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Posts: 425
| Flourocarbon leaders are becoming very popular. Which brand or type are the best?
Edited by 50"skie 4/16/2009 7:06 PM
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | make your own. you can make 4 for the price of one you buy at the store. |
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Posts: 1243
Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | All fluorcarbon leaders are not created equal. There can be a big difference from brand to brand. Whatever you go with, make sure it's a high quality leader. Terminal tackle is often the weak link and the difference between landing a big fish and losing a big fish. From the swivel, to the snap, to how it's tied and/or crimped, to the fluoro itself, you want it to be top quality. Stealth Tackle has definitely earned my trust with countless hours of using their leaders and nothing but positive results. Personal preference, but I'd recommend 130# or higher.
You can try to make them yourself. But if you're like me, you'll quickly find out that not only will you not save much (if any) money. But it's a hassle and the quality will be inferior. I definitely would never use my own when I compare them to a Stealth leader.
Aaron |
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Posts: 909
| Stealth Tackle uses the best of everything on their leaders! Give them a try and I'm sure you'll be glad you did!
Brian  |
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Posts: 727
| Stealth tackle all the way. |
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Posts: 463
Location: Sw Pennsylvania | Another vote for stealth. I've worn the stay lock snaps out on them before the leader looks worn. I just switch snaps and keep on going. |
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Posts: 265
Location: McGuire AFB, NJ | Stealth Tackle....just made the switch this year. Haven't had a single issue yet. Not to mention im prone to tie up on everything but a dang muskie! |
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Posts: 4266
| Are they tied or clamped?
I tie my own trolling leaders, but have a spool of 124# that I haven't tried tying yet.
Beav |
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Posts: 267
Location: Ft. Wayne, Indiana | Stealth Tackle, like said earlier just change the snaps from time to time and you can use them for a long time. |
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| jay lip ripper - 4/16/2009 7:19 PM
make your own. you can make 4 for the price of one you buy at the store.
amen to that.and there is much pleasure when you caught one whit your own leaders and you can also make them better than the one available |
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Posts: 2089
| Here we go again..... Add up the cost to make your own, including quality ball bearing swivels(I've had China swivels break) from Sampo or Spro, quality snaps and crimps, a good crimping tool, and a $50(roughly) 25-30m spool of QUALITY flouro and you've made quite an investment. I could do it now from the Musky Shop catalog now but it's almost bedtime. Quality flouro leaders in the 130-150# are extremely durable and unless you fish a ton , you should only need a handful per season. That being said, I use nothing but Stealth. I've been making tackle for almost 30 years and I trust the most critical connection to my or my clients' trophy to Stealth. I find it humorous when people can tell an obviously inexperienced muskie angler(the nature of the question is a clue) to make their own and that they can make them "better". Not possible, sorry. This is not trial and error here. What happens when a "mistake" is made....fish die. I'm sure there are other good flouro leaders commercially available but fortunatly I'll never have to find out. I'm leavin' the dance with who brought me. |
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Posts: 2024
| If you're looking to buy leaders, gotta throw in another vote for Stealth Leaders. John has it down to a science.
Lots of good threads in these forums (do a search) on how to make your own, but as Jonesi pointed out it will probably end up costing you a fair bit to get started.
Edited by esox50 4/18/2009 12:15 AM
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Posts: 626
Location: ashtabula ohio | beav, look for lee tauchen flouro leader knot on next bite..130 flouro is overblown imo..we are not fishin sharks here fellas...sheesh. |
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| luckymusky - 4/17/2009 11:00 PM
beav, look for lee tauchen flouro leader knot on next bite..130 flouro is overblown imo..we are not fishin sharks here fellas...sheesh.
I agree, I used the heavy 150 plus on the rivers out east trolling...but have use 80lb casting and 60lb for jigs and creatures and have never had an issue....but folks do like to take a tank to a boxing match.... |
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here is some link that will help you to make no error,we are in 2009 and everybody whit a brain bigger than a pea can make ther own leader,if they want.better than the one available because they will be exactly like you want.they are easy to test,dont need to lose a fish to see what they worth
a SCIENCE! can i laugh a lil?
http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid...
http://www.thenextbitetv.com/images/site_images/lees_leader_knot.pd...
