I’m about to give up on braid —> leader

[Hulkster]

I use suffix siege mono for both baitcasting and spinning gear.

its amazing

 

12 on casting, 8 or 10 on spinning (6 on my light powered spinning gear)

 

I too hated wind knots with braid on spinning gear

[gim]

Sufix Siege is good mono.  I use it.

 

But be aware you can get wind knots with mono too.  Its not just a braided line thing.

[king fisher]

I use straight braid, braid to leader, or straight mono on spinning gear depending on what I'm fishing for and fishing with.  I use straight braid, straight mono, braid to leader, and straight floro carbon on bait casters, depending on the fishing I'm doing.  No one line is best for everything.  If I had to I could get by with only any one of them, but I could also get by with only one lure.  I have many different choices, and like to use them all.  If you tie good knots correctly, and don't try and make one line do what a different one does best, then variety is the spice of life.  I would choose mono for bass fishing if restricted to only one line.   If I could afford to change line every time I get a backlash or pull hard on a snag, I would only fish Floro on bait casters.  I can't afford it, so that is why I often choose other lines on bait casters.  Braid to leader is what I use most on spinning reels.  Choices in fishing line has made me a hypocrite more than anything I can think of so please don't look at any of my previous posts regarding fishing line types, because over the years, my opinions have changed back and forth as much as the weather                                                                      

 

   If you don't like braid to leader try something else, but don't be surprised if you go back to it for certain techniques. 

I use straight braid, braid to leader, or straight mono on spinning gear depending on what I'm fishing for and fishing with.  I use straight braid, straight mono, braid to leader, and straight floro carbon on bait casters, depending on the fishing I'm doing.  No one line is best for everything.  If I had to I could get by with only any one of them, but I could also get by with only one lure.  I have many different choices, and like to use them all.  If you tie good knots correctly, and don't try and make one line do what a different one does best, then variety is the spice of life.  I would choose mono for bass fishing if restricted to only one line.   If I could afford to change line every time I get a backlash or pull hard on a snag, I would only fish Floro on bait casters.  I can't afford it, so that is why I often choose other lines on bait casters.  Braid to leader is what I use most on spinning reels.  Choices in fishing line has made me a hypocrite more than anything I can think of so please don't look at any of my previous posts regarding fishing line types, because over the years, my opinions have changed back and forth as much as the weather                                                                      

 

   If you don't like braid to leader try something else, but don't be surprised if you go back to it for certain techniques. 

[king fisher]

I use straight braid, braid to leader, or straight mono on spinning gear depending on what I'm fishing for and fishing with.  I use straight braid, straight mono, braid to leader, and straight floro carbon on bait casters, depending on the fishing I'm doing.  No one line is best for everything.  If I had to I could get by with only any one of them, but I could also get by with only one lure.  I have many different choices, and like to use them all.  If you tie good knots correctly, and don't try and make one line do what a different one does best, then variety is the spice of life.  I would choose mono for bass fishing if restricted to only one line.   If I could afford to change line every time I get a backlash or pull hard on a snag, I would only fish Floro on bait casters.  I can't afford it, so that is why I often choose other lines on bait casters.  Braid to leader is what I use most on spinning reels.  Choices in fishing line has made me a hypocrite more than anything I can think of so please don't look at any of my previous posts regarding fishing line types, because over the years, my opinions have changed back and forth as much as the weather                                                                      

 

   If you don't like braid to leader try something else, but don't be surprised if you go back to it for certain techniques. 

[FryDog62]

6 minutes ago, king fisher said:

If you don't like braid to leader try something else, but don't be surprised if you go back to it for certain techniques. 

This…

 

There are times I just liked using straight fluorocarbon to get a uniform sink rate with finesse techniques. Eventually spinning reels turn into a twist  problem and I gave up. The braid/leader thing created a bow in the line and I found was a pain to mange when reeling up to set the hook, or dealing with any kind of wind.
 

So I did try something else - went to BFS when using light fluorocarbon. Much less twist if any on a baitcaster.  Best solution I’ve found yet. 

[fishhugger]

i still don't understand how the op gets wind knots with a spinning reel. i use 20# braid........  i'm guessing he uses much lighter braid....  i just use a double uni for my leader, which is quite long - 7'.  i just cast it ------------- no wind knots.......  it's just so simple.

i find casting with spinning gear so relaxing............  unlike bait casting, which is more a skill, to me.

i always manually close my bail --- a guy on youtube who works on millions of reels suggested it as a way to minimize wear on the reel.  i think his reasoning was when the bail is closed by the reel, it tends to always do it on the same spot of some innard part.... aka a gear, i guess....  

[bp_fowler]

I’ve used braid to leader also.  Recently went to straight braid.  I’ve used straight fluoro and mono on spinning reels before too.  
 

When I got wind knots it’s almost always the result of using certain baits that require me to snap, pop, twitch, or otherwise use the rod tip to provide action to it.  Especially if I did the above with any slack in the line.  It didn’t matter whether I was using braid, mono or fluoro I could still get wind knots or at the minimum some fluff on the reel.

