Mono or flouro for leader material

[JP9096]

I've been debating whether to use mono or flouro as a leader. I've heard people say flouro as a leader is a nightmare but I see people using it a lot as a leader. I didnt know if the flouro would burn when you tighten the knot(fg and blood knot)so I was gonna use mono but so many people use flouro.

[Team9nine]

Most times it won’t matter. Use whatever you have on hand. For me, that’s fluoro more days than not, but any nylon/copoly will be fine, too. Only a few specific instances I’d be selective for one over the other.

[Mike L]

Unless you're using braid in and around shell, mussels or rock forget the leader. 

(Folks will be around soon to tell you how wrong I am)

 

If you are, flouro will give you better abrasion resistance.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Boomstick]

I'm going to try to make this the most non-biased response that I can. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. If you are fishing topwater, there is no real choice you will want to use mono as fluro sinks and that will be problematic. If you go with fluorocarbon, may I suggest using the uni knot with 4 to 6 turns as that has worked well for me.

 

Let's list off of the arguments for mono

• It's cheap
• It floats making it better for topwater.
• It has solid knot strength and works with most knots

And for fluorocarbon:

• It sinks, will help achieve maximum depth of shallow and moderate diving lures and give a better action to worms and jigs.
• It's less visible (for whatever that is worth)
• It's arguably more abrasion resistant than mono after being soaked for an extended period of time, although I personally do not agree with this as Sufix Siege has been just as abrasion resistant as anything else)

 

At the end of the day (for me) it really comes down to price and target depth of what I'm fishing. I used flurocarbon for moving baits all last year and braid to fluro leader for soft plastics and jigs, but was contemplating switching back to mono for moving baits as I fish from shore a lot and many of the locations are very shallow and with flurocarbon I often find I'm hitting the bottom too often in certain places, but in others it lets me get better depth.

17 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Unless you're using braid in and around shell, mussels or rock forget the leader. 

(Folks will be around soon to tell you how wrong I am)

 

If you are, flouro will give you better abrasion resistance.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

I'm not going to tell you you're wrong, I'm just going to suggest trying PowerPro Maxcuatro or Daiwa's J-Braid grand and seeing if that holds up better maybe it will save you some time of adding a leader (although I personally do use a leader if I know I'm going to be fishing soft plastics or jigs all day but if I switch from a frog I may not bother).

[ResoKP]

If you go with fluoro, make sure to use actual leader material fluoro. There is a big difference..

 

For example, use Seaguar BLUE as leader and not Seaguar RED.

[JP9096]

32 minutes ago, ResoKP said:

If you go with fluoro, make sure to use actual leader material fluoro. There is a big difference..

 

For example, use Seaguar BLUE as leader and not Seaguar RED.

What is the difference besides the price?

[ResoKP]

26 minutes ago, JP9096 said:

What is the difference besides the price?

Leader materials are harder, stiffer, and more abrasion resistant... Non-leader/bulk spool fluoro is softer and more limp to cast better

[JP9096]

9 minutes ago, ResoKP said:

Leader materials are harder, stiffer, and more abrasion resistant... Non-leader/bulk spool fluoro is softer and more limp to cast better

Is thereenough difference to justifie the price though? I couldn't see spending that much more money for alot less line

[ResoKP]

6 minutes ago, JP9096 said:

Is thereenough difference to justifie the price though? I couldn't see spending that much more money for alot less line

It's up to you really... You can learn it the hard way like me first trying the bulk spool (non-leader) only to break off a ton of fish and eventually switching over to using actual leader materials...

But maybe the body of water in your area are more forgiving to line abrasion and you'll be fine...

Ultimately, it comes down to what you value more: your wallet or "potentially" losing more fish

 

I'd say if you already have some decent spare mono lying around, just try with that first

[A-Jay]

I use both.

In my mind, the 'abrasion resistance' difference between a quality brand of both is minute if at all.

The greatest disparity between the two for me lies in knot strength. 

While fluorocarbon is decent, I believe Mono to be superior; especially in tests less than 8 lb.

So the few times I do use a leader in the 4-6 lb class, (light drop shot, hair jigs, and the occasional super clear water spybait,) it's always mono for me. 

The rest is pretty much a wash.

My choices are -- Mono - Big Game, Maxima Ultragreen, & Sunline Shooter Defier Armilo

                         Fluorocarbon ~  Seaguar InvisX & Tatsu

 

YMMV

A-Jay

 

 

[JP9096]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

While fluorocarbon is decent, I believe Mono to be superior; especially in tests less than 8 lb

Why is mono superior to flouro?

Would you still use mono if you're pound test was more than 8 lbs, let's say 15 lbs, would you still use mono or switch to flouro at that lb. test?

[A-Jay]

43 minutes ago, JP9096 said:

Why is mono superior to flouro?

Would you still use mono if you're pound test was more than 8 lbs, let's say 15 lbs, would you still use mono or switch to flouro at that lb. test?

2

The 'why' is I've had far more knots fail with light fluorocarbon than with mono. 

That's all I need to know.

I've learned from years of experience that when the situation dictates, being adaptable trumps being stubborn.

This is one of those for me.

And Yes, I do use 12 lb mono for leader material when presenting topwater baits.  

Worked quite successfully in this instance for example from this past August . . . 

A-Jay

[Boomstick]

3 hours ago, ResoKP said:

If you go with fluoro, make sure to use actual leader material fluoro. There is a big difference..

 

For example, use Seaguar BLUE as leader and not Seaguar RED.

Seaguar Blue is good line! That said, I don't always use leader line as my leaders, especially when it comes to finesse fishing when I'm more concerned about action and knot strength (leader line is often stiffer so knots are harder to tie down).

[soflabasser]

I use Berkley Big Game Mono for leader material and do well with it.

[Boomstick]

Just now, soflabasser said:

I use Berkley Big Game Mono for leader material and do well with it.

I have done the same on several occasions with no issues. More often for mono I will use Berkley Trilene XT or XL for leader as it comes in a nice flat spool that's easier to fit in the side compartment of my tackle bag, and that works fine as well.