Swimbait tackle

[ShearonHarris123123]

Recently have been using braid (40lb) with a 15-20' mono leader (15lb mono), uni-to-uni knot, to throw ~4/5" rage swimmers, but twice now have had knot failure from how roughly the knot goes through the rod eyes. Also, the knot causes backlashes from hitting the eyes or tangling up on the spool. I got this idea from the bassresource youtube videos and love the concept but the knot is causing all sorts of problems. Is there anything I can do to remedy these issues? Or just go straight mono or fluoro? I want the shock absorption and toughness of the mono but want the invisibility and little stretch for long cast hook sets of the fluoro; cannot make up my mind 

[Hammer 4]

No offence, but I suspect your tying the knot incorrectly. I use to do braid with a leader, and always used a uni to uni knot, never had any issues, and I was throwing much heavier baits than 5" Rage swimmers. I stopped doing the leader thing years ago, and began using mostly straight mono, or if conditions required it, fluro. If you have badly stained, or muddy water, just use straight braid.

 

Re: Tatcticalbassin..Matt and Tim fish for a living, they are Pro's. Also they possibly get a lot of their line for free, or at a reduced cost. They are good at what they do, but their ways of doing things aren't for everyone.

[WRB]

Everyone suggests using the FG knot for a streamline connection and most pro's advise using leaders about 2X the rod length so the knot in on the reel when the bass is close to being landed.

This sounds good until you are tasked to tie the FG knot while fishing, not an easy knot to tie properly.

The whole concept of line stretch is misunderstood, especially FC line vs mono line.

What you feel as stretch isn't elasticity of the line, it's line drag in the water.

I don't use braid with swimbaits. My line of choice is 25 lb Sunline Defier Armillo Nylon line with 1 knot at the lure. Armillo is a very smooth long casting line and small diameter that reduces line drag in the water. 25 lb mono or FC requires about 8 lbs of pulling force to yeild the line to actually begin to stretch it. Your swimbait rod can't load 8 lbs of force without bottoming it out, meaning fully bending the rod to the breaking point.

Tom

[ShearonHarris123123]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Everyone suggests using the FG knot for a streamline connection and most pro's advise using leaders about 2X the rod length so the knot in on the reel when the bass is close to being landed.

This sounds good until you are tasked to tie the FG knot while fishing, not an easy knot to tie properly.

The whole concept of line stretch is misunderstood, especially FC line vs mono line.

What you feel as stretch isn't elasticity of the line, it's line drag in the water.

I don't use braid with swimbaits. My line of choice is 25 lb Sunline Defier Armillo Nylon line with 1 knot at the lure. Armillo is a very smooth long casting line and small diameter that reduces line drag in the water. 25 lb mono or FC requires about 8 lbs of pulling force to yeild the line to actually begin to stretch it. Your swimbait rod can't load 8 lbs of force without bottoming it out, meaning fully bending the rod to the breaking point.

Tom

When you say "drag in the water" are you basically saying the difference in "stretch" is that the fluoro has to pull against more water because it sinks?

1 hour ago, Hammer 4 said:

No offence, but I suspect your tying the knot incorrectly. I use to do braid with a leader, and always used a uni to uni knot, never had any issues, and I was throwing much heavier baits than 5" Rage swimmers. I stopped doing the leader thing years ago, and began using mostly straight mono, or if conditions required it, fluro. If you have badly stained, or muddy water, just use straight braid.

 

Re: Tatcticalbassin..Matt and Tim fish for a living, they are Pro's. Also they possibly get a lot of their line for free, or at a reduced cost. They are good at what they do, but their ways of doing things aren't for everyone.

Its not necessarily knot failure its just beating the hell out of the knot slamming against the eyes each cast. The knot doesn't slip or break but the mono is breaking right at the knot. I figure its similar to having a tungsten bullet weight beating your knot all day texas rigging, so you retie often. Ive seen I think it was aaron martens use shrink wrap to keep the weight from banging on his knots. I use the uni to uni for spinning setups and never ever have issues.

[Hammer 4]

What brand rod do you use, and does it have micro guides..?

[Fried Lemons]

You could try tying direct. I've done it in a pinch with braid and did not notice a decrease in bites. IMO you only need the leader if you are expecting big fish (not bass) or are fishing rocks.

 

Or you could fish straight fluoro/mono. To me braid is for spinning gear or heavy cover fishing.

[Harold Scoggins]

7 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

I stopped doing the leader thing years ago, and began using mostly straight mono, or if conditions required it, fluro.

Yes.

[NHBull]

As you can see, there are many ways to skin a cat, but if you are going to be a braid to leader guy, look at the PR knot. It is super easy to tie, it just requires a bobbin (sp).  That said the uni-uni shouldn't be giving you as much problem as it is.

These days I do use shooter Armilo for such baits

[Luke Barnes]

I've become a fan of copolymer thats fluoro coated for stretch, shock absorption, and low visibility and love it. No leader, just straight copoly. I dont do leaders, except my catfish combo, and doubt I ever will. So I find the best middle road and go with it and I'm really really liking the copoly.

[WRB]

Drag coeffient is a physical factor, Fluorocarbon line has a very low coeffient of drag and nylon is higher creating more pressure on the line. Braid and nylon are lighter density and tend to float on the waters surface, FC tends to sink and that is a different physical factor but related regarding how line feels to the angler.

To test the feel simply let out about 100' of line without anything tie on behind a moving boat traveling a fast walking pace 3-4 mph. The pressure you feel is line drag. Make a slow wide turn the pressure increases noticeably and nylon mono line stays in the wake following the boat creating a bow in the line. When you turn the boat FC line tends to leave the wake cutting a straighter line with less bow. Braid is similar to mono but the smaller diameter has less drag pressure.

What you feel as strectch is the bow in the line pulling straighter until the bow is gone.

The line drag actually wears out the fish pulling agianst the line drag pressure. This is oblivious fighting fast swimming fish like Marlin that can creating big bow in the line running 30-40 mph. Bass are slow swimmers maybe 15 mph for comparison.

Tom