Should I just spool my reel with braid and go to a floro leader, or do I need to have a pretty big section of floro. I'll be doing some pier fishing, and fishing from the beach. 

Don't know if you'll have a basket or long-reach net on the pier, but big leader is in order.  

You may have to lift your fish - don't use the rod, but lift the leader.  

Abrasion is a concern both from surf sand and fish wear.  

I wouldn't fish less than 20-lb Gold here, and I fish 30- on 8' surf-lure rod.  

(even on salt finesse, I fish 14-lb leader)

 

I go to 40-lb Gold on my surf-meat rig - at least part of this is the shock casting 2-oz spider weight plus that much meat again on 14' rod.  

7 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Don't know if you'll have a basket or long-reach net on the pier, but big leader is in order.  

You may have to lift your fish.  

Abrasion is a concern both from surf sand and fish wear.  

I wouldn't fish less than 20-lb Gold here, and I fish 30- on 8' surf-lure rod.  

(even on salt finesse, I fish 14-lb leader)

 

I go to 40-lb Gold on my surf-meat rig - at least part of this is the shock casting 2-oz spider weight plus that much meat again on 14' rod.  

I don't have a basket yet, it's on my list of things to get to be set up for catching bigger fish out there. I've got some 30 lb floro. How long of a leader should I be tying on? Usually for fresh water I use between 3 and 6 ft, but I assume ima need a longer leader for this application 

I fish 8' leader on the big rod

4' leader is enough on shorter rods.  

On rods with micro-guides, I fish 18" shock leader to keep my knot out of the guides, even though on small lines the knot is clean enough to shoot through.