Typical leader length?

[Eddie101]

I've rarely used a leader, but I want to give it a go with my new baitcaster. With mono backing, followed by braided line, I want to try either mono or fluro leader for some finesse fishing, and crankbait fishing. What should be the "acceptable length" for a leader? On Youtube videos, some people appear to have over 15-20 ft of leaders on their reels, and I wonder if that's too much, and possibly defeats the purpose of using braided line. I don't think I want the knot catching a rod guide either or does it matter? What do you experts suggest?

[txchaser]

Not an expert but I fish braid to a leader a lot. I like it long enough to not be inside the first guide when casting. Ends up about the length of the rod. You see the long leaders on a spinning reel.

 

Make it long enough to go all the way in your reel and if it is a train wreck you can just cut it shorter.

[jimmyjoe]

   I use non-metal leaders two ways: first is knotted (I use a Crazy Alberto knot) and the second is tied to either a ball bearing swivel or a split ring.

   I can make the first as long as I want. I've tried in the past to roll the knot onto the reel, but that doesn't work the best. I've settled on about 3 feet of length max.

   The second uses a leader that's max of 18", because the swivel or ring won't go into the tiptop .... nor would I want it to. I use this when I want to change leader material often or quickly. I know Alberto Knie says he can tie his knot on the high seas and in the dark. That's fine, but I'm not Alberto Knie. I prefer the swivel.     jj

[OkobojiEagle]

The length of my wingspan

 

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[Bankc]

You really only need a foot or two of leader to do it's job.  The problem with that is, as you cut it shorter from tying knots and changing baits, you'll have to retie a new leader more often.  So I usually tie a leader so that if my bait hangs at around the appropriate casting length (in other words, the lure hangs about six inches below the rod tip), then the leader knot sits just outside my reel.  I found that if I have the leader knot go all of the way into my reel, it sometimes rubs my thumb as I cast, and over time, that can make my thumb a bit tender.  

 

So with a 7' rod, I usually use about 6'6" of leader.  That way the leader is long enough that I don't have to retie a new leader on the water, yet don't have to worry about the thumb issue.  I use and FG knot, so it slides between the guides pretty easily.  

 

I don't think it matters if you use a foot or twenty feet of leader.  Either way, you're going to be limiting the strength of your line to the strength of your leader (or the strength of the knot).  Personally, I kind of appreciate that aspect of it though.  That way, if I do get hung up and have to break the line, I don't lose much of my expensive braid and don't have to respool due to losing line.  I don't use leaders in areas with heavy cover where I run a high risk of getting hung up and don't want to risk losing a lure, for this reason.  I usually use a heavy braid for that so I can just winch up whatever I'm hooked on, or straighten the hook out.  But for situations where I don't think there's a high chance of getting hung up and I'm prepared to lose a lure if I do, leaders work pretty well.  

[Eddie101]

44 minutes ago, Bankc said:

You really only need a foot or two of leader to do it's job.  The problem with that is, as you cut it shorter from tying knots and changing baits, you'll have to retie a new leader more often.  So I usually tie a leader so that if my bait hangs at around the appropriate casting length (in other words, the lure hangs about six inches below the rod tip), then the leader knot sits just outside my reel.  I found that if I have the leader knot go all of the way into my reel, it sometimes rubs my thumb as I cast, and over time, that can make my thumb a bit tender.  

 

So with a 7' rod, I usually use about 6'6" of leader.  That way the leader is long enough that I don't have to retie a new leader on the water, yet don't have to worry about the thumb issue.  I use and FG knot, so it slides between the guides pretty easily.  

