics.

5 hours ago, Mondo316 said:

If I decides to go with a fluorocarbon leader do I need fluoro leader material or can I just get a spool of reg fluoro and tie that on as a leader? I'm still kinda new at this so any suggestions help. Thanks. 

Seaguar Blue Label is a good fluorocarbon leader, I've had nothing but great luck with it. But there's nothing that says you can't tie on regular fluorocarbon as well. Leader line is often a grade up, but far more expensive per yard.

 

I would suggest the uni knot with fluorocarbon as well, give it 5-7 wraps, wet it, cinch it down nice and tight and you shouldn't have any knot issues -- unless you use Berkley Vanish.

[Brad in Texas]

Good advice already shared. 

 

I'm a braid to flouro leader guy, usually leaders about 6 or so feet in length but, essentially, knot off the reel is what I am looking for. And, I use standard fluorocarbon for leaders, Invizx, in 6 or 8 lbs. A spool of it will last a long time, works great. I don't know many freshwater anglers who use the flurocarbons made specifically for leaders.

 

Here's one observation: Try fishing straight fluoro on a reel and see how you like it. Some do, a lot don't. If you are in the latter group, you'll swear off the stuff and revert to others lines or just using it for leaders.

 

And, if you decide against using it straight, you have a whole reel of it to use for leaders. No loss in that!

 

Brad

[Graham]

Braid to leader for me, primarily because I like a high quality floro leader material that would be way to expensive to spool a whole reel with. I like to use an Alberto knot to secure my braid to the leader. It’s a great knot because it’s extremely fast to tie and goes through my reel and rod eyes like butter!