Question for guys who fish straight floro/mono, why do you?

[Junk Fisherman]

Since I didn't comment last year.....

 

I use straight fluoro on a spinning rig for small swimbaits since it eliminates wind knots at the first guide.  The sensitivity of the braid/fluoro is not as important with this moving presentation.  I also use straight fluoro for cracking tubes and a secondary drop shot rig.

 

I use straight fluoro on baitcasters for pitching plastics and medium size swimbaits.  Straight mono is used for topwater.  I also use Fluoroclear for chatterbaits and jerkbaits.  The line just floats off the reel and I don't need it to be particularly abrasion-resistant with those presentations.

 

I do find myself to trending more and more to braid/fluoro over straight fluoro.  

[Choporoz]

I like braid with a leader.

I like straight braid.

I like Gliss to leader.

I like straight fluoro.

Sometimes I even like straight YZH.

 

At this moment I have combos in all of the above in my truck.

[MN Fisher]

20 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

At this moment I have combos in all of the above in my truck.

Coming year - my 'line-ups'

 

Straight Braid

Braid to Leader

Straight Flouro

Straight Mono

Straight YZH

 

Did I leave anything out?

[BrianMDTX]

22 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Straight Braid

Braid to Leader

Straight Flouro

Straight Mono

Straight YZH

Straight Braid- N/A. No heavy weeds

Braid to Leader- one spinning finesse rig

Straight Fluoro- N/A (no desire)

Straight Mono- One BC and two spinning rigs

Straight YZH- two BC’s 

 

I still like mono. It’s reliable, I know what it does/doesn’t do, and knot strength and ease of tying is great. Right now using 6 lb Berkeley XL on spinning reels and 10 lb Berkeley Big Game and 12 lb YZH on baitcasters. 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, BrianMDTX said:

Straight Braid- N/A. No heavy weeds

Braid to Leader- one spinning finesse rig

Straight Fluoro- N/A (no desire)

Straight Mono- One BC and two spinning rigs

Straight YZH- two BC’s 

I should have put what I have my lines delegated to

 

Straight Braid - 1 BC, my Heavy rig for tossing in heavy weeds; 1 spinner, my jig/spinnerbait skipping rig

Braid to Leader - 1 BC, one of my MH/F rigs for 'cruising' through moderate weeds; 1 spinner...my general finesse rig

Straight Flouro - 15# on the other MH/F BC rig, 12# on the M/F BC rig, 6# on the ultra-finesse spinning rig

Straight Mono - 10# on the MH/MF spinning rig - light and shallow cranks, 10# on the M/F spinning rig

Straight YZH - 12# on the MH/MF BC rig - cranks, topwaters, lipless

[Jig Man]

I fish mono on 4 setups using swimming techniques.

 

Except for Arigs everything else is bottom contact and I use fluorocarbon.  I use fluorocarbon because I fish a lot of clear water with no vegetation and get more bites than on mono.   I want things simple with as few links in the chain as possible so no braid and leaders for me.

[N.Y. Yankee]

Everyone has their own reasons why they like or dislike something. I hover in the fishing, traditional archery and traditional blackpowder worlds and I can tell you, you as 100 guys about any given product, 33 will say it's total crap, 33 will say it's the best thing ever made, 33 will say I use both with no problems and the last guy will say I don't do surveys. Everyone's circumstances are a little bit different. I like braids as the main line, usually with a mono or Flouro leader. I love a good mono on the several spincast I and my family use (don't laugh, there are several really good spincast reels out there). I only use flouro as a leader. I tie Uni to Uni leader knot and do not have problems. I like a bit longer leaders, 10-12 feet so I have extra like to retie with. 

[optimator]

I went to braid with a leader on my spinning rigs last year. I don't see that changing, I really like it. I'll most likely stick with mono on my baitcasters though. Except for my frog rod which has braid. When I first started bass fishing in the early 80's I used Trilene XL and liked it. Over the years I've switched to Sufix. I might have to try some XL again. Most likely on my LMH Helium. 

[FryDog62]

On 2/27/2020 at 12:34 PM, kayaking_kev said:

Off topic a bit, but since we're talking about line. Is there a line that the T-Wing system from Daiwa likes or doesn't like before I spool them up? Thanks!

Not really, I've used all the line combinations stated in this thread on T-wings. IMO the only thing to be aware of is if you do tie a leader on that it doesn't get past the T-wing or the knot could get caught on it and backlash pretty easily. 

[DitchPanda]

My current rundown is: 

Braid on frog rod

Braid to leader on Ned rod

Straight mono on small crank rod

Copolymer on the other 92 reels!

[BBuck]

On 2/27/2020 at 12:45 AM, kayaking_kev said:

What mono do you guys like using? I haven't tried a bunch, but so far what I have tried, Trilene Sensation seems to be pretty good.

I use Trilene Big Game most of the time, but I have tried the Bass Pro brand (I think it is called Excel) and haven't had any issues with it either. I'm more picky when it comes to braid or FC.

[Bankbeater]

The only thing I use braid for is punching.  Baitcasters get Big Game, and the spinning reels get either Trilene or Stren.

[GTN-NY]

I’m surprised at a lot of people that here are saying they use Trilene  XL and Big Game. That’s all I’ve used for years. After reading here for a year I thought most were using braid and FC. So over the last couple months I’ve been buying braid, FC and learning new knots. 
 

[Boomstick]

Easy, simplicity. One knot, keep it simple.

[BrianMDTX]

1 hour ago, GTN said:

I’m surprised at a lot of people that here are saying they use Trilene  XL and Big Game. That’s all I’ve used for years. After reading here for a year I thought most were using braid and FC. So over the last couple months I’ve been buying braid, FC and learning new knots. 
 

