Braid to leader questions from an outsider

[Grim_Reaver]

Alright, I'm finally considering going braid to leader on all (edit: most) of my baitcasting combos for simplicity/consistency and I have some questions. (if you can link any previous threads on the subject, that would be helpful)

 

1. I'm in the market for a new MH rod that I can fish spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, squarebills, and lipless crankbaits. Besides a moderate action, what else should I look for? Graphite vs composite?

 

2. If the leader knot is constantly traveling through the first few guides, will that friction wear/weaken the knot severely? (Knot will likely be wet)

 

3. My basis will be 50lb braid so how likely will I bend out regular worm/jig/treble hooks if I'm using a leader (most likely 12 or 15lbs)? I have some Owner jungle ewg but should I consider getting more straight shanks for worm fishing (I worm fish with primarily 3/0 offsets and don't like ewgs for worm fishing)?

[Pogues2300]

1 rod for those will be tricky. If i was forced to pick 1 I would suggest something like a7'2" medium heavy fast graphite expride for an example. It will be excellent for the single hooks. You could tie on a mono leader to provide some stretch and shock absorption for the treble hook lures. I did this for my first year and I caught fish. Never noticed the knot weakening from going through the guides and i fished five times a week using the same knot for 2 weeks at a time. 

[Grim_Reaver]

I was thinking about something in 7' range and yes I would be using a mono leader. I was thinking about about a moderate action rod but now that you say fast action, would that provide enough shock absorption? Also, if anyone has any suggestions under $200, that would be helpful. I have one in mind since I will also be going saltwater fishing with it but any rod will work if it don't got microguides. 

[Dens228]

For the lures you stated I'd go MH/Fast too. 

Also, why braid that heavy?  

I'd go with 30 lb.   

[J Francho]

3 hours ago, Grim_Reaver said:

I'm finally considering going braid to leader on all my baitcasting combos

Why? You should try braid on ONE rig, and go from there.  Tie a leader if you think you need one, but mostly you can tie direct with no ill effect.  Once you are familiar, and decide braid or braid with a leader will work on other setups, switch then one at a time.   

[Grim_Reaver]

18 minutes ago, Dens228 said:

Also, why braid that heavy?    

50lb is what I have lying around and I'm not worried about the strength, just diameter. I mainly use it for frogging/flipping now, but I doubt 50lb will hurt anymore than 30lb. Don't need to cast a mile.

13 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Once you are familiar

I've been using braid for years now but only for frogging, flipping, and spinning. I currently don't have the funds to go out buying mono dedicated combos for bass fishing. I need something I can use back and forth between freshwater/saltwater without respooling every outing. 12-14lb mono isn't gonna cut it with a decent sized snook so if I gotta tie a leader, I'd rather use braid.

[J Francho]

I have quite a few jig/worm rods spooled with 50# braid.  Works very well in weeds, tied direct.  Very rarely do I tie leader to it.  Spool one up and use it for that to see if you like it.  For your moving baits, I can't stand braid, and use straight 15# fluoro for most.  A well tied leader can last several days.  It's abrasion with the environment that wear the knot more.

[NHBull]

If you needed it to be that versatile, my first choice would be a MH Loomis MBR.  I believe  I could do it all with a GLX 

[Grim_Reaver]

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

For your moving baits, I can't stand braid

I've gotten used to fishing paddletails on braid to leader for saltwater. This will be a trial with treble hook lures and spinnerbaits but I know there are guys that do it so I want to try it.

[NJBasstard]

I've been running straight braid or braid to leader on everything since 2011. I go no higher than 20lb on spinning and no less than 30lb on casting. I keep two spools of flourocarbon for leader.. one 6-8lb for spinning and one 12-15lb for casting. I know many people prefer mono for certain applications but doing without it hasn't hurt my fishing at all.

 

If I was only taking one rod it'd be a MH/F baitcaster with 30lb braid & flouro for leader. It couldn't do it all but I think it'd be the most versatile.

[Ogandrews]

Rod wise I would go with a Dobyns Sierra 733c. It’s a little light for a medium heavy so it’s perfect for what you are talking about. I have fished braid to a leader for awhile and I never had an issue with the knot using a blood knot. Never notice it going through guides besides a slight noise. If you are fishing 12 lbs leader than pretend you are fishing a 12lbs mainline. Tone back to hook set and you will be completely fine. Use mono or sunline fc100 for your leaders and that is all the shock absorption you need for most baits. I always use 10-15ft leaders to start with so I can retie a bunch of times. Another thing is for baitcasters I always use power pro maxcuatro, it’s not cheap but it’s the best in the business in my opinion, incredible distance and feel as well as being smaller diameter. Shoot me a pm or reply to this if you have more questions I could talk about this topic all day.

