Leader For Braided Line? 2024

thetank86 reply :

Do you need a leader for braided line? If not is there a time where you should use a leader like fishing topwater or cranking?

BasskingKeith reply :

Don't really need one for braided line; it floats. For crankbaits, you can use a leader if you want, why not? I don't personally use braided line for crankbaits. As for topwaters other than frogs - they get mono. Just me though. I like to use a flouro leader with braid when using other submersible baits, especially in clear water, though I've seen where it didn't matter at all. Biggest bass I seen was a 13.5 pounder my friend caught on 50 lb bright yellow braid (no leader) in clear water. Weird huh.....

SirSnookalot reply :

I always use braid and always with a leader. If you want to take some time out of your fishing day try untangling braid from a foul hooked lure, especially if it's 10# like I use.

There are many people on this site that use straight braid in any water conditions and still catch bass, for me that knocks the notion of needing florocarbon leader for the purpose of presentation. I can think of some species that florcarbon leaders are beneficial, but overtime I found that to be hogwash too, fish production was the same with or without. I don't purchase it anymore.

dodgeguy reply :

forget the leader.

thetank86 reply :

I've used a leader with braid befor. Do you tie it with a double uni knot. If so can you reel the knot into the eyes on the pole?

Christian M reply :

Hi Tank,

I do a whole lot of bass fishing & I always use a leader for braided line. As far as topwater fishing, I think you'll find that you will have much more success just using mono as your main line, especially for walk the dog lures and poppers. In my opinion the stretch from the mono gives much better action to these types of baits and gives the fish more time to properly take the bait in before you set the hook without ripping it out of the fish's mouth. For throwing frogs you really don't have to worry about using a leader. You're throwing the lure into the thickest cover you can find which makes visibility of the line a non issue. Also you're usually using very heavy braided test line that floats anyway. Aside from that, I would recommend using a leader at all times, if you're using 10lb braided, go with 12lb flouro for crainkbaits, jerkbaits, rattletraps, and soft plastics (this is just my preference but its a good rule of thumb to go a couple pounds heavier with your leader when using braided line). I also always use a barrel swivel, Tsunami & Lazer make some really nice swivels that come in a variety of styles, sizes, and strength ratings. For example, when I fish 10lb power pro, I like to use a #6 - #10 swivel, to 12lb pure flouro (depending on the situation). Just remember flouro sinks so you don't want to use it for any top water applications, as it will impede the action of the bait, and braided line has no stretch so you may run into the same issue. I also find that mono helps keep the nose of the topwater bait up and tends to get tangled up in the hooks much less than braided line does....Thats just my opinion from my own personal experience, either way FISH ON!!! hope this helps,

MrSwimJig reply :

Its all personal preferrence, use it the way you feel most comfortable. I personally do not use leader on my braid setups.

A-Rob reply :

I don't use leaders on my braid for largemouth.

I've never found I lost out on bites with a senko on 15# braid...it's such a small diameter is my guess.

I will tie a leader onto my spinning gear's braid when fishing for smallies tho

Steve Moroney reply :

Thanks everyone for helping me out.

Steve

gravestone reply :

I use mono or copoly as a leader. For top water if you want to use a leader i'd use mono or copoly cause it floats. For crankbaits you can use mono,copoly or flouro.

Paul Peixoto reply :

No leader needed

Capt.Bob reply :

I have used Braid and Synthetics since they were introduced, and I always use a leader, Best of all worlds, when you run a lighter Pound Test leader you should never loose any braid, after a year or two, turn it around on your spool and you have brand new line, the cheapest line to use there is, only the leaders get lost or wore out!!

As far as running a UNI to UNI thru the eyes, I am sure it wont hurt anything, but I use an improved blood knot to join mine, it makes a taper from center of the knott out both ways, I ussually run 6 to 12 foot leaders when I tie them on, this allows me to retire many times before putting on a new leader!! THAT'S WORKED,,,,,,fir over 20 years for me.

skeletor6 reply :

I would advise against using braid for topwater and cranking. Mono and fluoro are much better alternatives. A leader should be used on braid when abrasion resistance and invisibility is needed. Gin clear water and pressured lakes come to mind.

The best of both worlds is a fallacy. Adding a leader does not give the best attributes of each line otherwise everyone would be doing it.

SirSnookalot reply :

On 8/17/2013 at 8:22 AM, eddieg said:
I never use a leader. To me it defeats the purpose of the strong braid.

