Braid line, flurocarbon leader or not?

[Gfd63]

I've been hearing mixed reviews of using a flurocarbon leader with braided line & some say use straight braid? What's the general consensus?

[d-camarena]

I use a leader just so i can break off the line if get a bad snag. Its suck to get snagged using straight braid

[CroakHunter]

It's all personal preference. Most guys on a budget prefer braid-leader

[Todd2]

Strength, sensitivity, and low stretch are braid's benefits. Why give up strength by adding a leader?

[Gfd63]

Good points all. I agree it's more personal preference. But I didn't think about if you get braid line snagged & not being able to break it off so easy. 

[Todd2]

2 minutes ago, Gfd63 said:

Good points all. I agree it's more personal preference. But I didn't think about if you get braid line snagged & not being able to break it off so easy. 

I keep a dowel rod in the boat, wrap it about 20 times and pull. It bends the hook out before line breakage and I'm only using 15lb braid. Don't use you hands....it'll be a bad day for you.

[Choporoz]

I use a leader on all but my frog rods.

 

-break off snags

-don't use up braid when changing lures or re-tying

-visibility

 

My wife lost a fish for first time this weekend when a leader knot failed (my tie), but I don't think that I ever have.

[tkunk]

1 hour ago, Todd2 said:

Strength, sensitivity, and low stretch are braid's benefits. Why give up strength by adding a leader?

A leader actually adds strength if you're fishing around rocks or anything sharp. Unlike fluoro, braid has no abrasion resistance.

[Yudo1]

I fish from a kayak most of the time. Getting snagged is a royal pain with straight braid so I always use a leader of either fluoro or copoly. Also the braid lasts longer because you don't lose any on snags or retying. I've had the same braid on some reels for years.

[Todd2]

27 minutes ago, portiabrat said:

 Unlike fluoro, braid has no abrasion resistance.

This is one of the things that get repeated over and over, but this is not been my experience at all, especially with like diameters. I've been fishing 15lb braid (6 lb eq) and I can say for a fact that I break off less than 6lb fluoro. As far as retying and losing line, I don't. I retie before going out and thats it with braid. 

 

They are two camps here and mine seems to be the minority, just not sure why. When one of the arguments against straight braid is that its too hard to break, that tells me all I need to know. 

[tkunk]

41 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

This is one of the things that get repeated over and over, but this is not been my experience at all, especially with like diameters. I've been fishing 15lb braid (6 lb eq) and I can say for a fact that I break off less than 6lb fluoro. As far as retying and losing line, I don't. I retie before going out and thats it with braid. 

  

I should've been clearer, because I never use like diameters. Normally, when I care about abrasion resistance, I'm using a 12-20 lb fluoro leader with 8-lb braid (spinning) or 40-lb braid (baitcasting). So normally, my fluoro leader is much larger in diameter than my main line.

[DINK WHISPERER]

Straight braid in heavy cover or stained water. Leader in clear water for me. Dab of glue on the knot helps. 

[Boomstick]

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 11:21 AM, Gfd63 said:

I've been hearing mixed reviews of using a flurocarbon leader with braided line & some say use straight braid? What's the general consensus?

For me, it depends on the purpose of the rod. For spinning gear, braid to leader is almost always preferred but keep in mind that it is also more expensive. Straight fluorocarbon/mono is also acceptable and if spooled correctly, shouldn't give you many issues.

 

For my casting rod I use for frogs, jigs and soft plastics, I use braid because I fish frogs. I plan on ultimately getting a heavy rod for frogs and jigs in heavy weeds, which will have braid and then I will run 15 or 17lb fluorocarbon on the MH rod I use now, which will work for everything I use that rod for.

 

In short, do whatever works for you.

[JustJames]

It is all depends, but for sure I don't use fluorocarbon as my leader (only copolymer) Leader is needed when I fish very rocky area and also needed when fish top water like waking dog type, other than that straight braid but I use only 30lb so I don't really have problem much with break off snag when needed to.

[Russ E]

I use 10 lb. braid on my shakyhead rod. It always has an 8 lb. copoly leader.

I use an alberto knot and have never had the line fail at the knot.

 

the main reason I use a leader is, Kansas lakes have a lot of zebra mussels.

straight braid dragging through the mussels fails way too easily

 

It may be more personal preference than actual function but, I also like the lower visibility of copoly over braid.

[Bluebasser86]

Some of the time with spinning gear, never with casting gear. 

[Troy85]

On 6/12/2018 at 8:44 AM, DINK WHISPERER said:

Straight braid in heavy cover or stained water. Leader in clear water for me. Dab of glue on the knot helps. 

 I'm just curious, at what clarity do you consider clear enough to need to use a leader?

 

Water here stays stained a good part of the year, and I fish a lot of grass so I use straight braid just about year round.  Sometimes in the late summer/fall, if all the rivers have stayed low all summer and water clarity gets to be about 3' or more, I'll tie on a leader.  

[MickD]

I like using a leader because the terminal knots are easier and more reliable, and I'm using up leader rather than the braid which I would rather not use up (due to cost and having to refill the spool more often in order to keep the spool full.)

[Mike L]

Never

 

 

 

 

Mike

[BassThumb]

I always use a fluorocarbon leader with spinning gear and light line. On castin gear, sometimes I'll fish cranks and topwaters with a braid/leader combo. Otherwise, I just have braid on casting setups used for frogging and pitching, so no leader.

[DINK WHISPERER]

2 hours ago, Troy1985s said:

 I'm just curious, at what clarity do you consider clear enough to need to use a leader?

 

Water here stays stained a good part of the year, and I fish a lot of grass so I use straight braid just about year round.  Sometimes in the late summer/fall, if all the rivers have stayed low all summer and water clarity gets to be about 3' or more, I'll tie on a leader.  

It's a little different for me since I'm primarily a shallow water fisherman. If I can see down 3ft I will use a leader. In deep water offshore fishing I always go ahead and use one. In really heavy cover I think the braid just looks like another piece of grass and I don't use one. 

[RB 77]

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Frogs never get a leader, Drop Shot always does and a little bit of either or in between.  I like a leader for abrasion resistance and to be able to break free on a deep water snag.

[LonnieP]

No leaders. Just another knot to worry about tying and possibly failing. 

[Turkey sandwich]

I fish braid to leader.  It's a performance thing more than a saving money thing.  If you really want the arguments on this, use the search feature and look up the 400 other threads that cover the pros and cons of each.