Freakin leaders, man

[MickD]

54 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

Why bother ? Dump the leaders.

Because I like the solid feel, sensitivity/bite detection,  and good hook sets of braid which I cannot get with mono , hybrid, or FC.  

[throttleplate]

6 hours ago, waymont said:

Not having to replace your main line for 3 years is a negative?

i replace my braid with new before the beginning of the new fishing year on 3 reels. In with the new out with the old.

[PourMyOwn]

1 minute ago, throttleplate said:

i replace my braid with new before the beginning of the new fishing year on 3 reels. In with the new out with the old.

I'm the opposite,  I reel my braid from one spool to another to turn it "inside out" and get another 2-3 years out of it. But that's the beautiful thing, neither of us is wrong. 

[throttleplate]

2 minutes ago, PourMyOwn said:

I'm the opposite,  I reel my braid from one spool to another to turn it "inside out" and get another 2-3 years out of it. But that's the beautiful thing, neither of us is wrong. 

i have done that before but then i had to splice on more line due to the loss from snags, pike and frayed looking line i didnt trust. 

What brand of braid do you use? me spiderwire stealth.

[PourMyOwn]

2 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

i have done that before but then i had to splice on more line due to the loss from snags, pike and frayed looking line i didnt trust. 

What brand of braid do you use? me spiderwire stealth.

Mostly Power Pro, but if I see expensive stuff on sale I'll try it. I have some Sufix on my frog rod.

 

 

[Junk Fisherman]

I put up with the hassle of leaders because the benefits of a braid/fluoro combo for some presentations are worth it.  

[dodgeguy]

1 hour ago, MickD said:

Because I like the solid feel, sensitivity/bite detection,  and good hook sets of braid which I cannot get with mono , hybrid, or FC.  

So go leaderless with braid. I've tried flouro a bunch of times side to side with braid. On tough days it made no difference.

[king fisher]

1 hour ago, throttleplate said:

i have done that before but then i had to splice on more line due to the loss from snags, pike and frayed looking line i didnt trust. 

What brand of braid do you use? me spiderwire stealth.

If you want your braid to last forever buy hollow braid. Currently  65 pound is the smallest anyone makes (Jerry Brown may make smaller, I'm not sure.) 

but for frog fishing, or punching it works great.  It only takes a couple minuets to splice hollow braid to hollow braid, if you have the right size needle with a loop.  A hollow to hollow braid splice is 100% strong, and is so small it is almost impossible to find where the splice is.  When the last few feet of line goes bad, simply cut it out and splice in however many feet you need to replace.  You can also insert a floro leader in to hollow braid for a knotless Leeder connection if you really want to get fancy.

     All that said, for most of my bass fishing, I agree with the OP and just say no to leaders. 

[MickD]

13 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

So go leaderless with braid. I

Yes, an alternative.  But I like tying the terminal knots better with a leader and I don't like cutting my expensive braid off every time I want to retie a lure.  So my preference is to handle the leader/braid knot with the improved Alberto, which I've found quite easy and fast and have the terminal knots with leader.  I also just seem to have trouble believing that braid is not seen by the fish even though I know logically that in most cases it clearly is not.  In my head.

[bulldog1935]

There's also the shock-absorber factor.  

Braid + leader gives you the best of both:  

1) low stretch for hook-setting

2) enough stretch for shock-resistance.  

this protects both the braid and the rod.  

[MickD]

8 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

enough stretch for shock-resistance. 

Yes, and this can be adjusted with the length of leader used.

[ironbjorn]

49 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

There's also the shock-absorber factor.  

Braid + leader gives you the best of both:  

1) low stretch for hook-setting

2) enough stretch for shock-resistance.  

this protects both the braid and the rod.  

When I first tried braid several years ago, I was casting off Senkos left and right. It didn't take me long to figure out why, but long enough to be embarrassed to admit I wasted a couple packs.

[DaubsNU1]

Bait-casters are spooled with braid, and braid only.

 

I was not a fan of braid on my spinning rods, and leaders....well, hard no.

 

Read countless posts here talking the pro's of braid-to-leader...and decided to give it a try.

 

Now all my spinning rods are spooled with high-vis-yellow PowerPro 10lb, to 10lb fluoro leaders, via Alberto knot. LOVE IT!