Braid+leader vs floro

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, Standard said:

I need some of your luck.  Had straight 40 lb braid to a weightless t-rig worm for throwing into pads / weeds.  Got to the edge of the pads and watched as a big pike came up, snatched the whole thing in his mouth, turned his head and I felt the slightest tug.. cut through that line like butter.  

I've had pike and musky EASILY slice through 50# braid, and 25# mono and flouro. 

[FishTank]

3 hours ago, T-Billy said:

I've had pike and musky EASILY slice through 50# braid, and 25# mono and flouro. 

In my case it has always been 20 or 30lb straight braid with pickerel and walleye.  I have the better luck with braid to leader than do straight braid with these toothy critters.  In some cases I have caught several with 6lb braid only to see them smack my topwater braided line and not the lure. 

[HookInMouth]

I use braid with mono leader for everything. I only run two setups right now on the kayak a medium heavy bc and a medium spin. Both are braid to mono leader. Never had an FG knot fail and have no problem passing them through the guides on the exprides.

[jimmyjoe]

6 hours ago, OkiePapist said:

. Once I run out of FC, i'll likely just run mono leaders. 

 

   Maxima Chameleon is calling your name!       jj

[Craig P]

Sniper Assassin Floro. Like Eli, I put that S$&@ on eveything.   I do have a braid setup where braid is needed though and I have to admit, the FG knot has been treating me so much better than the Alberto. 

[fishwizzard]

On 10/1/2021 at 9:19 AM, Team9nine said:

. Spinning combos are majority braid/leader setups except when I can’t get away with it (winter supercooling). 

I am the reverse, straight mono/fluoro except when I can’t get away with it.  My spinning combo usage is almost entirely weightless/lightly weighted plastics/jigs and I prefer the more connected feel of straight non-braid line.  I also don’t like thinner braids as I always end up cutting myself with it. 
 

I run braid/leader on a single casting combo, my fluke rod.  I have a rod I consider ideal for how I fish them, but spent a season trying out various reels and lines.  I ended up with a shallow spooled finesse reel loaded with 30lb J-Braid to 16lb Sunline FC100.  I would prefer straight fluoro but where and how I fish flukes keep it from being practical.  
 

In general I think all lines are a compromise of sorts and which to use can come down to small differences in style or conditions.  

[Troy85]

For bottom lures I prefer braid with leader.  I've tried straight Fluro, but the memory drives me crazy.  I use 17-20 since I'm fishing around thick grass 95% of the time.  I'm not buying cheap fluro, I've tried several different brands, Berkely, seguar and P-Line.  I'm open to suggestions as to how to help reduce memory, with brands or techniques. I'd rather not have the extra leader knot if I can avoid it.

 

When using spinnerbaits, crankbaits and swimbaits I have those tied on straight fluro with 12-15lb test.  

[roadwarrior]

#12 or #15 Tatsu and KVD Line & Lure Conditioner

 

 

[fishwizzard]

4 minutes ago, Troy85 said:

.  I'm not buying cheap fluro, I've tried several different brands, Berkely, seguar and P-Line.  I'm open to suggestions as to how to help reduce memory, with brands or techniques. I'd rather not have the extra leader knot if I can avoid it.

 

I have settled on Sniper/Invizx treated with KVD Line&Lure as my “standard” fluoro, switching to Shooter for heavier jig use or Tatsu for some plastics fishing.
 

The line conditioner really helps a lot. I don’t use it much nor often, but a few sprays the night before a trip for reels that don’t see a ton of use really helps. 

 

Premium lines still have some memory, but they are pretty manageable once you get used to it. At this point trying to fish straight braid feels weird to me as I am so used to a stiffer line. 

[jimmyjoe]

4 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

#12 or #15 Tatsu and KVD Line & Lure Conditioner

 

 

 

   Ever try Rain-X?  It's supposed to be one of the "Big Secrets".       jj

[PressuredFishing]

2 hours ago, Troy85 said:

For bottom lures I prefer braid with leader.  I've tried straight Fluro, but the memory drives me crazy.  I use 17-20 since I'm fishing around thick grass 95% of the time.  I'm not buying cheap fluro, I've tried several different brands, Berkely, seguar and P-Line.  I'm open to suggestions as to how to help reduce memory, with brands or techniques. I'd rather not have the extra leader knot if I can avoid it.

