Braid to Flouro Leader Concern

[chadfish11]

Hi,

 

 

I am currently in the process of setting up a rod for jigging, something I rip heavy jigs with in smaller bodies of water for heavy cover, and also for football-head jigging in deeper, open water (Lake St Clair). 

 

I was gonna go with 50lb braid to a 15lb flouro leader (about 4ft. long), however I just feel uneasy about casting the knot through the guides. I've only used leaders of about 1ft. in the past, so I never worried about it until now. This line combination seems superior to a straight flouro or straight braid so I really wanna fish it, but my concern is that passing a knot through the guides could cause wear on the rod and knot, so I am unsure of what to do.

 

Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

Rod: Lew's Mach II 7'3 Heavy Fast Action

Reel: Lew's Mach II Speed Spool 7.5:1

[The Short Fisherman]

I use a long leader (probably around 6 feet or so) attached to braid all the time and my guides are still fine. sometimes though when casting the knot passing through the guides can get kind of annoying but after i switched to using a fg knot i hardly even notice the connection knot.

[WRB]

Use a 2" leader

Braid with a leader offers nothing in sparse or heavy cover application with a baitcasting outfit except 2 knots to fail. 

Tom

[FLAGATOR49]

A good connection knot like a properly tied FG knot wont have any issues going through the guides. A 4 foot 15lb leader is still pretty short and I would say under powered for a 7'3 heavy rod. If you need 15lb for clear water consider going straight fluro or connect with lighter braid than 50 and maybe a lighter rod.

 

 

[chadfish11]

10 minutes ago, FLAGATOR49 said:

A good connection knot like a properly tied FG knot wont have any issues going through the guides. A 4 foot 15lb leader is still pretty short and I would say under powered for a 7'3 heavy rod. If you need 15lb for clear water consider going straight fluro or connect with lighter braid than 50 and maybe a lighter rod.

 

 

Gotcha. I'll probably just run straight 15lb flouro then. Not worth the hassle honestly. The likelihood of line failure does not seem high enough to be risky.

[MassYak85]

Most of my baitcaster applications I am running 40lb braid to anywhere form 10 - 20lb leader. If you are confident in your knots you won't have an issue and going through the guides shouldn't be either unless they're micro guides. I run fairly long (6-8ft) leaders and usually they'll last me a few trips just cause I retie lures a lot, or if I'm dragging the bottom or fishing around rocks those first few feet of line get worn quickly. But I like the leader cause I'm not chewing through my mainline trip after trip and it's more abrasion resistant than the braid. 

[chadfish11]

22 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Most of my baitcaster applications I am running 40lb braid to anywhere form 10 - 20lb leader. If you are confident in your knots you won't have an issue and going through the guides shouldn't be either unless they're micro guides. I run fairly long (6-8ft) leaders and usually they'll last me a few trips just cause I retie lures a lot, or if I'm dragging the bottom or fishing around rocks those first few feet of line get worn quickly. But I like the leader cause I'm not chewing through my mainline trip after trip and it's more abrasion resistant than the braid. 

Interesting. So you cast as normal still? Just letting it go as far as ya can or?

[waymont]

3 minutes ago, chadfish11 said:

Interesting. So you cast as normal still? Just letting it go as far as ya can or?

Yes. Braid to leader on casting gear works great. I do it on 80% of my set ups.

[MN Fisher]

I've got two rigs set up with braid - 50# Power Pro on one, 40# Suffix 832 on the other. Both have 12# Yo-Zuri Hybrid leaders around 6' long tied on with double-uni knots. I have no issues casting and even the Doub-Uni goes through the guides just fine.

[mmoser52]

9 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Most of my baitcaster applications I am running 40lb braid to anywhere form 10 - 20lb leader. If you are confident in your knots you won't have an issue and going through the guides shouldn't be either unless they're micro guides. I run fairly long (6-8ft) leaders and usually they'll last me a few trips just cause I retie lures a lot, or if I'm dragging the bottom or fishing around rocks those first few feet of line get worn quickly. But I like the leader cause I'm not chewing through my mainline trip after trip and it's more abrasion resistant than the braid. 

 

6 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

I've got two rigs set up with braid - 50# Power Pro on one, 40# Suffix 832 on the other. Both have 12# Yo-Zuri Hybrid leaders around 6' long tied on with double-uni knots. I have no issues casting and even the Doub-Uni goes through the guides just fine.

My setups and experiences are nearly identical.  I fish jigs primarily on 40lb braid to 15lb-16lb mono or fluoro leader with no issues. My leaders are a little bit shorter, normally only about 18"-30", connected with a double-uni knot, but still never have any problems from the connection knot going through my guides when casting.

Edited May 29, 2020 by mmoser52

[RoLo]

Ripping heavy jigs thru heavy cover? 

What is the leader for??

[Bandersnatch]

19 hours ago, WRB said:

Use a 2" leader

Braid with a leader offers nothing in sparse or heavy cover application with a baitcasting outfit except 2 knots to fail. 

Tom

You're saying a leader with braid offeres nothing in sparse cover compared to straight braid? 

[WRB]

2 hours ago, Chief250 said:

You're saying a leader with braid offeres nothing in sparse cover compared to straight braid? 

Compared to straight FC or mono in sparse cover based on my 60 + years catching jig and worm bass using FC and mono line. The only time I use braid it's 60 lb straight braid in heavy cover to cut through vegetation period.

Bass anglers use line far stronger lb test then needed to catch their fish IMO. 60'braid is small dia about equal to 12 mono, don't need that high strength but it helps when holding the line. 30 lb feels too small in my hands or I use it. Straight 30 lb braid would work for sparse cover lakes as a alternate to braid with leader, 2 knots is unreliable.

Tom

[chadfish11]

11 hours ago, RoLo said:

Ripping heavy jigs thru heavy cover? 

What is the leader for??

Fair point.. I'm either fishing really small, weed-consumed ponds or out wide-open Lake St Clair, where the water is as clear as day, so my goal was to have a versatile setup I could use on either one. However, I think I'm just gonna run straight 15# flouro and call it a day.