Best mono as leader

[A-Jay]

On 2/21/2020 at 6:41 AM, Johnpenguin said:

I don’t know how that’s possible.

It's all about line diameter.

Brands do not use the same standards for measure.

 

The 12 BG is apparently the same diameter as the 14 Stren.

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Berkley_Trilene_Big_Game_Line_Green/descpage-BTBG.html

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-STRN.html?from=basres

 

A-Jay

[Todd2]

Mono wise, I've used mainly Stren and Big Game for the last few years.

Both are fine. For leader material I'd give the nod to BG.

 

Pros

 

Big Game - Very cheap and strong

 

Stren - Handles a little better on spinning gear, comes in clear Blue and strong.

[Team9nine]

Ditto @Todd2 Been using Stren for open water applications for the past 6-9 months and been very happy with its performance. If you are fishing around a lot of heavy cover, timber, dock posts, etc., then try Big Game. Either should work fine.

 

[Johnpenguin]

40 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

Mono wise, I've used mainly Stren and Big Game for the last few years.

Both are fine. For leader material I'd give the nod to BG.

 

Pros

 

Big Game - Very cheap and strong

 

Stren - Handles a little better on spinning gear, comes in clear Blue and strong.

So bg on baitcasters and stren on spinning 

[WRB]

Notice that Stren is not made by DuPont, they sold the USA plant to Vicious several years ago. DuPont built a Nylon production plant in Brazil and no longer extrudes fishing fine.

What is line strength? To bass anglers it is first knot strength, then impact strength and abrasion resistance strength after the line has been fished with, not tested off a fresh spool.

Original Stren was iridescent blue color to reduce UV degradation and has low memory with low abrasion resistance. Softer mono line has lower memory, harder line higher memory having equal diameters. Diameter equals area that directly affects material strength in pounds per square inch or PSI. All Nylon monofilament lines are nearly equal in PSI strength, not equal in how they are blended for hardness or UV resistance to reduce sunlight degradation and water absorbsion.

Maxima Ultra Green is a copolymer line with very high abrasion resistance with excellent knot strength and impact per diameter and the reason I use 5 lb Max UG for finesse, however larger sizes has higher memory.

Big game has very good knot strength and abrasion resistant and excellent impact strength with good memory properties, not available in 6 lb test or less.

Stren Original today is different then DuPont Stren, softer line with less knot strength, abrasion and impact strength compared Big Game or Maxima.

The only mono line I know that has reduced memory, high knot strength and abrasion resistance today is Sunline Defier Armillo Nylon, it isn't available under 11 lb test* and has a higher price point.

Memory using line as a leader isn't an issue because the line isn't stored on a small diameter reel spool where line takes a set. Memory becomes a problem on spinning reels creating coils comming off the reel spool. You need larger diameter reel spool to reduce line memory. If you use mono, Coploymer or FC as a main line on spinning reels sizes 1000 to 3000 the line should be .010 diameter or less to manage memory.

Tom 

* Armillo 11 lb is .0108 dia , both Big Game and Stren 8 lb is .011 dia for comparison.

[redmeansdistortion]

56 minutes ago, Johnpenguin said:

So bg on baitcasters and stren on spinning 

The 8lb Big Game works well enough on spinning reels, but you can make a wicker basket from the 10lb and up sizes.

[Todd2]

12 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

The 8lb Big Game works well enough on spinning reels, but you can make a wicker basket from the 10lb and up sizes.

But it'd be a strong and cheap wicker basket.?

[redmeansdistortion]

19 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

But it'd be a strong and cheap wicker basket.?

Indeed.  I typically use 8, 10, and 12lb Big Game for leader material and sometimes run them as my main line when it's winter steelhead season, like right now for instance.

[Johnpenguin]

57 minutes ago, WRB said:

Notice that Stren is not made by DuPont, they sold the USA plant to Vicious several years ago. DuPont built a Nylon production plant in Brazil and no longer extrudes fishing fine.

What is line strength? To bass anglers it is first knot strength, then impact strength and abrasion resistance strength after the line has been fished with, not tested off a fresh spool.

