[microtek60]

I am thinking of switching to braid with a floro leader on my spinning rods, What do all of you think of that set up?

 

[Jared]

braid on a spinning rod casts soooooooooooooooooooooooo nice with zero problems!!

If you do use the braid.. a floro leader is a great idea because its hard to hide that braid!

what brand braid do you plan on using?

 

[microtek60]

I was going to go with spider wire

 

[TampaCountryBoy]

Spiderwire Stealth is the only braid I use now. The leader depends on water clarity and application. I only time I use a leader is if I am jigging or worming. No need for faster moving reaction baits.

 

[oldschool]

I don't like braid for spinning reels for two reasons; super braids float and the 10 lb test is too small a diameter to join with fluorocarbon effectively. I only use spinning reels for line between 4 to 8 lb test, mono or fluorocarbon, otherwise I will use a bait casting reel.
I do use a 25 lb fluorocarbon leader on 65 lb Fins superbraid for swimbaits.
Tom

 

[Oldfart9999]

I use 20# fireline with an 8# leader & have done fairly well with it. You must check your knot as often as the knot on the lure. I was fishing a tournament on Canadaigua Lake in the Finger Lakes last year & doing pretty well. I hooked a 4# + smallie & was fighting it when my knot gave up the ghost, that broken knot caused me to fall back to 3rd & cost me some bucks. I'm not sure if I'll be doing that anymore. The knot is the weakest link & with a leader you have 2 of them.
Rodney

 

[Oldfart9999]

After the above experience I stayed with braid and a flouro leader, the knot must be tied carefully and checked and I do not use super glue,it makes the knot brittle and I think that is what happened in the last post. The big change I've made is going to smaller size braid, from 20# on my baitcasters to 14#, and spinning has gone from 20# 6/8/ and 10# depending on what I'm doing. I've found that with the size fish we have here I don't need the big line, a 6lb fish is a big fish here in the north and the lighter braid cuts the weeds even better, other than docks we don't have a lot of heavy cover.
Rodney

 

[joessmokin]

Rodney, great follow up on an old post. I am looking at setting a coulple spinning rigs up and was not sure what I was going to do and this has put a great idea in my head of what I might do.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[hellabass]

This is my mainstay for my spinning rods, I go with a seguar knot, better feel, better hooks ups, saves money on Fluoro, just need to go to more of a sweep hook set, snap sets are hard on the knots

 

[oldschool]

This thread is now over 5 years old and FC line knot issue is still a big problem. I no longer use any braid with a FC leader because it's too risky. I use all FC line with 1knot at the lure or hook, no additional joints to fail.
The best FC line made still has about 85% knot strength with a knot tied perfectly.
Tom

 

[Oldfart9999]

Tom, I would agree with you if I were fishing where I could nail a double digit on my next cast. I like the extra sensitivity, smoother casts, and fewer problems with line twist. like everything else there are trade offs and you need to make choices. The down side is the amount of extra care in tying the knots and how often I check them. Good to see you back with your wealth of experience Tom, let me know how you make out with the jigs.
Rodney

 

[oldschool]

If you have a 6# FC leader tied to 15# braid the knot strength is about 4#, thanks not very strong for catching 5lb bass!
I tried 12# Nanofil with 8# FC leader and broke off several 3# class LMB. Double Uni knot at the braid FC knot and that's where it broke every time. Hated the white Nanofil!
Tried Daiwa Samauri 10# braid without a FC leader on the spinning outfit and never had any fish break off and caught several in our extremely clear water, worked good! The only problem with Samauri was it tends to wind wrap the tip of the rod if you don't watch closely and te line can damage the rod tip when that happens.
Tom

 

[Oldfart9999]

I'm going to have to do an experiment when I can float my boat; 8 lb braid clean vs 8 lb flouro as a leader, same hook, weight and bait. I sorta, kinda, in the deep recesses of my mind remember reading that bass have a difficult time seeing mono smaller than 8 lb test.
Rodney

 

[merc1997]

i have experimented with several kinds of knots to splice floro or mono to braid. none i have triied work good enough for me. i use a knot that i have tied since many eons ago, and i have found it to hold with mono, floro, and braid. if tied properly, i have found it to hold over 100% of line test. the line will break before my knot will. as far as floro, i just do not have any trust in it on a hard hookset. seems like you never know which jerk, i will let loose on. so, i still use mono and braid. guess i am just "antiquated". wish i could come up with a knot for hooking up leaders to mono to see i can see any difference in the amount of bites.

bo

 

[Oldfart9999]

Bo, pray tell what is the knot? Flouro is heavier than mono which can be an advantage, it has a bit less stretch than mono, it is almost invisible under water. The biggest problems that it doesn't recover from stretch like mono, second would be that you have to be very careful tying your knots. Flouro is a bit harder than mono so it doesn't cast quite as easy but the manufacturers have made great strides in castability and it works well enough for deep cranks where every extra foot of distance is an advantage.
Rodney

 

[oldschool]

Braid to mono the old nail knot splice works good,as does the Albright. For braid to FC double Uni knot works as godd as anything I tried. http://www.animatedknots.com/nailknot/index.php
Tom

 

[CaptainMo]

Double uni....It's the only knot I use to join two lines together, no matter what the lines are. Sometimes you will get varying results depending on using the proper number of wraps based on the line diameters of the two lines being used...Done correctly however, it is a very reliable knot...

 

[Jig Man]

On the advice of a friend, I tried the braid/fluro combination. I gave it 2 years and I fish 80-100 days each year. I tried several different brands of fluro and never developed a liking for any of it.

I used Power Pro hi vis yellow or white braid. I tried every knot I could find and settled on the Alberto's because of tying ease and strength. After 2 years of breakoffs, lost fish and much retying during the trip, I quit using fluro leaders. I also tried mono leaders along the way. This will be my second spring to use the old standby mono or just straight braid.

 

[merc1997]

Bo, pray tell what is the knot? Flouro is heavier than mono which can be an advantage, it has a bit less stretch than mono, it is almost invisible under water. The biggest problems that it doesn't recover from stretch like mono, second would be that you have to be very careful tying your knots. Flouro is a bit harder than mono so it doesn't cast quite as easy but the manufacturers have made great strides in castability and it works well enough for deep cranks where every extra foot of distance is an advantage.
Rodney

rodney, the knot i tie i have used since the late 60's. it is tied like what they now call a uni-knot, but i double my line. with smaller diameter lines, you need to use more wraps. 20lb. mono, i use six, 40lb. braid, 8, and 20lb. braid 10 wraps. 4lb mono 8 wraps. chinching down the knot is also crucial. cinch down main line and single tag end. do not pull up on the tag end that is a loop. it would be a rarity if this knot ever breaks in the knot. you can loose lots of line on break offs because the line breaks somewhere up the line and not in the knot. can get expensive with braid. but, i want to know that the line is the weakest link and not the knot.



bo

 

[Oldfart9999]

Thanks Bo!
Rodney