[Boomstick]

16 minutes ago, Ogandrews said:

Rod wise I would go with a Dobyns Sierra 734c. It’s a little light for a medium heavy so it’s perfect for what you are talking about.

The 734C is the heavy rod, which is more like a MH+ rod. I believe you meant the 733C which is the med heavy, which I agree would be among the best choices for these lures. I got my son one last Christmas and the tip is almost mod. fast instead of fast too. I have a Daiwa Tatula glass 7'2" MH/R that also does pretty nicely.

[Chris at Tech]

If it's me, I'm replacing the leader every time I go fishing.  In my experience, some wear and tear on the leader knot is inevitable so I try to take that variable out of the equation as much as I'm able to.

[Grim_Reaver]

Okay, I'm going convinced on a MH/F rod. I'm still set on something in the 7' range. Need to make short, accurate casts and a 7'3 rod is kinda unwieldy for that purpose based on my experiences. My current 7'3 has been reserved for flipping and long casts. I'm thankful for the suggestions and I'll see if I come across any 7' models of the rods suggested.

[Ogandrews]

6 hours ago, Boomstick said:

The 734C is the heavy rod, which is more like a MH+ rod. I believe you meant the 733C which is the med heavy, which I agree would be among the best choices for these lures. I got my son one last Christmas and the tip is almost mod. fast instead of fast too. I have a Daiwa Tatula glass 7'2" MH/R that also does pretty nicely.

Your correct I did mean to type 733, literally was looking at my 733 sitting on floor of my house while typing that 

[Ogandrews]

8 hours ago, NHBull said:

If you needed it to be that versatile, my first choice would be a MH Loomis MBR.  I believe  I could do it all with a GLX 

They make this in the e6x as well which is more budget friendly and still an amazing rod

[Grim_Reaver]

7 hours ago, Ogandrews said:

They make this in the e6x as well which is more budget friendly and still an amazing rod

Thanks for the heads up. I don't think I'll ever have or be willing to fork out the dough for an MBR or GLX. The E6X 843C MBR does look pretty sweet. The inshore variant of the E6X also looks pretty nice.

[Ogandrews]

12 minutes ago, Grim_Reaver said:

Thanks for the heads up. I don't think I'll ever have or be willing to fork out the dough for an MBR or GLX. The E6X 843C MBR does look pretty sweet. The inshore variant of the E6X also looks pretty nice.

I actually just purchased my first e6x a few days ago. Can’t remember the model number but it’s the 7’1” medium xf Jwr spinning rod. 8lbs suffix 832 to a 6lbs floro leader. Just broke it in yesterday with a 24” brown trout and I was blown away by how sensitive and light it was for the money. If an e6x is in your price range and your on the fence than give it a try your not going to be disappointed

not trying to hijack the thread I’m still a little to jacked up about catching this thing. The pond I was at had about 20ft of open water by a beach while the rest of the lake still had 10 inches of ice on it. Caught this in that tiny pool 5th cast on an x rap

[Grim_Reaver]

19 hours ago, Ogandrews said:

power pro maxcuatro

Being that this is a 4 carrier, will it be more apt to cut rod guides on cheaper rods due to it's roughness and thinner diameter?

[J Francho]

Here we go....braid doesn't cut guides.

 

[Grim_Reaver]

6 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Here we go....braid doesn't cut guides.

 

Okey dokey. Just wondering cause I've heard ppl say that can happen. I'm guessing they chipped their guides banging their rods around and blamed the braid?

[MN Fisher]

9 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Here we go....braid doesn't cut guides.

 

It's not the braid itself - it's the sand/silt/particles that get embedded into the braid. Like sandpaper...it's not the paper that 'cuts'...it's the particles attached to the paper that does it.

[J Francho]

Even then, it's a very rare occurrence.  I've been using braid for over two decades now, and never cut a guide, even cheap steel ones.  

[Grim_Reaver]

Another question about Maxcautro: does it dig into the spool bad?

[Boomstick]

17 minutes ago, Grim_Reaver said:

Another question about Maxcautro: does it dig into the spool bad?

Well 30lb maxcuarto will dig in worse than other 30lb line because it is thinner, but once you get up to 40lb+ line, I would not be too concerned with digging in really being an issue. It's not too bad with standard 30lb braid (only time I've ever had a problem is in cold weather), and virtually non existent with most 40lb braid.