Original Stren was iridescent blue color to reduce UV degradation and has low memory with low abrasion resistance. Softer mono line has lower memory, harder line higher memory having equal diameters. Diameter equals area that directly affects material strength in pounds per square inch or PSI. All Nylon monofilament lines are nearly equal in PSI strength, not equal in how they are blended for hardness or UV resistance to reduce sunlight degradation and water absorbsion.

Maxima Ultra Green is a copolymer line with very high abrasion resistance with excellent knot strength and impact per diameter and the reason I use 5 lb Max UG for finesse, however larger sizes has higher memory.

Big game has very good knot strength and abrasion resistant and excellent impact strength with good memory properties, not available in 6 lb test or less.

Stren Original today is different then DuPont Stren, softer line with less knot strength, abrasion and impact strength compared Big Game or Maxima.

The only mono line I know that has reduced memory, us high knot strength and abrasion resistance today is Sunline Defier Armillo Nylon, it isn't available under 11 lb test and has a higher price point.

Memory using line as a leader isn't an issue because the line isn't stored on a small diameter reel spool where line takes a set. Memory becomes a problem on spinning reels creating coils comming off the reel spool. You need larger diameter reel spool to reduce line memory. If you use mono, Coploymer or FC as a main line on spinning reels sizes 1000 to 3000 the line should be .010 diameter or less to manage memory.

Tom 

Would you say that 12lb big game has better knot strength than 14lb stren?

[iabass8]

Sunline Defier Armillo 

[WRB]

2 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

Would you say that 12lb big game has better knot strength than 14lb stren?

Definately! 4 of my top 5 PB bass were caught using 10 and 12 lb Big Game,1 using 10 lb Trilene  XT. Mono lines are very foregiving with knot strength and easy to attain close to 100% knot strength using common knots.

Tom

[Johnpenguin]

5 minutes ago, WRB said:

Definately! 4 of my top 5 PB bass were caught using 10 and 12 lb Big Game,1 using 10 lb Trilene  XT. Mono lines are very foregiving with knot strength and easy to attain close to 100% knot strength using common knots.

Tom

I’m going to try it out. Hopefully I don’t lose fish because of the 2lb difference.

[rcjoutdoors]

Big Game or CXX copoly for me

[redmeansdistortion]

40 minutes ago, Johnpenguin said:

I’m going to try it out. Hopefully I don’t lose fish because of the 2lb difference.

You'll be fine.  I've caught a lot of fish on 8lb Big Game, from large thrashing pike to 15lb+ steelhead trying to lose me in the logjams.  The line is super tough and should work well for you.

[garroyo130]

43 minutes ago, Johnpenguin said:

I’m going to try it out. Hopefully I don’t lose fish because of the 2lb difference.

You might lose lures due to the 2lb difference. If you lose fish the problem isnt a 2 lb difference. 

[Johnpenguin]

40 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

You might lose lures due to the 2lb difference. If you lose fish the problem isnt a 2 lb difference. 

I don’t understand?

[mc6524]

If I may take a step back here.  For regular leader to connect to braid, I’d suggest fluorocarbon line.  Mine line of choice is Yozuri topknot.  If you are Carolina rigging to braid mono is in order and I suggest suffix advanced.  Please keep in mind for finesse fishing 6-10# leader is usually the best and especially if you are fishing clear water, using the same 6-10# mono leader weight for your Carolina rig would be in order.

 

I grew upping trilene big game before fluro came out and loved it, but frankly unless your flipping big cover IMO it’s overkill.

[APK62]

My question is why do most pro's use braid with a leader? Even all the young guns coming up are using it. Myself I don't care for two knots, it makes tying a leader a time consuming project when your on the boat getting bombarded with waves. Even with a neg rig, you are going to get hung up on rocks, etc. and break off. Never had an issue using straight FC or mono. 

