|
|
Posts: 60
| Are fluorocarbon leaders really better?
Or are just good ol' strand steel just as good? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 23
| Unless I'm throwing a glide bait or any walk the dog style bait I use fluorocarbon.
That pendulum action is hard to match if you aren't using wire, at least in my book. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 864
Location: NE Ohio | steel rules IMO, no such thing as cut off there! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 57
| Steel whether stranded or solid is about as good as it gets. With heavy flouro you loose depth with cranks and if not baby sat any small abrasion can cause breaks. No need to worry about that with wire , plus it’s considerably cheaper! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2015
| No right or wrong answer, almost every muskie casting or trolling that has hit the net in my boat over the past 16 years has been on a fluorocarbon leader , same with pike… lump them tougher and that’s approaching 5000 esox without one fail…make leaders myself and I have complete confidence in them.. works for me. |
|
| |
|
Location: Contrarian Island | 49 strand 175 lb for rubber and baits they head shot. Fluoro for inline baits. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 613
Location: Michigan | Fluoro for big bucktails, wire for everything else. Wire is so cheap, easy to use, and has no risk of bite-offs. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1716
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | ^^ What BNelson said. |
|
| |
|
Location: Athens, Ohio | Has anyone actually had a 'bite off'' with a fluoro leader, or is this just a myth? I've used Stealth leaders - both wire and fluoro depending on the bait - and never had one fail. Now, once I lost a good bait when the snap gave way on a cast - my bad for not changing often enough. m |
|
| |
|
Posts: 4
| Mike, I was using a bondy bait at Alum Creek and had a musky bite through 150 lb fluoro. The fish hit on a pause so the only tension on the line was from the weight of the bait. So no more fluorocarbon for me.
I've been pleased with tied titanium leaders that I make using 100lb Knot2kinky material both for trolling and casting. Anyone else care to weigh in on titanium leaders? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 57
| I don’t think bite offs are a big issue, it’s lack of maintenance on the leader itself. |
|
| |
|
Location: Contrarian Island | I know lots of guys that have had muskies cut thru fluoro. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 613
Location: Michigan | mikie - 8/12/2021 3:52 PM
Has anyone actually had a 'bite off'' with a fluoro leader, or is this just a myth? I've used Stealth leaders - both wire and fluoro depending on the bait - and never had one fail. Now, once I lost a good bait when the snap gave way on a cast - my bad for not changing often enough. m
Yes, I had a handful of bite-offs when we first started using them. Lost a couple hardheads using fluoro leaders; fish hit the head of the bait and cut the fluoro like it was 6lb mono. Here is a picture of a POSSEIDON 10 and as you can see the entire front half of the bait is in the fish's mouth along with probably 6" of leader. I doubt I would have landed that fish if I had a fluoro leader.
(35842473_10100743378700074_4867051356369715200_n.jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 35842473_10100743378700074_4867051356369715200_n.jpg (64KB - 345 downloads)
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 355
Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | I posted this on a similar thread earlier - I was investigating why I was losing a lot of pike jigging for walleye (compared to just using mono line).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQTvmM-1cY
For muskies/pike I now just up my test line strength on long trolling leaders and make mono leaders.
Steel better than mono, and mono is better than fluoro. Obviously there is going to be some differences and the way it's made, coating etc. Keep in mind all the fluoro abrasion talk seems to be have been marketing and something that's perpetuated through time. Those guys fish for more toothy fish than we do, in addition to fish with bills that are used to stun prey, so I think pretty good info:
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 256
| I never understood why anyone would use fluro or mono for esox leaders.
Both these materials are plastic and dont have the hardness necessary to prevent a tooth from scratching and cutting through the material. Using thick fluro/mono only helps preventing the fish from hopfully scratching deep enough to cause a failure.
Personnely my favorite leader material so far is titanium. Completely bite proofe and doesint get twisted like steel over time. AFW makes both a single and 7 strand 100lb wire that I found works well so far.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 355
Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | monsterlures - 8/14/2021 3:58 AM
I never understood why anyone would use fluro or mono for esox leaders.
Trolling rocks you need a long leader as you are going to lose lures to frayed braid (I find one or two per year that others have lost). A long wire leader is not going to hold up (will kink or fray), lure probably won't perform and the worst thing is that it is very dangerous for the fish and for the person handling it if gets into a roll in net which they tend to do with multi-treble plugs. I would say one could potentially get into a life altering situation if things go awry with wire - they do already often just with the hooks.
A long fluoro leader is standard for this application but my point is a long mono leader in a heavy test is probably the wiser choice.
Aside from that application, with a lot of baits a noodly leader and/or one that sinks is going to affect the action, so again wire may not be the answer for those applications and heavy fluoro/mono leader that floats or neutral and not noodly may be the answer where a straight heavy gauge wire not appropriate or action killing.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 226
| No right or wrong answer, almost every muskie casting or trolling that has hit the net in my boat over the past 16 years has been on a fluorocarbon leader , same with pike… lump them tougher and that’s approaching 5000 esox without one fail…make leaders myself and I have complete confidence in them.. works for me.
. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 393
| Putting aside the bite-off question .. I have swiched to short solid wire leaders for bucktails. They significantly improve the action. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 489
Location: Northern Illinois | southern comfort - 8/20/2021 10:55 AM
Putting aside the bite-off question .. I have swiched to short solid wire leaders for bucktails. They significantly improve the action.
Agree with this. Additionally, short steel works best for swim baits. Eliminates fouling on the cast. |
|
| |