 

When using spinnerbaits, crankbaits and swimbaits I have those tied on straight fluro with 12-15lb test.  

I love mono and floro but memory can drive me crazy as well, with 10 foot leaders you can at least straighten out the line with your hands.

[waymont]

On 9/30/2021 at 9:36 PM, PressuredFishing said:

problems of braid like digging into spool, killing rod guides, annoying sound, tying extra knots, harder backlashes to get out.

I don't have any issues with any of these things. I use 20-40lb on casting rigs, and 8 and 10lb on spinning rigs. Backlashes are easier to get out with braid. Remember a couple of kinks from a backlash using straight FC will ruin that spool of line quick. I don't hear any annoying sound when using braid. Unless you are using a cheap rod from decades ago, your guides will be fine with braid. Takes me a minute to tie leader knots. I use braid to leader, and straight braid all the time with out any issues.

On 10/1/2021 at 6:17 AM, dodgeguy said:

but to say braid has none is misinformation.

I 100 percent agree, I feel bites on slack braid all the time.

[gim]

21 hours ago, T-Billy said:

I've had pike and musky EASILY slice through 50# braid, and 25# mono and flouro. 

Well that answers that. Guess I’m gonna have to upgrade again.

[T-Billy]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Well that answers that. Guess I’m gonna have to upgrade again.

I don't think there's a surefire way to prevent biteoffs short of steel/titanium or really heavy say 80lb+ flouro/mono leaders. 

It's funny, I've caught a bunch of musky up to 42" on a TRD Bug and 6# XT the last couple years. They won't leave it alone in cold water. If they pick it up off the bottom they just nip at it and I hook them right in the tip of their mouth. I land probably 2/3 of those fish. If they grab it up in the water column as I'm reeling it in, they generally bite me off instantly.

Same deal with bigger baits. They tend to inhale the bait if it's up off the bottom, and I get bit off the majority of the time, regardless of the type of line I'm using. Pike and musky are crazy. I had a 40"+ musky rocket out from under my boat and grab my fluke as I was lifting it out of the water one day.  The bait was a couple feet above the surface when it grabbed it. Like 2' of line out.  Bout needed a change of drawers after that bite. ? That fight lasted about 3 seconds. It bit me off as it was tail walking away from me.

 

[AnotherInstanceOfMe]

Let me share my experience. I used braided line in all of my reels, but because of numerous backlashes I moved to fluorocarbon. And I felt good until I bought ultralight rod and Daiwa SV TW with Roro studio spool. I putted fluorocarbon line there as well and it was my huge mistake. I can't cast far, I had a lot of backlashes, I was about to return both rod and reel t back to seller and finish up with fishing at all. While one smart man in this forum advised me to put braided line. And this advise becomes a game changer. Sensitivity changes dramatically, cast distance improved in almost 3 times.

Only thing is that backlashes with braided line take much more time, but I hope it will improve with more expensive line. Or not?

Another thing I need to recall is how to pull fish from the water. With fluorocarbon I didn't care about that at all, it was smooth and nice. Braided line is totally different story, but it will be improved with time and gained experience.

Hop it helps.

 

[fishwizzard]

Using a blunt needle as a marlin spike, I think most braid backlashes can be picked out given enough time/patience.  
 

 

This one took however long it takes me to drink two cups of coffee and three beers, but the line was saved.  

[dodgeguy]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

Well that answers that. Guess I’m gonna have to upgrade again.

Pike and musky can bite through any line. I've just never had it happen. That's why they make steel leaders.

18 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

Using a blunt needle as a marlin spike, I think most braid backlashes can be picked out given enough time/patience.  
 

 

This one took however long it takes me to drink two cups of coffee and three beers, but the line was saved.  

Don't pick them out. Reel against your thumb pressure then pull line off spool by hand. Sometimes pulling it pulls out the knots. Feel your pull. You have to pull pretty hard sometimes. If it doesn't come then pick out a pile of loops with your fingers. I've rarely cut it off and have gotten out backlashes that bad and worse.

