Leader

[Jonny15678]

I never fish with a leader but would like to. I have 40lb braid and a straight shank hook for Texas rig. Do I need to match diameter of braid for the leader?

[softwateronly]

I fish braid to leader with alberto and fg knots and have no problem with line diameter with the exception of thicker diameter braid to thinner floro using the fg.  fg bites best when it indents the leader slightly and I'm unable to achieve it while setting it.  In this case, I use alberto, really modified alberto.  In practice, I would think 40lb braid to 6-8lb leader is where this would happen, but I never use that combo of line.

 

scott

[dodgeguy]

Unless you are doing it for abrasion resistance it's not needed. It does not have to be the same diameter.

[Choporoz]

Leader may not be needed, but there are perfectly acceptable reasons to want to use one...including abrasion resistance....and others.

 

  Agree with @softwateronly. 

 

I typically use between 8 and 15# leaders with 10 to 40# braid.

[RDB]

You do not need to but most people probably do without realizing it.  20lb braid to 10lb fluoro or 40lb braid to 15lb fluoro is about the same diameter.

[bulldog1935]

I am always going for abrasion resistance, and my leader test is not far below my braid test. 

Frequently 22 or 27-lb X-braid with 15-lb leader. 

 

[FishTank]

I use leader only for Texas Rigged soft plastic and for finesse spinning gear. I try to match the same diameter as braid. 

 

I do not use leader for some topwater (frogs for example) or heavy cover. 

[WRB]

No practical reason to use braid on a bait caster unless fishing heavy cover. In heavy cover you don’t need a leader.

Spinning braid acts like a swivel to reduce mono/ FC line twist using a leader.

Give it try and practice, practice, practice knot tying.

Tom

[Tail Slap]

I tend to use leader sans heavy cover. I run almost exclusively braid on all my reels.  I do a mix of FW & SW so abrasion resistance is a focus on the latter.  For knots like the FG SC PR knots where the braid turns work down and embed the mono/fluoro leader, rather than  the braid locking off on itself at a focus point, it's strongest with the leader being larger diameter (not greater strength) than the mainline braid.  As most all USDM lines: braid, mono, and fluoro are underrated, those knots, if properly tied, will usually hold to the lines listed strength rating (vs higher actual). 

 

I too like to use a drop of super glue smeared over the the knot ends.

 

 

 

 

[dodgeguy]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

No practical reason to use braid on a bait caster unless fishing heavy cover. In heavy cover you don’t need a leader.

Spinning braid acts like a swivel to reduce mono/ FC line twist using a leader.

Give it try and practice, practice, practice knot tying.

Tom

You can't be serious about no practical reason to use braid on a baitcaster.

[WRB]

You edited “unless fishing heavy cover”.

I don’t own a bait casting reel with braid today because no reason to use it. So yes I am serious.

Tom

[dodgeguy]

29 minutes ago, WRB said:

You edited “unless fishing heavy cover”.

I don’t own a bait casting reel with braid today because no reason to use it. So yes I am serious.

Tom

That's absurd. You may prefer other lines which is ok but that statement is absurd. Practical Reasons I use braid on baitcasters 1) It backlashes less 2) When it does backlash it's easier to get out. 3) when it does backlash it doesn't damage the line 4) for me I feel way more bites and way more of what my lure is doing than other lines 5) it last so long it costs less 6) I lose hardly any lures using braid

[PhishLI]

[bulldog1935]

I have a hard time tolerating coil in my leaders until they're stretched straight on the rod. 

Main line coil - knock your lights out, none for me, thanks. 

 

Seems to me there's no practical reason for posting opinion that's contrary to the subject of a thread - this one happens to be leaders. 

If the topic doesn't interest you, do something else. 

Does the OP care about your opinion (rhetorical)

[FishTank]

2 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

That's absurd. You may prefer other lines which is ok but that statement is absurd. Practical Reasons I use braid on baitcasters 1) It backlashes less 2) When it does backlash it's easier to get out. 3) when it does backlash it doesn't damage the line 4) for me I feel way more bites and way more of what my lure is doing than other lines 5) it last so long it costs less 6) I lose hardly any lures using braid

 

This is sort of how I look at. Glenn explained it well. 

 

I have spent this year keeping statistics on using braid as main line (not done yet)... How many fish, number of casts, backlashes, etc.  Short version for now.... Braid catches less fish for me when used as main line but I do use it for frogs (I land more fish on mono though) and pitching into cover.  I have it on one spinning set up. I use leader and catch a ton of fish with this set up but without leader, the numbers go down. 

 

 

[RDB]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

No practical reason to use braid on a bait caster unless fishing heavy cover. In heavy cover you don’t need a leader.

I am with you on this.  I have nothing against people preferring braid…I use it on my frog and heavy cover rods.  My personal preference is fluoro which is on 80% of my baitcasters. The only time I used a leader on a baitcaster was when I used braid for topwater but I now use mono.  It’s personal preference but for me, I see no benefit and some negatives using braid for most applications.

[Boomstick]

3 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

2) When it does backlash it's easier to get out.

If by this you mean cutting your line off and respooling, then there is some truth to this.

5 hours ago, WRB said:

No practical reason to use braid on a bait caster unless fishing heavy cover.

I'm with you on this. I have braid on two reels for punching, flipping and frogging and they see the least use of all my reels.

 

I do prefer how braid handles on spinning gear though.

