Braid to Flouro when Baitcasting or no?

[Bass_Akwards]

Hey all.  Your thoughts on whether it's a better idea to fish a baitcaster backed with braid and then a 6 foot fluoro/mono leader?  Or no braid at all?   If the former, what's your favorite combo of Braid and leader and with what knott?  THANKS!!!

[minrek1]

Braid to mono leader is on about half of my setups.  I use a longish 15 foot leader or so I don’t have to mess with the braid to mono knot much if at all on the boat.

The other half of my setups are mono.

I’ve had luck with most monos and while there is definitely differences between brands, cheap Big Game has never failed me.

Tried fluoro on and off over the years but wasn’t impressed. Though I keep thinking that I should revisit fluoro as a lot people swear by it.

[Chaos10691]

20 minutes ago, Bass_Akwards said:

Hey all.  Your thoughts on whether it's a better idea to fish a baitcaster backed with braid and then a 6 foot fluoro/mono leader?  Or no braid at all?   If the former, what's your favorite combo of Braid and leader and with what knott?  THANKS!!!

I like braid to leader more than straight fluoro on either top water or bottom contact presentations. I like straight fluoro on my moving baits setups. I get longer casts and personally I feel like fluoro backlashes more on me. Braid is more sensitive on tight lines but fluoro has better slack line sensitivity or at least that’s my experience. Changing a leader every now and then is also cheaper in the long run.
 

I learned the FG knot and if I’m prepping the night before I’ll use that for braid to leader. If I’m on the water and say I snag and it breaks at the leader knot I’ll tie a new leader with a uni to uni. Uni to uni is a much easier knot to tie but it’s a thicker knot than the FG which makes it hit guides worse. I’ve never had issue with leader knot catching a guide. It’s mainly a noise thing for me which is why if I have time I’ll use FG.

 

As for which line I’ve only ever used Power Pro Braid to either a fluorocarbon or mono leader. For mono I use Maxima Ultra Green. For fluoro I use either Sunline assassin or sniper. I use Assassin on my moving baits setups and use the leftover as my leader material.

[PressuredFishing]

I swear by mono and coplymers, I only fish braid on frogs. I'm sure you know all the negatives to braid so I won't get into that. If you really want to go braid...

 

1.bigger diameters help me on baitcasting and reduce the risk of it digging into the spool. This cause many backlashes. 

 

2.  Unless you have a tatula t wing system, even the smallest fg or uni knot will occasionally catch the level wind guide or a guide on the rod, I find I am more comfortable with 2-3ft ish leader outside of all guides, this will prevent this issue.

 

P.S (mono seems to be more forgiving on the knots in comparison to floro, floro can sometimes slip on braid if you don't tie the knot 100% right.

[Aaron_H]

I am a braid to leader guy. 30-50lb PowerPro depending on application, 12-15lb Big Game mono and 20lb Seaguar Premier fluoro all tied with a double uni.

[MickD]

For topwater FC can sink and spoil the action of some surface lures.  Better to use mono on those rigs.  

 

I personally have moved to straight mono on my crankbait rods, braid just hasn't proven to be as easy to cast well without problems.  

 

For those using a leader, there is really no need for a leader longer than about 4-6 feet.  That length keeps it out of the reel.  

[Team9nine]

No - all braid or all fluoro on casting gear, but never both. Spinning is largely the inreverse for me. YMMV

[softwateronly]

I like braid to leader and at this point it has informed all my rod decisions and preferences.

 

casting - fg knot

 

65lb and 30lb PP

10, 15, 20lb mono

16lb and 30lb shock leader

 

spinning - alberto knot

 

20lb PP

8lb Invizix

 

scott

[cyclops2]

I am surprised by how many people cast a Bait Caster reel TOO HARD.  DO not have a GOOD FREE RUNNING level winder reel.

There is no way a person should NOT be able to cast WITH THE WIND .  Just PLAN YOUR casting stops to have the wind at your back.   If I figured those out 72 years ago by myself.  Why are we still having the same problems today ? Still having B C  reel problems  ?  Change to a spinning reel. 

Stop frustrating yourself. We are not all created equally.

I still do not cast a SPINNING REEL into the wind with lighter lures. I can get a small backlash with casting into the wind. 

 

Do not spit into the wind.   EVER.

[Bluebasser86]

13 hours ago, cyclops2 said:

I am surprised by how many people cast a Bait Caster reel TOO HARD.  DO not have a GOOD FREE RUNNING level winder reel.