[Boomstick]

On 9/30/2021 at 10:47 PM, padon said:

casting , straight flouro. spinning braid to fluoro. cant tell you why . after trying it all for a few years thats just what i like.

I do the same thing, and I can tell you why. I usually go with straight fluorocarbon whenever possible. There's two main reasons. One is for simplicity - I don't have to take time to wire up a leader. Second is sensitivity. If you are taking a jig and dropping it to the bottom and reeling up the slack and trying again, braid wins. But if you are structure fishing a jig and your line is not perfectly tight, braid will lose all sensitivity where fluorocarbon still remains somewhat sensitive.

 

On spinning gear, I feel that braid is less prone to line twist issues or losing loops off the reel, which makes it worth it to me.

 

[clemsondds]

6 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

Pike and musky can bite through any line. I've just never had it happen. That's why they make steel leaders.

Don't pick them out. Reel against your thumb pressure then pull line off spool by hand. Sometimes pulling it pulls out the knots. Feel your pull. You have to pull pretty hard sometimes. If it doesn't come then pick out a pile of loops with your fingers. I've rarely cut it off and have gotten out backlashes that bad and worse.

I thought this only worked for FC

[Boomstick]

On 10/1/2021 at 4:24 PM, T-Billy said:

I've had pike and musky EASILY slice through 50# braid, and 25# mono and flouro. 

Generally fluorocarbon tends to fare better with pike, but I recall one day on my first cast I had a fish bite my jig. I went to set the hook and nothing was there, including my jig. A pike had bit cleanly through the line. If you are fishing and getting a lot of pike bites, then lead core leader is a must.

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, clemsondds said:

I thought this only worked for FC

I use it on all my lines - FC, Mono, Braid and even YZH.

[fishwizzard]

15 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

 

Don't pick them out. Reel against your thumb pressure then pull line off spool by hand. Sometimes pulling it pulls out the knots. 

 

That was tried on the water, it was way worse before.   It was a slow day fishing and I decided to see if I could skip a jig under a tree from a non-ideal angle.  The answer was, no, I could not.  

[Bdnoble84]

Ive pretty well converted to braid to leader on everything. Mostly because i like the sensitivity. The sponsiveness, the fact that i can easily remove backlashes. Ive gotten pretty goodcat an Fg knot. Its a convinience thing for me, plus i like the bait control i have due to the lack of stretch

[PaulVE64]

Mono is more abrasion resistant than fluoro. Its been tested and proven by the guys at Salt Strong.

 

All my spinning setups are #10 to #40 hi vis braid to a 5' mono leader with an fg knot. I use an uni knot or loop knot to tie my lures and i can retie a dozen times with a 5ft leader. 

[MGF]

I think we should state the type of fishing we're doing. All of my fishing so far this year has been in our river which is shallow and for most of the summer it's very clear. I don't think I've made a single cast into water deeper than about 5'.

 

Braid on spinning tackle has just about been the best thing since sliced bread for me. I'll bet I have reels that have carried the same line for 3 or 4 years now...and they've been used a lot. I use about a 12' flouro leader partly because of the water clarity (might not be needed) and because of the buoyancy characteristics and the type of baits that I'm throwing. Over a lot of fishing and many hundreds of fish I haven't had any trouble with knot failure or getting the knot through guides. Some of those fish really had that line screaming too.

 

On casting outfits I've mixed it up. Mono for top water, jigs, cranks or bladed jigs in the river. The same would go for fishing docks on the reservoir down river. The buoyancy doesn't bother me because of the shallow water and the mono is forgiving and inexpensive which is nice when you do a lot of skipping. 

 

 For slower bottom baits in clean water or shallow jerk baits I'll go braid to leader. Here again the leader is either because of clarity or buoyancy.

 

There are times I'll go straight braid but I haven't been there this year. The one thing I have NEVER done and have no plans of doing anytime soon is straight flouro...not for the type of fishing I do and not at what it costs. 

 

If I were fishing certain baits in deeper water I'd have to think about using straight flouro but I don't know when or if that will ever happen.