[Jrob78]

I have braid on my frog rod, a heavy pitching/punching rod and a topwater rod. It works great for those techniques but I don't like it for anything else. I hate how it handles, the lack of stretch, the huge bows in the line and slack line sensitivity, or lack thereof. That said though, it's personal preference, if you like it and feel confident with it then by all means put it on every rod, who cares?

[WRB]

I learned to use a bait casting in 1955 using braid. When monofilament line came out in 1960 the braid was put away.

Using that stretchy mono line managed to catch hundreds of DD , 50 over 15 lbs and 5 over 17 lbs, zero caught up using braid.

When Spectra super braids came out in the 80’s the smaller diameter sparked interest as back up line for off shore big tuna and marlin using smaller size 30W International reels that could hold 600 yards of 65 lb braid and 100 yards of lb mono leader. The braid was Fins PRC.

The only time I have used braid since was the 65 lb Fins for Frog fishing the Delta and Clear lake. Tried Seaguar 20 lb Smack Down braid on a spinnIng combo for strike detection with Senko with poor success and replaced it with Fins Sling Braid, smaller diameter with improved casting distance. School still out on using braid with spinning do to 2 knots.

Today I fished a local lake using straight 5 lb UG copoly line Senko fishing catching 10 bass between 3 to 5 lbs, all lip hooked. Next trip will give the spinning/braid another try to see if strike detection improves.

I have no use for braid with leader bass fishing with bait casting outfits.

I cast further then needed accurately, rarely backlash or break off bass.

Let me know when you catch your 1st DD LMB using braid with leader.

Tom

[dodgeguy]

DDLMB don't live where I am. Here in NY a 6lber equals DD other places.

10 hours ago, Boomstick said:

If by this you mean cutting your line off and respooling, then there is some truth to this.

I'm with you on this. I have braid on two reels for punching, flipping and frogging and they see the least use of all my reels.

 

I do prefer how braid handles on spinning gear though.

I almost never have to cut out backlashes with braid. You are doing something wrong. I've probably cut out 1 in the past 10 years.

[Mike L]

Personally I have no use for leaders of any kind for any application. 

The disadvantages which are well documented here, well outweigh any perceived or actual benefit.
 

To me braid is a “specialty line” to be used only as others have said…

In heavy cover presentations only. 
For on top It can be an advantage over mono depending on what you throw 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[txchaser]

On 7/28/2022 at 7:57 AM, Jonny15678 said:

Do I need to match diameter of braid for the leader?

Nah not really, except at the extreme. On most 30lb braid, 10-15 is pretty viable. On 40, 12-20 seems to match fine. Your knot matters a lot if you are going to do this, and a big source of posts. 

 

If you are just going to try it out on a t-rig, grab 15lb (or 10 if it is something huge like big game). Use a six-turn surgeon's knot. It is dead simple to tie correctly, and it is very strong, like 'never failed before the terminal knot' strong. It is however bumpy through the guides and so not a good long-term solution. If you end up liking braid to leader, learn the FG knot. It really does take practice, and it is really worth it. 

 

With all that said, I eventually moved most of my setups away from braid/leader to straight flouro. And on bottom contact, 100% are straight flouro now.

 

There are a bunch of bites you may not been feeling, particularly on the initial fall, leader or no. I do still use braid to leader on chatterbaits, and I'm trying it out with crankbaits too. Of the former, it is because of how I fish the chatterbait, and on the second I realized I wanted a way to change the light heavier or lighter without dragging extra reels or spools. And my "general purpose moving single hook" (mostly swimjig) preference is also braid/leader.

 

As you can tell by the back and forth above, there's a good bit of personal preference involved. Try out the different types/styles etc and see if you end up with a favorite. I was a big braid to leader fan, and had tried some flouro on moving baits and hated it. But when I took the time to really give flouro a shot on bottom contact I don't think I'd ever want to go back. 

 

[Big Swimbait]

I am braid to leader exclusively except for frogging and punching which are straight braid. For me, it's a performance improvement but even if it wasn't the economy is unquestioned. Respooling is 20 yards now instead of 150 of high dollar fluro. And the braid lasts forever. I use the Lefty Kreh leader knot that I can tie in 15 seconds and have never had a failure. JMO.

[Bandersnatch]

On 7/28/2022 at 6:36 PM, dodgeguy said:

You can't be serious about no practical reason to use braid on a baitcaster.

I agree. Such a one minded response. How can we say I’m stuck in my ways and there isn’t a better way more than once

[JustJames]

47 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

I agree. Such a one minded response. How can we say I’m stuck in my ways and there isn’t a better way more than once

 

On 7/28/2022 at 3:36 PM, dodgeguy said:

You can't be serious about no practical reason to use braid on a baitcaster.

 

On 7/28/2022 at 1:59 PM, WRB said:

No practical reason to use braid on a bait caster unless fishing heavy cover. In heavy cover you don’t need a leader.

Spinning braid acts like a swivel to reduce mono/ FC line twist using a leader.

Give it try and practice, practice, practice knot tying.

Tom

As Tom said he quoted him only part that he feel fit to him and leave the explanation, such convenience, wouldn’t you agree!!!!

I only have a few baitcaster that use braid, all don’t see the use as often as my Mono/FC rigs.

My 30lb braid rig only frog/jig and topwater, no leader ever. 
My 10-15lb rig that I use a lot lately because of weed and no leader.

All spinning 10lb for Neko rig (braid is lighter make shaking/moving lure easier with sligh movement) 8lb Copolymer leader.