There is no way a person should NOT be able to cast WITH THE WIND .  Just PLAN YOUR casting stops to have the wind at your back.   If I figured those out 72 years ago by myself.  Why are we still having the same problems today ? Still having B C  reel problems  ?  Change to a spinning reel. 

Stop frustrating yourself. We are not all created equally.

I still do not cast a SPINNING REEL into the wind with lighter lures. I can get a small backlash with casting into the wind. 

 

Do not spit into the wind.   EVER.

So just skip the productive water because the wind isn't blowing at my back making casting easier? Myself and a lot of other anglers are in kayaks where just moving to where the wind is at your back isn't always an option. A properly set baitcaster will handle wind no problem provided the user is using appropriate sized baits, keeping cast low, and keeping their thumbs educated. Casting too hard isn't an issue with casting in the wind, poor mechanics and improperly set reels are. 

 

My baitcasters are 100% mono/fluoro/copoly/braid, no leaders. 

[cyclops2]

I have to admit I will be using the 4# test fly leaders on my perch spin  rod.  I am coming up short on daily catches for some guys.  Their smiles are worth the effort.     ?

[new2BC4bass]

I prefer mono/co-poymer.  Braid I use for slop.  I see no need for a leader in that situation.  However, I have very light braid on one of my spinning reels.  Will be using a leader on that reel...not because I think straight brad would scare the fish...but because abrasion resistance is nil on that light of a braid.  Maybe I'd have a different opinion about leaders if I fished gin clear water.

[LrgmouthShad]

Braid to leader works fine on baitcasters. Used it for quite a while. My preference now is straight mono or straight braid. There are zero exceptions to that.

 

Edit: To add braid and leader combination and knots that you requested... my preference would be powerpro superslick v2 braid tied with an fg knot to trilene big game. FG knot seems to never ever fail tied correctly. Often your lure connection knot will break before it does.

[Choporoz]

Braid to leader in most.  YoZuri Hybrid for most leaders.  Straight fluoro on some.  Straight braid on a couple.

 

Three main reasons I use leader on most braid applications:

- I don't consume braid when I re-tie or change lures.

- I can break off, if I need to.

- Better abrasion resistance.

I am not very concerned about whether bass are line-shy

[Bankc]

36 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Braid to leader in most.  YoZuri Hybrid for most leaders.  Straight fluoro on some.  Straight braid on a couple.

 

Three main reasons I use leader on most braid applications:

- I don't consume braid when I re-tie or change lures.

- I can break off, if I need to.

- Better abrasion resistance.

I am not very concerned about whether bass are line-shy

Ditto.  Only I've gotten away from straight fluoro but will occasionally do straight mono or straight Yo-Zuri Hybrid.  

 

FG knot for leaders if I'm tying at home.  Double Uni if I'm tying on the water.  

[waymont]

Yes, totally. I do it 95% of the time

[Bird]

90% of my casting reels are straight Power Pro braid 20# for moving baits. 

My Jerkbait setup has a 6ft Flouro leader of Sunline sniper attached via Alberto. 

I've not experienced any of the issues that are brought up from time to time with using straight braid and casting gear.......feel somewhat discriminated against. Lol

[JustJames]

Depends on size of braid and structure. If I use 20-30lb braid no leader need. If below 15lb braid and fish around rock bottom or rip rap, leader would help in more abrasion resistance.

[cyclops2]

My 6 # braid had NO slip when new. A Trilene Knot was fine with snags or pulling pike out of heavy grass & weeds. But then I started loosing the lures to the fish faster. I did a magnifying look at the end of the braid. Surprise.    ALL of the green color was scrubbed off. So I tied & pulled on the swivel eyes. It did NOT MOVE. When dry. I wetted the line & the knots kept sliding until the end came thru the knot & wire junction.  Had a meeting with myself.  We put a 1/2 hitch 1 " from the end of the line. Then I did the Trilene pulling when wet. It slide right up to the 1/2 hitch and stopped forever.  So I went from a bunch of Rapala lures in a month to only excessive pulling causing a breakoff.

[gim]

My bait casters usually have braid and then about a 12-15 inch leader made of Seaguar blue label that helps reduce pike bite offs. I do have a jerk bait setup with straight mono too.

 

My spinning applications are braided line with a longer section of Seaguar Invisix.

[Mike L]

No leaders ever

 

 

 

 

Mike