I had a snag on a Neko rig a few weeks ago with 6 lb XL. I was surprised how much effort it took to break the line at the knot. It’s good line IMO. 

[Sir Shamsalot]

One thing that I can't stand is if the leader knot catches weeds and then the presentation has a little ewok infront of it.

 

[GTN-NY]

13 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

I had a snag on a Neko rig a few weeks ago with 6 lb XL. I was surprised how much effort it took to break the line at the knot. It’s good line IMO. 

That’s what I think also

[ATA]

On 2/26/2020 at 8:23 PM, Ogandrews said:

I have been fishing strictly braid to a leader for 4-5 years now and love it. I know a lot of guys fish straight floro or mono, including a lot of pros. I believe that braid to a leader has so many benefits that I just don’t see the point of using anything else. I don’t want this post to come off as me telling you guys that if you don’t fish like me that your wrong, I’m just honestly wondering what benefits you guys see of fishing floro or mono. I’m curious to see what you guys have to say because it seems like the majority of guys aren’t using braid/leader. Probably not going to change the way I fish but always interested to see some other perspectives.

thats very good point, I must say I am almost like you, Almost all of them braid to leader.

I have two rods are not braid to leader, My frog rod and my giant swimsuit rods which both straight braid, BUT I am going to use straight Flouro on my new combo for jerk bait and some deep crank bait .

[PhishLI]

6 hours ago, GTN said:

I’m surprised at a lot of people that here are saying they use Trilene  XL and Big Game.

I'm running 20-30 Big Game on 6 swimbait rigs, and 12-15 on a few topwater and light swimbait rigs. It's strong and manageable, and if the spool goes poof it's utterly painless to cut it out and re-spool. One nice thing is that I've yet to backlash off the equivalent of a car payment using it. I've witnessed that with straight braid and braid to leader. The real big baits will shred braid at the knot and expose connection and terminal knots with leaders, but straight Big Game just stretches. Peace of mind.

[Jaderose]

Braid on frog rod and finesse spinning rod.  Obviously, VERY different sizes.  No leaders.  EXCEPT......I will tie a short (usually FC because I have FC leader material) leader on my frog rod.  I know, crazy, right?  Hear me out.....A great deal of my frogging is bomb casting out over very heavy muck mats that are FULL of stumps and underwater wood.  I have absolutely no way of getting my boat into these areas.  Inevitably, I get hung up and the hang up might be 30-40 yards from the boat.  I can't break 50 lb braid.  I CAN break the knot on 20 lb FC or Mono.  That way I'm leaving one ft of mono at the hung up frog as opposed to however many YARDS of Braid that I was forced to cut .  Better for the environment and better on my wallet.  I should also say that on my first day out every spring (before the muck mats develop) I try to go around and collect all the frogs I lost the previous season.  

[TnRiver46]

13 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

I had a snag on a Neko rig a few weeks ago with 6 lb XL. I was surprised how much effort it took to break the line at the knot. It’s good line IMO. 

I agree. I use the cheapest line imaginable and sometimes I can’t break 6-8 lb test. Cuts right through my pinky finger nicely tho 

[DaubsNU1]

I tried a few different fluorocarbon brands, can't stand any of them. Just not my cup of tea.

• All my bait-casters have 30-50lb braid spooled, no leader. 
• My heaviest spinning rod has 20lb braid, no leader.
• My other spinning rods have 6, 8, or 10lb Trilene XL.

I might have to give braid-to-leader a try this spring. I worry about my knot tying abilities, and running that knot through my guides (all my rods are 25-30 years old).

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, DaubsNU1 said:

I tried a few different fluorocarbon brands, can't stand any of them. Just not my cup of tea.

• All my bait-casters have 30-50lb braid spooled, no leader. 
• My heaviest spinning rod has 20lb braid, no leader.
• My other spinning rods have 6, 8, or 10lb Trilene XL.

I might have to give braid-to-leader a try this spring. I worry about my knot tying abilities, and running that knot through my guides (all my rods are 25-30 years old).

I enjoy fishing braid with leader but retying  leaders out on the water is not worth The benefits for me personally so I just went back to mono. 
 

there’s not a single place anywhere near my house that you won’t be breaking off lots of lures and the leader usually breaks just after the knot, not at the lure 

[Ogandrews]

Another year of me using braid to leader has passed and I still use it on almost everything. I did play around with some straight floro on some cranks and jerkbaits. I didn’t mind it but I didn’t feel there was any benefit over braid to leader. After switching this year to a modified Alberto knot, I have even more confidence in the leader knot never breaking. With that knot I break my line at the lure knot 99% of the time. On 8lbs braid to 8lbs mono leader I landed a 52” musky and a 35lbs flathead cat, no breakage. Braid gives me amazing sensitivity, both slack and tight line, great hooksets, great control of the fish, a spool lasts a year or more, way further casting distance, and other benefits. If you know how to tie good leader knots and are using the correct leader material, your not going to break fish off.

[mcipinkie]

I have to post on this one.  In full disclosure, I'm a braid and leader guy, just because I am.  Tried it, liked it.

 

It is, and will always be, more important where you throw, than what you throw.  What you throw ,more important than what line you use.  What line you use, more important than what rod/reel you use.

 

Once you get where you can find them all the time, you'll usually catch one or two.

 

Pick a line you like, for whatever reason, even it's just the pro that uses it.  Concentrate on throwing the right lure in the right place.

 

Continued full disclosure, Power Pro Super Slick, or whatever they call it,  Big Game leader on everything but jerk baits.  8 - 12 FC on jerk baits.  No technical reasons, just feel good to me.