I have Braid to Leader on my spinning set up and love it, and am thinking about going this route on one of my bait caster setups. 

The idea is to have a rod that can be a jack of all trades, if I just grab a single rod.  My normal plan would be be 17# InvisX as my do all, but we are getting to Whopper Plopper season, and cant throw it on Fluoro, so that nixed that idea. But if I go Braid to Leader, I can throw pretty much everything from Chatter, Lipless, Jerk, Jigs, and TRigs and now Top water on one rod with this plan. I know that it will excel at something's better, than others but it will be a truly a multi purpose set up.

 

Any thoughts or opinions from going this direction are appreciated. 

 

Thanks

Kris

I like mono having grown up fishing it starting 67 years ago.  Recently watched a video where the guy (well known) stated the majority of his set ups were braid to leader.  His reasoning made sense to me.  Therefore I will be switching several reels over to braid with a leader.  I know a lot of people here already fish this way, so 'yeah' I think it makes perfect sense to give it a shot. 

Braid to leader does provide a lot of flexibility with regards to having different setups available to you without having to respool.  The only major requirement is a confident connection knot.

Certain lakes I wade at have terrain where it's impractical for me to park extra rods at the shore, so I'll bring one. Most of the time that'll be a 6'6"-7'3" MH rod and a reel spooled with 30-40 lb braid. I keep a few spools of leader with me to tie where I see fit. It's a bit of an annoyance to stop slinging and tie up, and I hate the knot clunking through the guides, but sometimes it's worth while to do.

In my experience, that is the best way to get the most out of a single setup. If you're not already super comfortable with braid on a baitcaster I strongly recommend 50lb braid. After you have a good feel for braid on a baitcaster, you can get away with 30lb without much trouble. 

 

Don't be afraid to try straight braid for any presentation that don't need some stretch. 

 

I have used braid to leader exclusively on baitcasters for the last four years or so. Very versatile. 

 

Cons are the knot through the guides, and I had horrible experience with reeling the knot into the spool. Tons of breakage when the knot goes through the line guide I think. 

 

This year I am trying straight big game mono 10 and 15lb for my casting set ups. I like not having the knot go through the guides and I tend to prefer extra fast or fast rods, so that may have something to do with it. With braid, the hook sets are jarring. Sort of a blunt force kind of feel. Trying mono for more of a shock absorber, so far so good, but need much more time with it to make a fair assessment. 

 

I still use braid to leader on my spinning set up, no plans for change there. Keeps the spinning set up very versatile. 

I use braid to FC leader on all of my setups. I tie a modified Albright / Alberto knot. I wrap 10 times and then go back through the hoop at the end 5 times. Especially the 5 times back through is a game changer that I learned through this site. I used to go through once and occasions the knot would get loose. 

Only way to really know is to try it.  Some love it, others don't care for it. No one is right or wrong.  It is whatever works for you.  You will not know what works for you until you try it.

Okay, so i spooled up some 50lb 832 and tied on a leader and we are off. And by off, I mean this is not for me. I have braid on my Frog set up and have no issues, but for some reason, this 832 sounds terrible going through the guides? It was just not what I was looking for.  My knot was great, I got the sensitivity and application I was looking for, but just absolutely hated the feel. And for that the experiment is over, lol!  Cheap, experiment. 

30 lb braid to leader would be extremely versatile. 

I do like my braid to flourocarbon line/leader! I'm gonna do better connector knots like the FG knot soon, but for now, the Double-Uni knot is fine for me. It's ok if you don't like the braid with leader, because straight mono or flouro is also pretty good!

I don't fish braid with leader a lot, but it is certainly a good option for a lot of things,

a 10x10 spinning, and a 40x20, and 65x40 braid to mono see the most action for me. 

13 hours ago, Lead Head said:

In my experience, that is the best way to get the most out of a single setup. If you're not already super comfortable with braid on a baitcaster I strongly recommend 50lb braid. After you have a good feel for braid on a baitcaster, you can get away with 30lb without much trouble. 

 

Don't be afraid to try straight braid for any presentation that don't need some stretch. 

 

Yeah... I wish I'd listened to people like you when I started casting a baitcaster. Used 20lb braid for a long time including period when I was learning. Dealt with all sorts of line dig issues. I recently spooled up 30lb braid and now it feels like cheating. I aint good at a whole lot. But I became quite adept at picking out backlashes. ?. Learn through failure.

 

Edit: Btw, I just really like braid to mono. Especially if that mono holds up well to wood and rocks.

9 hours ago, Taylormade113 said:

Okay, so i spooled up some 50lb 832 and tied on a leader and we are off. And by off, I mean this is not for me. I have braid on my Frog set up and have no issues, but for some reason, this 832 sounds terrible going through the guides? It was just not what I was looking for.  My knot was great, I got the sensitivity and application I was looking for, but just absolutely hated the feel. And for that the experiment is over, lol!  Cheap, experiment. 

 

That feeling/noise isn't so bothersome to me, but I have one reel with 8 carrier braid and that all goes away.  In time, I'll move all reels to 8 carrier if this keeps fishing like it does.

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Power_Pro_Super8Slick_V2_Braided_Line_Onyx/descpage-PVTW.html

 

scott

Is going braid to mono to fluoro a thing. It may stop a stiff rod from ripping a bluegill's face off. what else will the stretch of mono do?

All my rods are braid to fluoro leader - improved Allbright connecting braid to leader

 

Every fluoro leader has a perfection loop or surgeon's loop on the end.  

 

My loops work for everything.  

If I ever choose, can loop on another piece of leader for tying directly to lures.  

 

I loop on paper clips on most of my baitcasters to swap lures.  

All my spinning combos get titanium-wire micro bite traces looped on to swap lures, plus that gives me have a full-time swivel.  

 

Or, I can loop on a complex rig, such as a clicking cigar cork (shrimp rigs)

 

The loop is stronger than any knot, because there's not a single mono/fluoro bend tightened around anything.  

If you ever try tying two very difference size mono/fluoro lines together, the smaller line will often cut through the larger line after a few fish.  But if you loop them together, you can fish indefinitely without either line being damaged.