There are reasons to use braid other than strength, line management and many people claim there is a digging in issue with lighter braided lines. For the most part 65# braided line that probably will break over 80# isn't needed for it's strength to haul a 10# fish, I personally never use over 15# braid for bass fishing or 20# for inshore. Like Capt Bob I always use a leader, I do use a heavier leader than he does but it still breaks before the main line will. Off the top of my head I can think of 2 reasons why I use a leader, I like fishing exposed hooks and getting braid tangled in the hooks can be a nightmare, leaders unravel easier. Secondly, hooking on to a 40 or 50# fish using 15 or 20# braid is a fish that either may spool me or if I'm alone netting and lifting it is pretty hard, I'll just break the lure off with all my line intact.

Capt.Bob reply :

On 8/17/2013 at 1:35 PM, skeletor6 said:

I would advise against using braid for topwater and cranking. Mono and fluoro are much better alternatives. A leader should be used on braid when abrasion resistance and invisibility is needed. Gin clear water and pressured lakes come to mind.

The best of both worlds is a fallacy. Adding a leader does not give the best attributes of each line otherwise everyone would be doing it.

spoken like a true beginning veteran?????? experience son, years of it!! guiding and chartering, been there done that, more than a few times!! from east to west and north to south, for many years, this would be a great place for you to listen and learn!! maybe you would care to enlighten us as to the drawbacks??????

skeletor6 reply :

On 8/17/2013 at 2:46 PM, Capt.Bob said:
spoken like a true beginning veteran?????? experience son, years of it!! guiding and chartering, been there done that, more than a few times!! from east to west and north to south, for many years, this would be a great place for you to listen and learn!! maybe you would care to enlighten us as to the drawbacks??????

Could you be more condescending?

Claiming braid with a FC leader is "the best of both worlds" is absolutely wrong. What is sad is that you with your ungodly knowledge and experience that trumps anyone who has ever fished could not realize this.

If braid with a FC leader was "the best of both worlds" it would have the best properties of both lines. Instead, what occurs is that you retain almost all of the properties of the main line and the invisibility and abrasion resistance of the FC leader.

The "best of both worlds" would mean you would have a line that is both slack line sensitive and tight line sensitive, did not suffer from line dig or wind knots. Had the breaking strength of braid. Did not belly in the wind or in the water. Was invisible, abrasion resistant and had the knot strength of braid.

You can cross of slack line sensitivity, knot strength of braid, line dig, performance in windy conditions, wind knots, bellly and the additional connection knot. When you add a FC leader to a braided mainline you gain some things and you lose some things. You gain invisibility and abrasion resistance. You lose braids knot strength and its overall strength, because the weak point is now the FC line and the joining knot. There is a trade-off, if it were the "best of both worlds" there would be no trade-off. You would simply get the best attributes of each line.

roadwarrior reply :

C'mon guys...

It's fishing, I don't think we need to take it down to personal insults.

I don't always like the tone of some peoples post, but grow a little

thicker skin and just let it go.

Regarding the original question: I have been experimenting with

and without a leader. My PERSONAL preference is using a leader.

#1 is because I can break off a hang-up when I need to. To become

comfortable with the leader you need total confidence in your joining

knot. I tie an Alberto Knot, but on average it takes two attempts to

create the PERFECT knot. As for length, I have the connecting knot

just a few inches above the reel and the line about 6" over the tip.

This keeps the knot from coming into play.

Capt.Bob reply :

You are right RW!! There is a lot of young anglers on any fishing forum that think they have everything figured out and throw insults out, without even knowing that there doing it,,,,, totally unintentional. I should be old enough to realize this!!!! I will do a better job of ignoring it in the future!

skeletor6 reply :

Unfortunately, ignorance and arrogance does not go away with age. Sorry captain. Every time you make condescending posts you are going to offend people. Your history on this site speaks for itself.

Jolly Green reply :

Anyway........

I don't throw crankbaits at all, so I can't speak to that, but topwater lures like a popper, chugger, or Spook tend to get tangled up in braid because it's so limp and otherwise manageable. Use a mono leader or straight mono for these types of baits. I also use a mono leader for spinnerbaits; everything else that I drag through rocks and other nasty cover gets a fluoro leader.

Teal reply :

Its a personal preference and it boils down to what you are comfortable with and if you do choose the leader; make dang sure your joining knot is secure.

