Braid with a leader -- why bother with fluoro?

[Chris at Tech]

Once you've resigned yourself to using braid with a leader, at that point is there any benefit to selecting fluoro as the leader material over mono?  I've been silently debating myself lately

 

Braid mainline takes the fluoro visibility advantage off the table.

 

In full spool situations, I will readily admit that I find fluoro to be much more sensitive than mono, but once braid is your main line, I can't imagine a 10 ft section of fluoro will provide a noticeable difference in sensitivity over mono.

 

I've overcome the fluoro learning curve by now, but regardless mono is more forgiving in the knot-tying department.

 

In my experience, I've not seen a significant difference between the two in the abrasion dept.

 

Mono has fluoro beat on cost.

 

Am I forgetting any important factors here?

 

 

[jimmyjoe]

   Fluoro sinks. Mono doesn't. And supposedly fluoro has a harder surface, resisting braid better over time.   jj

[Dwight Hottle]

I know an awful lot of smallmouth that agree with your assumption that mono does just fine and I never suffer knot failure.

[Choporoz]

I'm one who thinks it makes little difference.  HOWEVER, I don't use either, so feel free to disregard my post.  I use YZH almost exclusively, for a number of reasons.  Most important (but not best reason, perhaps) is that I have lots of YZH on hand in a variety of different sizes.  I have liked YZH as mainline for abrasion resistance and knot strength, so seemed a perfect fit for leaders.

  My only thoughts of switching come from consideration of 'newer' specialty fluoro leader material....but I'm not yet convinced that it's any different.

[flatcreek]

I prefer mono or copolymer on the connection knot.Works just fine in clear water on Lanier and The Hill.Go Jackets!

[Chris at Tech]

1 hour ago, jimmyjoe said:

   Fluoro sinks. Mono doesn't. And supposedly fluoro has a harder surface, resisting braid better over time.   jj

Yes, and I would agree in full-spool situations but I tend to think that fluoro's sink advantage is greatly diminished if not totally negligible when you're only talking about ~3-6 foot sections of leader.

 

And as a general rule, I don't go more than 2 trips without retying a leader.

14 minutes ago, flatcreek said:

Go Jackets!

Yessir!

[craww]

I agree completely with your thoughts. In addition, the fact that nylon based lines will retain back most of their strength after being stretched; where as a flouro is compromised is another Factor in Monos favor. If I'm on the water and my Square bill gets hung in a dead branch. Say it's not a very strong Limb, (no danger of breaking my line) but I do have to lean into it a little bit to snap it off and get the bait back. Or maybe it's a fairly heavy clump of vegetation that we've all pulled in....I'm not always going to retie a leader right there on the water. If flouro was to lose 30% of its strength being stretched like that; is it worth it?

 

 Also haven't noticed a huge difference in abrasion resistance between the two. I just go by  line diameter  for the given situation....But I will say actual leader material mono is much more abrasion resistant then main Line Mono, if that's a concern. 

 

[Beetlebz]

Back when I ran braid with a leader I had good luck with it honestly, I used power pro original to abrazx leader. 

 

Now that I've gotten away from braid mostly I have one rod that's strung with mono for those times when I need to throw a bigger topwater bait. I normally throw Texas rigs with it and it gets bit more than any other rig. Its strung with 15lb big game. 

 

To do it all over again I would have saved a ton of money and used YZH or Big game as a leader!

[DINK WHISPERER]

I don't fish water clear enough to care much about fluoro. Plus I believe mono holds a knot much better and doesn't "burn" as much when cinching. So I mainly use CXX or Maxima Ultragreen as leader. 

[Bluebasser86]

Why bother with a leader at all? Unless you're needing the abrasion resistance, dump the extra knot and extra line, I did and it's worked out just fine. 

[Choporoz]

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Why bother with a leader at all? Unless you're needing the abrasion resistance, dump the extra knot and extra line, I did and it's worked out just fine. 

I'm not too concerned with visibility, but ability to break off, abrasion resistance, and saving braid on re-ties are all reasons for me to keep using leaders.

[Chris at Tech]

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

I'm not too concerned with visibility, but ability to break off, abrasion resistance, and saving braid on re-ties are all reasons for me to keep using leaders.

Me too...

[fishwizzard]

4 hours ago, Choporoz said:

I'm not too concerned with visibility, but ability to break off, abrasion resistance, and saving braid on re-ties are all reasons for me to keep using leaders.

I was lucky enough to snag a few jigs yesterday and 40lb braid breaks with not too much effort if you have a good pulling-stick. 

 

I use floro leaders for spinning reels as I want some help keeping my lure down.  I am messing with using braid  for jigs and while I like the hooksets, I am not liking having to keep all the slack out of the line.  

[LionHeart]

Have been using mono leaders on all my setups since spring.  I see no reason to change.  Yes mono floats, but jigs sink.

[Deleted account]

5 hours ago, Choporoz said:

I'm not too concerned with visibility, but ability to break off, abrasion resistance, and saving braid on re-ties are all reasons for me to keep using leaders.

Same here, additionally I sometimes run and gun from shore with only one spinning rod and 15 lb braid and a 12-15 lb mono leader because I hate it when trebles get caught on braid. If it was only t-rigs, jigs, spinnerbaits and othe single hook baits, I'd tie direct to the braid. I usually tie a new leader at the beginning of the day, and it will last a day or 2 depending on what ends up happening on the water. That being said, most of the time I fish straight mono for most things except frogs, and certain specific applications.

[The Bassman]

I use straight braid with a Fishn' Fool knot which is a two eye loop uni.  Figured out how to save tag waste by pushing the knot up to the tag before I draw it up. Cuts my excess down to an inch or two.

[GReb]

I only use mono leaders with braid. For most presentations I just go straight braid. But when I do use a leader I prefer to have the little bit of stretch mono provides. 

[J.Vincent]

On 8/18/2018 at 9:40 AM, Chris at Tech said:

I can't imagine a 10 ft section of fluoro will provide a noticeable difference in sensitivity over mono.

My leaders are kept to under 3 feet unless we are talking about drop shotting; but in heavy cover situations on Baitcasters, most anglers who use braid main line will lean towards fluoro leaders for abrasion resistance and lower visibility (this visibility topic is of course debatable) I don’t think fluoro leaders are typically used for the added sensitivity over monofilament; but more for its other qualities. But that being said, I tend to use monofilament as leader material as often as i use fluoro for leader material; there isn’t a huge difference in fish count, and monofilament also slows the rate of fall on jigs and worms slightly . So I think it boils down to the Fishing situation and what you are wanting to accomplish.

[Angry John]

I dont like flouro for pitching or punching because I love to light them up when combat fishing.  Most common leader is 15lb yhb with a jig or punch rig but not often.

[PatrickKnight]

The only time I use a fluro leader is when I am trying to get a bait down to the bottom quicker. Other than that mono offers a lot more advantages imo as a leader material.