Leaders, whats the goss!

[Feral]

Was a bit of a discussion in another thread about leaders, who uses what and thickness etc.

Know I dont use leaders much, when I have needed it I've always been a standard trace man, (IE just a length of mono, not a specialty leader line).

Of late I have been using Berkley vanish as leader material, because it is both a reasonable price, and it is flurocarbon, which is supposed to have wonderful properties to make it invisible in water.

So after the comments in the other thread I did a quick raid on my shed to see what was what.

6lb Berkley vanish is 0.23mm verses my standard Diawa mono at 0.205mm, so the Berkley is slightly thicker. It is also not bad feeling, and easy enough to tie knots in.

I have some leader in the shed for bigger fish, notable 20lb Penn leader, which comes in at 0.45mm diameter, compared to a Trilene 20lb mono I have at 0.41mm. The Penn is also stiff as, and horrible to tie knots in compared to mono. Tieing into 0.15mm Braid is an interesting exercise with the different line diameters!

Then I have some Penn 60lb (for Awoonga later this year!) at 0.70mm, and it is as stiff as number 8 fencing wire. The closest mono I have is a 50lb el cheapo also at 0.70mm diameter, and believe or not still way softer and easier to tie a knot in than the Penn. I'll be kind to the Penn and accept a 60lb mono is probably the same diameter.

What I would like to know is what thinner diameter specialist leader is available, (The 20lb in Penn is the smallest they sell around here).

What are other people experiences, and what leader do they use, etc etc.

[Cowfish13]

I use either 6lb Yamatoyo or 4lb Seaguar (kokoda brand) for Bream and other estuary species. This stuff works great. Never caught any Bream on lures before, then the first day of using the 6lb, I caught 2. I also use the 6lb for Flathead now, but I will be buying some 9-10lb Siglon sunline flurocarbon soon for the Flatties

And 40lb Penn 10x for fishing out in the bay while floating a pilchard out for Mackerel. This stuff is great. It withstood the teeth of a 6' Tiger Shark.

I also use 16lb Siglon Flurocarbon for soft plastics out in the bay.

For any body who doesn't know or use it, Flurocarbon works. It is worth the extra money.

[pcsolutionman]

I have only switched to fluro carbon recentley, I have been using 12lb vanish for all my snapper and flatty fishing. I have found it to be good, but from some reports there is alot better out there so Ill definatley be checking some others out

Lee

[Tim a]

I've used vanish, 10lb for bass, inface its all I've used for bass. 3lb for siglon for everything, 6 yamatoyo and today I tried out some 6lb black magic fluro leader. I havn't fully tested the black magic but so far its pretty good. I couldn't imagine fishing without a leader tho

[pinkey]

atm im a noob fishing with 4lb mono straight through and let me say u get bitten off about 40% of the time with pike and the only flatty ive hooked has bitten me off to so will deff be using a leader in the neer future

[kriso]

i have recently bought a 50m roll of black magic 12lb fluro leader and recommend it to anyone i find its good to tie up with and the flattie i caught couldnt chew threw it so im happy with it. other then that i have a roll of pen 20lb mono leader that i used at wello reef when went for squire and it help up okay too, as for line i use the berkley crystal braid 4lb on the light rod and 15lb on the boat rod and havent had any dramas with either.

[Dazzamcgee]

I use 15lbs Jarvis walker Mono line for a leader that sells for around 4 bucks but if the fish are alittle \"picky\" I use Jarvis walker 10lbs mono. After many years of \"Trial and error\" with leaders I have come to the conclusion that unless your a pure lure fisherman leaders dont really make a difference. A well presented bait will be taken by fish regard less of the leader used.

I could go on and rammble about the pro's and con's but what works for me may not work for others......

[Oceandonkey]

I have a different opinion on that one dazz, for me I catch more fish now with vanish than i did with standard mono. though i landed my pb 46cm squire on 6lb mono straight through so there ya go lol

[faulked]

i have some 8lb nitlon which i can barely bite through everything else i can bite through easilly in this class its by far the best i like the bite test it seems a real indication and no i dont try over 10ld like this it hurts too much the nitlon is quite soft at 8lb but by 20lb its getting a little stiff but so are the competitors ive put it up against the penn the berkley vannish the seagar and the surecatch it easilly won

[Feral]

Well sounds like ones to look for in the smaller stuff are Black Magic, Siglon, and yamatoyo, Nitlon. I'll have to see what diameter they are verses strength, then maybe try a couple of the thinner ones.

