Short leaders

[dodgeguy]

Ok I hate leader knots going through guides. Besides that all my rods are micro guides. Do any of you guys use short leaders like 18 inches so the knot doesn't go through the guides ? Do we really think a longer leader is beneficial to the fish not getting spooked ? How far around a bait does the fish inspect it ? I still don't think bass are line shy but I was contemplating trying a leader maybe for topwaters and abrasion resistance on cranks. Also others have brought up the point of saving money because you're not chopping your mainline shorter all the time.

[RDB]

9 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

Ok I hate leader knots going through guides. Besides that all my rods are micro guides. Do any of you guys use short leaders like 18 inches so the knot doesn't go through the guides ? Do we really think a longer leader is beneficial to the fish not getting spooked ? How far around a bait does the fish inspect it ? I still don't think bass are line shy but I was contemplating trying a leader maybe for topwaters and abrasion resistance on cranks. Also others have brought up the point of saving money because you're not chopping your mainline shorter all the time.

I only use leaders on my spinning gear and I use longer than most.  One reason I use longer leaders is because I only use spinning gear for slow, finesse presentations and I use hi-vis braid.  The other reason I use long leaders is because I retie if I feel any line damage and I’m too lazy to tie on a new leader.

 

Edit:

I use mono for topwater and fluoro for crankbaits.  Personally I don’t think braid is a good choice for cranks..

[bulldog1935]

yes, I use 2' leaders on micro-guide rods - I put a loop on everything to loop-on paper clips, micro-swivel titanium traces and sacrificial tippet. 

My surf leaders are 8' and 10', and I have some inshore rods made for braid that the guides were selected to pass longer leaders easily 

 

This is a 1" surgeons loop on salt finesse - big enough to pass a 3" cigar cork, and 8" titanium wire bite trace on the right. 

 

My Allbright knots will shoot through microguides quite well - they've been shooting fly rod snake guides 40 years. 

[Bird]

Only 2 reasons I use a leader " flouro ".

(1) it simply gives me more confidence in the VERY clear water lakes I fish.

(2) it prevents line wrap of front treble when using braid and I'm an advocate of braid.

 

I'll retie all the way down to a foot of leader and have had zero issues with an Alberto knot.

 

Moving baits, I don't bother with a leader.

[dodgeguy]

Long leaders and knots are out. Just wondering if guys have luck with short leaders.

[A-Jay]

Leader on my spinning rigs is almost always at least 20 ft or longer.

Works for me.

A-Jay

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, dodgeguy said:

Long leaders and knots are out. Just wondering if guys have luck with short leaders.

Yes

[dodgeguy]

29 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

Yes

Like 18 inches?

[DaubsNU1]

I recently switched to hi-vis yellow braid to flouro leader on all my spinning rods last year. Leader is usually 24-36" long. I really like this set up and it doesn't have any troubles going through my guides with the alberto knot. 

 

Note: water visibility in the lakes I fish here in Nebraska is generally less than 2'.  All my bait-casters have had braid on them...been running them that way for 25+ years. If fish cranks, t-rigs, spinner baits, etc., doesn't bother me at all. 

[BigAngus752]

Yes.  Two feet or less.  All the way down to 5 or 6 inches.  It's not so the fish don't see the line.  It's because I fish entirely manmade lakes and I break off at least twice if I fish 8hrs.  Losing 2 feet of flouro or mono is much more economical than losing 20-30 feet of braid from my reel.  

[PhishLI]

When I'm wading at certain lakes having large flats allowing me to to get offshore a few hundred feet I bring one rig spooled with 30lb braid terminated with a VMC Touch Lok snap. Baits rigged on hooks that have eyes too small to allow the snap's clasp to pass through get rigged on a short fluoro or mono leader and terminated with a very small Spro 80lb swivel.

So, Braid to snap to swivel to leader to bait.

 

This works just fine as far as I'm concerned. I believe @throttleplate rigs up the same setup.

 

Do fish care? All I can say is that the fish I've caught don't seem to care. I can't speak to the rest. I don't fish deep, clear, reservoirs though. Quite the opposite. Maybe they'd hate it there? I doubt it though. Test it out yourself by alternating two setups with identical baits.

[Deleted account]

10 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

Like 18 inches?

Varies by the lure, casting style, and rod set up, some lures cast better with a longer drop from the tip, some with a shorter one, anywhere from 12"-30". I usually use a longer leader that winds through the guides, but with micro guides, even a very thin smooth knot will hang up, or click. The main drawback of a short leader is that you will soon run out if you need to retie more than a few times.

[dodgeguy]

3 hours ago, Deleted account said:

Varies by the lure, casting style, and rod set up, some lures cast better with a longer drop from the tip, some with a shorter one, anywhere from 12"-30". I usually use a longer leader that winds through the guides, but with micro guides, even a very thin smooth knot will hang up, or click. The main drawback of a short leader is that you will soon run out if you need to retie more than a few times.

Do you feel you catch more fish with the leader even though it's short ?

[Deleted account]

22 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

Do you feel you catch more fish with the leader even though it's short ?

No, bass don't care, I don't use a leader because of more bites because of reduced visibility. I use it for abrasion and teeth protection (a lot of places I fish have snakeheads, pike and pickerel), and because I hate braid tangling on trebles. I use a 10-15 lb leader on 10 lb braid on spinning gear, and a 20-50 lb test on bait casters. 

[Bankc]

18 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

Long leaders and knots are out. Just wondering if guys have luck with short leaders.

Yes.  I don't tie on short leaders, but I'll tie on a long leader and change baits often enough in a day on the water that I'll wind up with a short one.  Sometimes just a few inches.  The fish don't seem to care.  In fact, the fish don't care if I'm using straight braid.  But I also don't fish in ultra-clear waters, for what it's worth.  

 

I mainly use leaders for the stiffer line, added stretch, or for presentations that are fished really, really slow, to give me some added confidence that the line won't be seen.  Sometimes I'll also use leaders to extend the life of my braid.  If I think I might be retying 10 ft. worth of line in a day, changing out my T-rig bullet weights and hooks, I might tie on a 12 ft. leader before I go out.  Of if I know I'm going to get snagged a lot, a leader gives me a weak point to break off so I don't have lose a bunch of line.  

 

The way I see it, the bottom of a lake is filled with twigs, algae, vegetation, and trash that looks a lot like fishing line.  So they don't seem to care.  And if the fish are going to be really line-shy, then they'll probably be able to hear the noise and feel the vibrations that your line makes as it moves through the water.  So visibility is only a part of the equation.  So I tend to focus on line diameter as much as line composition when trying to keep my line hidden.