[Johnpenguin]

14 hours ago, mc6524 said:

If I may take a step back here.  For regular leader to connect to braid, I’d suggest fluorocarbon line.  Mine line of choice is Yozuri topknot.  If you are Carolina rigging to braid mono is in order and I suggest suffix advanced.  Please keep in mind for finesse fishing 6-10# leader is usually the best and especially if you are fishing clear water, using the same 6-10# mono leader weight for your Carolina rig would be in order.

 

I grew upping trilene big game before fluro came out and loved it, but frankly unless your flipping big cover IMO it’s overkill.

I started with fluoro and I can honestly say mono is waaaay better as leader material.

12 hours ago, APK62 said:

My question is why do most pro's use braid with a leader? Even all the young guns coming up are using it. Myself I don't care for two knots, it makes tying a leader a time consuming project when your on the boat getting bombarded with waves. Even with a neg rig, you are going to get hung up on rocks, etc. and break off. Never had an issue using straight FC or mono. 

Pros like to land their fish?

[Dens228]

13 hours ago, APK62 said:

My question is why do most pro's use braid with a leader? Even all the young guns coming up are using it. Myself I don't care for two knots, it makes tying a leader a time consuming project when your on the boat getting bombarded with waves. Even with a neg rig, you are going to get hung up on rocks, etc. and break off. Never had an issue using straight FC or mono. 

With practice you can tie a braid to leader know very easily.  I have never had that second knot for the connection be a failure point. 

[APK62]

2 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

I started with fluoro and I can honestly say mono is waaaay better as leader material.

Pros like to land their fish?

Why not use straight mono?

[NittyGrittyBoy]

6 minutes ago, APK62 said:

Why not use straight mono?

Because braid is more resistant to wind knots etc.. because of lack of memory. 

[Bdnoble84]

18 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

I don’t understand?

As stated earlier, manufacturer designated line test specs are inconsistent. It is part of marketing. Some brands use line test designation similar to braid line test designation. (50lb breaking strength braid has a 12lb dia.) same with some manufactures mono/copoly. They may post a breaking strength of 12lbs, but really the breaking strength may be 15. What they are really. Referring to is the line dia is equivalent to 12lb mono of some sort of percieved standard. 
secondly as mentioned above, so much of landing a fish is dictated by your ability to fight said fish, not the breaking strength of the line. What heavier line does is give us a larger margin of error around cover as well as allow us to be more hasty in bringing the fish in. 
there are so many confounding variables in fish landing beyond line strength that it would not be feasible to go through them all. 
pits fishing, not catching. There is a lot of trial and error to eliminate variables and determine what works best for you. Plus experimenting is just fun. Try big game if you are curious. The risk is a lot less than you think and you might just find a new favorite.

[Johnpenguin]

2 hours ago, APK62 said:

Why not use straight mono?

Zero sensitivity 

40 minutes ago, Bdnoble84 said:

As stated earlier, manufacturer designated line test specs are inconsistent. It is part of marketing. Some brands use line test designation similar to braid line test designation. (50lb breaking strength braid has a 12lb dia.) same with some manufactures mono/copoly. They may post a breaking strength of 12lbs, but really the breaking strength may be 15. What they are really. Referring to is the line dia is equivalent to 12lb mono of some sort of percieved standard. 
secondly as mentioned above, so much of landing a fish is dictated by your ability to fight said fish, not the breaking strength of the line. What heavier line does is give us a larger margin of error around cover as well as allow us to be more hasty in bringing the fish in. 
there are so many confounding variables in fish landing beyond line strength that it would not be feasible to go through them all. 
pits fishing, not catching. There is a lot of trial and error to eliminate variables and determine what works best for you. Plus experimenting is just fun. Try big game if you are curious. The risk is a lot less than you think and you might just find a new favorite.

Ya I’m definitely going to give it a try

[Russ E]

12 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

Zero sensitivity 

Ya I’m definitely going to give it a try

The zero sensitivity is simply not true. 

It is true, on a tightline braid is more sensitive than mono or fluorocarbon.

On a slack or semi slack line braid has the zero sensitivity. In this instance fluoro is best, mono second, braid is a distant third. 

On most vertical baits. Jigs, Texas rig, wacky rig, etc.  The line is often partially slack as the bait falls.