 

I don't think it matters if you use a foot or twenty feet of leader.  Either way, you're going to be limiting the strength of your line to the strength of your leader (or the strength of the knot).  Personally, I kind of appreciate that aspect of it though.  That way, if I do get hung up and have to break the line, I don't lose much of my expensive braid and don't have to respool due to losing line.  I don't use leaders in areas with heavy cover where I run a high risk of getting hung up and don't want to risk losing a lure, for this reason.  I usually use a heavy braid for that so I can just winch up whatever I'm hooked on, or straighten the hook out.  But for situations where I don't think there's a high chance of getting hung up and I'm prepared to lose a lure if I do, leaders work pretty well.  

Makes sense and thank you for your input. Now, I don't know how to do a FG knot (I'm sure I can Google it but), will a blood knot do the trick as well? 

[Bankc]

1 hour ago, Eddie101 said:

Makes sense and thank you for your input. Now, I don't know how to do a FG knot (I'm sure I can Google it but), will a blood knot do the trick as well? 

Yeah.  I use the FG knot because it's extremely thin and extremely strong.  It slides through micro guides (as long as the line itself is thin enough).  The disadvantage to it is it's hard to tie.  I won't tie it on the water.  I only tie it at home.  That's because it requires both hands, my teeth, and a foot to keep four ends tight at once.  And even then, it takes a while.  It's not conceptually difficult, in that it's basically just two easy steps, repeated over and over.  But to me, it's best done when you're bored and have free time, rather than in a hurry and trying to get your line back in the water.  

 

You're better off using a knot that you feel comfortable with and can tie right, rather than messing with a knot you might mess up.  A well executed blood knot would be leagues better than a poorly tied FG.  

[Conclusion]

From the sounds of it you guys are saying the leader knot should reel in almost until it hits the spool. Do you not find issues with casting distance with the knots rubbing through the guides?

[Eddie101]

7 minutes ago, Conclusion said:

From the sounds of it you guys are saying the leader knot should reel in almost until it hits the spool. Do you not find issues with casting distance with the knots rubbing through the guides?

That was one of my concerns as well

[Bankc]

1 hour ago, Conclusion said:

From the sounds of it you guys are saying the leader knot should reel in almost until it hits the spool. Do you not find issues with casting distance with the knots rubbing through the guides?

There might be a slight decrease in casting distance.  But I typically use 30lb braid, and with the FG knot, it slides through them really easily.  The FG is also a really long knot that's kind of stiff and is tapered a bit at the leading end.  It makes more resistance coming in than going out.  With a bigger, blunter knot, it might not slide as easily.  You'll have to try it for yourself to see if the loss in casting distance is enough to concern you.  For me, it's probably no more than a yard or two.  Not enough that I really notice.  But if it does bother you, it's really easy to just cut it short, or even cut it off, while you're on the water.  So the experiment isn't a big risk.

[Conclusion]

13 minutes ago, Bankc said:

There might be a slight decrease in casting distance.  But I typically use 30lb braid, and with the FG knot, it slides through them really easily.  The FG is also a really long knot that's kind of stiff and is tapered a bit at the leading end.  It makes more resistance coming in than going out.  With a bigger, blunter knot, it might not slide as easily.  You'll have to try it for yourself to see if the loss in casting distance is enough to concern you.  For me, it's probably no more than a yard or two.  Not enough that I really notice.  But if it does bother you, it's really easy to just cut it short, or even cut it off, while you're on the water.  So the experiment isn't a big risk.

This weekend will be my first opportunity to try it. I'm just getting in to fishing and getting my gear set up. I've used the Alberto knot to tie 20lb pp to 10lb flouro for my spinning set up. Going to be casting some rapala's for trout from my kayak so I'm really curious how the knots will impact casting. I've also read the Alberto knot can degrade as it runs through the guides after a while so I was ideally hoping to keep my leader pretty short. 

[Bankc]

2 hours ago, Conclusion said:

This weekend will be my first opportunity to try it. I'm just getting in to fishing and getting my gear set up. I've used the Alberto knot to tie 20lb pp to 10lb flouro for my spinning set up. Going to be casting some rapala's for trout from my kayak so I'm really curious how the knots will impact casting. I've also read the Alberto knot can degrade as it runs through the guides after a while so I was ideally hoping to keep my leader pretty short. 