Although with my eyesight going the way it is, it might be bifocals or stick to the thick stuff!

Post edited by: Feral, at: 2007/08/14 05:57

[Schultzy]

Andrew,

I have gone back to using mono for all of my leaders. Heavier leaders, 40lb + for light game, big barra or shark are either Platypus game leader (a clear tripolymer mono) or Cajun Red Lightning. Both are easy to tie.

Lighter leaders for bass, flatty, etc are Platypus Super 100 if I'm after a very fine low vis' leader or Platypus Low Stretch if I want a little more \"chewability\". I still occasionally use Scnheider Clear for leaders too.

No I'm not on the Platypus payroll, I do choose to buy Australian made whenever possible.

I've used fluorocarbon extensively in the past but after doing some extensive comparison trials for a magazine editor went back to mono. The refractive indexes for both lines are so close I figured it wouldn't make much difference unless I was fishing in distilled water. (fluorocarbon=1.42 Mono=1.52)

Most fluorocarbons do exhibit more abrasion resistance than many mono lines.

I've not found using mono leaders reduces my catch rate nor did using fluorocarbon increase catches (for me). That belief is the result of using rods rigged with both materials, side by side for many months, having one person on the boat using each and swapping between the two regularly.

Others may, however find different results in different scenarios, eg bream fishing in clear water.

I'm not trying to convince you not to use fluorocarbon nor am I stating other poster's opinions are wrong. Just letting you know why I personally don't currently use fluorocarbon leaders.

If I've offended anyone with these statements let me apologise now. Please don't try to engage in an argument or unpleasantries, I won't indulge.

[Cowfish13]

I think that if you have enough confidence in line, leader or lures, you can catch as much as someone with equal confidence in different gear.

[jeff f]

i've been using stren \"heavy cover\" mono for a while. it's completely clear,easy to tie and tuff as

[mackmauler]

as an aside i bought a spool of hi tensile 60lb from bcf last wk, ive used it in the past did the job, it was snapping with all knots no matter what i did at around 5-10 lb needless to say its going back, any ideas how it could be so bad

[Feral]

Thanks for the advice Schulzy, I've always used mono up until recently, been experimenting a bit with Flouro, and apart from the vanish, not like it all that much, thats why I was trying to see what others use, I'll give a few different brands a go, see how I do.

My mate Ferg uses Platypus mono as leaders as well, and he always outfishes me on the big uns!

[Brian D]

Does the mono plat or twist like the fluro leaders?

While I'm at it what's a good knot for the heavier leaders (meaning 50lb plus). After loosing several fish I am soooo scared to just tie a blood knot.

I saw Lozzel use the same knot as me and he knows what he's doing but I don't have the confidience that mine will hold. Any hints?

[mackmauler]

locked blood or uni for me brian, just dont buy hi tensile at bcf LOL

[Cowfish13]

Are you talking about the leader to tackle or the jioning knot?

For joining knots, use either the Uni-Uni or the Albright knot.

For the leader to tackle, use a uni knot.

[Brian D]

Thanks Mack (have you taken it back to the store)

Cow sorry, I meant at the tackle end.

I think what I do wrong is I put the tag end through the eye twice before doing the wraps. This works well for braid and smaller lines but on the thicker lines the double seams to hinder the locking.

Is there a better knot then the locked blood?

[mackmauler]

yeh once is all it needs, with knots in heavy line they need to be pulled up tight, that is the first order. i mostly use the locked blood in stiff lines and a uni in softer.

Post edited by: mackmauler, at: 2007/08/15 10:56

[Lozzel]

Brian D.

I saw Lozzel use the same knot as me and he knows what he's doing but I don't have the confidience that mine will hold. Any hints?

[Cowfish13]

If anyones having trouble tying knots in heavy leaders/lines, this thing might help: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/KF168-Automatic-Fishing-Hook-Tier-for-reel-rod-line_W0QQitemZ300139753416QQihZ020QQcategoryZ31705QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Looks like a piece of crap though