 

I recently experienced a spate of breaking off at the leader on hook sets that made me reevaluate using braid to leader.  As it happens it was actually my fault because after I had disassembled, cleaned and lubed my spinning reel I forgot to reset my drag and had it locked down.  So of course when I went to set the hook it broke the leader knot easily. 
 

Now I’m using strait braid exclusively but that’s not because I think it’s the end all be all but because it makes sense for places I fish.  There have been times in the past and there probably will be times in the future when using braid to leader, or straight mono or fluoro will make more sense.

 

In other words…right tool for the right job. 
 

If braid to leader isn’t working for you, fine.  ***** can it and move on to something that does.  Always remember you do not owe any loyalty to anything but that which works best for you and your individual situation.  

[MickD]

On 6/15/2024 at 12:58 PM, gimruis said:

As long as the reel is turning, the line is going on twisted with a spinning reel.

But when it comes off the twist is removed, one for one, cast vs retrieve.  If one reels while a fish is taking drag, that will cause twist.  And light finesse lures seem to cause twist, not sure why, but seem to.  However, most braids can take a lot of twist before they start acting up.  

 

All braids are not equivalent.  I'm sold on the premium braids, with at least 8 strands.  Cost more, but better, smaller diameters, and it lasts for years.

[thunderblack]

Fish braid but try Berkley Fire line in 6-8 lb. That line is my favorite with Daiwa J braid being second. Mono or fluoro will drive you crazy too if you switch. 

[softwateronly]

 

 

3 hours ago, bp_fowler said:

I recently experienced a spate of breaking off at the leader on hook sets that made me reevaluate using braid to leader.  As it happens it was actually my fault because after I had disassembled, cleaned and lubed my spinning reel I forgot to reset my drag and had it locked down.  So of course when I went to set the hook it broke the leader knot easily. 

 

When I got wind knots it’s almost always the result of using certain baits that require me to snap, pop, twitch, or otherwise use the rod tip to provide action to it.  Especially if I did the above with any slack in the line.  It didn’t matter whether I was using braid, mono or fluoro I could still get wind knots or at the minimum some fluff on the reel.

 

While I'm sure your drag was a contributing factor, you should rarely if ever break at your connection knot.  Most braid is 2x the breaking strength of the leader and a locked down drag should more often than not break at the line tie.  If you go back to braid to leader maybe double check your connection knots for technique improvement.  Most of my connection knot issues stem from line twist in the braid right above the fg knot, making the braid strands separate and fray, or the nub of leader getting worked over the guides repeatedly and causing an unraveling.   

 

I used to slay with an unweight zoom fluke jr on spinning tackle and got destroyed by wind knots after too many days of popping/twitching w/out a swivel.  Lesson learned for sure.

 

scott

[Drawdown]

On 6/21/2024 at 2:07 PM, bp_fowler said:

When I got wind knots it’s almost always the result of using certain baits that require me to snap, pop, twitch, or otherwise use the rod tip to provide action to it.  Especially if I did the above with any slack in the line.  

LOL, I do this all the time. Get plenty of bites doing it, too!

 

I like fishing finesse creatures (e.g. baby brush hog), craws, and worms weightless-3/16oz lures exactly this way on spinning tackle. Can’t say I want to stop retrieving this way. Maybe in a few years I’ll be trying BFS. 😂

[TnRiver46]

I tried braid on spinning for a year or so , I switched back to mono and straight floro and am much happier 

[VTFan]

On 6/15/2024 at 4:35 PM, dodgeguy said:

So if ur not getting bites on the straight braid does the leader make a difference with the same bait ? 

My brother uses straight braid on his spinning stuff and as I said, I use braid to leader most of the time. It does seem that I get more bites than he does most of the time...but not always and we are fishing the same bait, wacky, color, etc...  I guess it depends on the mood of the fish.

[fishhugger]

On 6/22/2024 at 7:32 PM, TnRiver46 said:

I tried braid on spinning for a year or so , I switched back to mono and straight floro and am much happier 

Why didn't you like the braid, and what pound strength were you using? And I'm assuming mono is your main line, and fluoro the leader?  I've never tried fluoro as my main line... Well, on anything, but I've noticed it seems kinda of stiff and I wood be concerned about using it as a spinning reel main line?

[TnRiver46]

@fishhugger, I don’t use a leader. I put straight floro on one reel and mono on the rest of them 

 

I tried several sizes of braid , 12,15,20,30 etc. 

 

It’s just not my thing on spinning reels 

[Obi_Wan]

I use mono on most of my spinning reels and don't get many knots.  Things like flipping the bail by hand, keeping the line tight when you reel it in, adjusting your drag so it doesn't just peel off all help prevent knots.  I used a leader on occasion but I never got good enough at a FG knot to use it and got tired of the knot running through the guides.  I had pink braid on a reel with a leader and finally just cut the leader off and went with straight braid.  Didn't bother the fish at all.  Just kept catching them.  When I go to Canada, I use straight mono and very rarely have any issues.    The other thing it taught me is that we use line that is too big most of the time.  I would have never used 6 or 8 lb mono for the size of fish we are catching up there and that's all we use.  Don't overthink it.  Use what you like and catch fish.