If you want to keep it short, then by all means, keep it short.  The fish aren't really smart enough to look in front of the lure to see if there's a line running in front of it.  I'd say a foot is probably about all you need.  Maybe not even that.  

It all depends on why you are using the leader.  For instance, with saltwater fishing, the leader becomes more important because some of those fish have sharp teeth.  And the purpose of the leader isn't so much to hide the fishing line, but to keep the fish from biting through it.  So they'll often use thicker line for the leader, or even metal cable.  The same is true for certain freshwater species.  But for bass and other similar game fish, the purpose is usually to hide the line from the fish or something like that.  Though sometimes people put a long leader of something like mono (on the order of several feet) on the end of their braid to give the line some more stretch.  In that case, the longer the leader, the more the stretch.  

 

There's really no wrong answer.  It all just depends on what you're trying to do with it.  For me, it's mostly about saving money and preserving my line, as the braid costs quite a bit more than the mono.  And it lasts a lot longer than fluoro, so if I want to "use fluoro", I can just tie a fluoro leader to the end of my braid and get more or less the same thing.  Plus, I can constantly tie on new lures and cut off long tags, without taking much off my spool.  Visibility isn't an issue for me because none of the lakes I fish have either stained water or worse.  

[Conclusion]

Finally got a chance to try out my Alberto knot leader this week on a spinning set up. Used a 6'6" aird x spinning rod and the knot kept getting caught in the last guide when casting. My leader was only about 1.5ft so not overly long. I have no doubt this will be worse on my casting rods. No idea how you guys run bread to mono/flouro leaders without getting the knots caught up.

[MN Fisher]

11 minutes ago, Conclusion said:

Finally got a chance to try out my Alberto knot leader this week on a spinning set up. Used a 6'6" aird x spinning rod and the knot kept getting caught in the last guide when casting. My leader was only about 1.5ft so not overly long. I have no doubt this will be worse on my casting rods. No idea how you guys run bread to mono/flouro leaders without getting the knots caught up.

I run 6' leaders on my BCs - 40# Suffix 832 or 50# Power Pro to 12# Yo-Zuri Hybrid - tied with double-uni. Ya, I hear the knot go through the guides, but I've yet to have a hang-up. Make sure to wet the knot and tighten it down good.

 

I don't use braid on spinning reels personally - straight mono or Yo-Zuri.

 

Can't be the rod - I'm using Aird-X myself without problems.

[Eddie101]

12 hours ago, Conclusion said:

Finally got a chance to try out my Alberto knot leader this week on a spinning set up. Used a 6'6" aird x spinning rod and the knot kept getting caught in the last guide when casting. My leader was only about 1.5ft so not overly long. I have no doubt this will be worse on my casting rods. No idea how you guys run bread to mono/flouro leaders without getting the knots caught up.

I'm having a same issue right now, and I'm using a blood knot too. Knot keeps getting in the way; hitting the last guide and ruins my cast. I don't know how other guys are doing it w/o having any issue.

[livin2fish]

First, I do not have micro guides on any of my rods, baitcaster or spinning and only use leaders on spinning (15 lb braid to 8 lb leader). The only braid on my baitcasters is for frogging and punching with no leader.  That said, the Alberto knot goes through all the guides on my spinning rods with no problem and I personally have had no experience of the knot degrading.  Some put a drop of super glue on the FG knot to keep it from coming loose at the leader end of the knot.  That is the only problem I've ever had with the FG knot.  Properly tied, the FG is the best knot for going through small guides, but check regularly to be sure the "finish" knots are not coming undone.  The Albright knot is a thin knot but for some reason I can't tie it with reliable consistency.  Practice your knot tying until you find what works best for you.     