Personally I use braid with almost everything except cranking,topwater, and jerks. I also use a FC leader wwithan Alberto knot. That said, this time of year when the vegetaion gets thick, ill forget the leader.

derekxec reply :

ok ill probably upset some people but oh well....

firstly i use braid without a leader bass fishing and braid with a MONO leader saltwater fishing

the only reason i use the mono leader is because i want a thicker line at the end thats harder to cut on gill plates and such

if you use flouro leader you are just wasting your money and to prove it anyone can come fishing with me anytime (youll have to come here to south florida lol) and you can use flouro and ill use straight braid or braid/mono(salt) and show you that flouro is just overpriced junk

SirSnookalot reply :

Regarding this topic I totally agree with Capt Bob, I may do it a bit different but the end game is the same. There is a lot to be said for experience, anyone that's been fishing for 20-60 years just knows how to do it without all this over complication. The hardest thing about bass fishing is catching the exceptionally large one, but that can be said for any species. Any time an angler can go out and catch 20-50 fish in an outing kinda tells me there is just no wrong way to do it, everything works just stay in your own comfort zone.

Skspacemonkey reply :

On 8/17/2013 at 11:17 PM, roadwarrior said:

C'mon guys...

It's fishing, I don't think we need to take it down to personal insults.

I don't always like the tone of some peoples post, but grow a little

thicker skin and just let it go.

Regarding the original question: I have been experimenting with

and without a leader. My PERSONAL preference is using a leader.

#1 is because I can break off a hang-up when I need to. To become

comfortable with the leader you need total confidence in your joining

knot. I tie an Alberto Knot, but on average it takes two attempts to

create the PERFECT knot. As for length, I have the connecting knot

just a few inches above the reel and the line about 6" over the tip.

This keeps the knot from coming into play.

DO you use braid to a leader for spinnerbaits?

xxRambo_21xx reply :

i used to use braid for cranking but i didnt like tearing up the fishes mouth

Further North reply :

On 1/9/2012 at 6:59 PM, dodgeguy said:

forget the leader.

Not where I live. Rough structure will bead brad to death, large, toothy fish will cut it like it's not there...

On 1/9/2012 at 9:24 AM, thetank86 said:

...is there a time where you should use a leader like fishing topwater or cranking?

Yes.

Structure that will scuff up the line (rocks, docks, sunken trees in some water), and local fish (we have pike and musky) that can cut braid with sharp teeth encourage those of use who don't care to buy new tackle just because we're not sharp enough to take a reasonable caution to tie in a leader...

Limp line that gets tangled in the lure is another place to use it.

YoTone reply :

I plan on using a mono leader for my poppers. braid is so supple it gets easily wrapped around the treble hooks on a cast.

Czorn reply :

I use leaders on my spinning set ups for dropshot. The only other rod that has braid is my flipping stick and I don't use a leader on that. I crank with F/C and top water gets mono. Most people think I'm crazy but I hate top water fishing. If I'm fishing top water I'm most likely walking a weightless fluke on top.

FishDewd reply :

I mix it up... in the past of catfishing, I used to use a stronger mainline with a bit weaker leader line connected via a swivel. Now I am learning that with bass fishing, a swivel is not usually required, so I have been experimenting this year using leaders and no leaders... mono for leaders, fluro for leaders, and poly for leaders... haven't noticed much of a difference using any of the three really, other than I tend to break fluoro leaders more often. But I think some of that may be my fault in the knots I chose to tie. I've learned that some knots (like palomar) are said to slightly burn the line when used. I don't like fluoro as a mainline at all... it's just awful in many ways. However, I think it has great potential as a leader. Based on my fishing trip today I have actually rearranged my pole rigs a little... I only had one pole using a leader, but it was the same kind (poly) as my mainline just in a weaker test. I went ahead and added flouro leaders to two of my poles though. Even though the waters I fish are very murky, I still feel like any edge to presentation I can add will be a plus in these heavily pressured waters. Plus flouro seems to transmit feel a little better than just using poly or braid alone, and I am hoping it will help to keep the lines down a bit better when the wind gets gusty. I won't use anything but a braid mainline on my baitcasters, I have tried and it just ends in disaster every time lol.

So... idk what is best to do. I'm just gonna try stuff until I find something that works and gives me the confidence I need to be an effective angler.

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Leader For Braided Line? 2024

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