[Hook2Jaw]

Between the line guide of my casting reels and the first guide via FG knot.  I put about three rod lengths on my spinning rods, as those are techniques where I want to be as finesse as possible.  I've read countless instances where anglers say fish do not spook when confronted with braid, but then I've seen most every angler agree to downsize line when confronted with difficult conditions.

 

Which is it?

 

There are too many variables in bass fishing for me to not want to stack the odds in my favor.  When I'm going as natural as possible with my spinning equipment, I don't want a bass seeing my line.

[plawren53202]

On ‎7‎/‎9‎/‎2020 at 11:08 AM, Conclusion said:

From the sounds of it you guys are saying the leader knot should reel in almost until it hits the spool. Do you not find issues with casting distance with the knots rubbing through the guides?

I'm sure it has some effect on casting as the knot passes through the guides, but so long as I am tying a good tight knot and the ends are trimmed as closely as possible, it is certainly not noticeable. However, what did cause me problems when I started using braid/leader was if the leader was long enough to sit on my spool when casting. No matter how closely I trimmed the ends, eventually the knot would grab a loop of line as it came off the reel and cause big problems.

 

Based on that, I make my leaders just short enough so that the knot sits between the reel and the first guide when ready to cast. As someone else said, for fishing purposes you could probably go shorter but that just leads to more often having to retie the leader from tying new baits/hangups/etc.

[Conclusion]

Sounds like my leader is quite a bit shorter than what most of you are using, maybe I'll try extending it a bit. The extra travel and force might be needed to work through the guides as opposed to keeping it short and having it catch the final guide right off the cast.

 

Thanks for all the replies and feedback. Anyone have experience with these knots using t-wing bc's? If so is there a casting impact?

[RoLo]

 

When I incorporate a leader, which isn’t often, I strive for two things:

  ●   LONG enough so I won’t be bothered having to replace a short stub

  ●   SHORT enough so the connection knot can’t enter the reel spool.

 

Depending on rod length of course, this will result in a leader around 6-feet long.

This is easily achieved without any measuring. The distance between your fingertips

on horizontally outstretched arms is roughly 5 feet. To this, I'll draw off an extra foot,

then snip the leader from the supply spool. Whether the target is bluegills or mako sharks,

the connection knot will always be a double uni-knot.

 

Roger

 

 

[J Francho]

Anything more than the length of the rod, and I tend to think of it as a top shot.  Mostly, I use a leader that is 3-6' long.  If I was going to use longer, I'd just use straight fluoro or mono.

[NHBull]

If I use leader, the knot is between the reel and first guide.  GY prefers to have long leaders especially with spinning gear to get the knot on the reel to lessen chance of knot failure.......think that is where the 15’ may come from

[MUSLENUTZ]

I use an Alberto knot. Super easy to tie, super quick and super strong. I run a leader length depending how much water I’m fishing. Sometimes I’ll go into the braid, never have issues. But it will hinder your distance and could cause issues with braid. All depends on what you use for test.  Usually I’ll keep it 5 inches out of the reel. Maybe 8-10ft, generally I want to use one leader all day or have enough for leverage when I’m snagged so I don’t lose the lure. I tried all the traditional ways people say, this works perfect for me. 30lb braid on a DC reel. 10-15lb fluro leader. 

[basser27]

9 hours ago, J Francho said:

Anything more than the length of the rod, and I tend to think of it as a top shot.  Mostly, I use a leader that is 3-6' long.  If I was going to use longer, I'd just use straight fluoro or mono.

This 

[Maggiesmaster]

I use 30# braid with a 12# mono leader. That’s enough to handle the bass in my favorite lake. My leader length is just long enough to keep from running in the spool, and tied with a shin knot.  I’ve actually had a leader go into the spool and cast fine, except it rubs against my thumb during the cast. Use standard guides, not micro guides. I’ve gotten away from supergluing the knot, because it makes it hard and seems to hurt the casting. Just be sure to cut the tag end of the mono really close.