http://www.leadertec.com/tipsandtechniques/crimp_techniques.html |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI |
IMHO the money I would save making the six or so leaders I use every year certainly doesn't justify my investing in the components/tools to make my own leaders. Further and more importantly, I would rather invest the time spent making the leaders in activities far more important to me, say spending time with my family. If making leaders is your hobby, go for it. As for me, I'll leave the details to the team at Stealth and focus my energy on more rewarding activities. |
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| Stealth gets my vote. Re-read the post from Jonesi - everything he said is right on. |
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Posts: 626
Location: ashtabula ohio | good links mota..ive been using the leadertec system for a few y ears with no hassles whatsoever.. saw lees knot this year and tied one up..very east to do and the knot seems tough. so if anyone doesnt want to spend cash on crimpers and sleeves you can easily tie them up this way...for pennies. |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | i fish alot and used about 25 leaders from LEADERS & LURES by gene seuring last season. great leaders, every bit as good as stealth if not better. but at $6,7,8 each its cheaper to make my own. if one of mine fails then i will go back to genes leaders. but in making my own it seems real easy and simple to do and not as hard as you my think, but someone who is sponsored or get there leaders at a discount will tell you diffrent. |
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Location: MN | I have used Stealth Leaders and love them... picked up a bunch at the show from Hulbert. Also, this winter I purchased some 16" 130lb flouros from a seller on Ebay which appear to be great quality.... the guy uses a unique knot and crimp; his business is called "Charlie's Leaders." I haven't had a chance to use them but they look well built with the special knot, good cross lock snaps and high quality ball bearing swivel. |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | whats so "special" about the knot? |
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Location: MN | Hard to explain, let me try posting a pic. tonight. My interpretation of the knot is that it's a backup if your crimp sleeve fails in the sense that it's a seperate knot holding your snap and swivel. It's a completely different knot that the one's used on Stealth leaders.
Edited by Mak51 4/20/2009 11:58 AM
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Posts: 1348
Location: Pewaukee, WI | You can't go wrong with Stealth Tackle's leaders. John Bette's flouro leaders are absolutely the best in the business, hands down! They are the benchmark by which all others in the tackle industry are measured by. |
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Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Ripper- It's a hand tied three (3) wrap cinch knot. It's tricky keeping the wraps in the correct order as you tighten the knot when hand tying, so the more wraps the harder it is to tie..... Try doing 5 or 7 wraps, in late October, in a boat in Vilas County. I use a knot tyer to easily tie 5-7 wrap cinch knots, and I vary the number of wraps depending on the fluorocarbon diameter, 50lb = 6 wraps and \ 80lb= minimum 5 wraps + drop of super glue. I can easily tie 200lb fluoro. But, I like 80lb for all of my personal use leaders. I would never use less than 4 wraps, and the more wraps the safer the knot.
Just do a MF search "all posts" "fluorocarbon". I've been using fluorocarbon & tieing my own leaders for about 5 years, and learned some valuable lessons along the way. I haven't lost a fish yet due to bite off ( ~ 150 muskies). Back off the drag as soon as you get the hook set done. Climax is the hardest flouro I've found, most tooth resistant, and I have deliberatley tried all brands. It's also a little stiffer to tie, but I like that it's tougher.
I also have commercial swager and double barrel crimps for making Alien rig's. But, I don't use crimps for my Zalt "No-See-Um" flourocarbon leaders. Just a personal preference, as I believe the fluorocarbon strength is compromised when you crimp it, i.e., the cross sectional area is reduced. When fishing I use a Ty-Fast Saltwater knot tyer to tie all my knots-even superlines with 6-7 wrap cinch knots, and it's large enough to tie 120lb flouro. I also use a homemade cinch knot tyer when I'm doing leader quanities at home.
If you are hand tying allow for at least ~ 6" of tag end waste per leader, i.e., ~3" per knot. If you tie a 14" leader you will use ~20" of fluorocarbon. Obviously waste is not a big issue for crimped leaders. Fluorocarbon material is not cheap, so factor in the waste. Also as has been noted by others, quality of terminal parts is critical.
But, I'd also agree you can also save a lot of time & money as both Stealth Tackle and Leaders & Lures make quality products. The only way you can make fluoro leaders for an equivalent cost/price is to buy materials in bulk - by bulk, I mean 1000's of double barrel crimps/snaps/swivels and 100yd or 1000yd spools of fluorocarbon. Otherwise once you consider the material costs + labor + costs of mistakes (wasted fluorocarbon), etc you will probably be surprised by the actual cost per leader and be further ahead buying your flouro leaders.
But I'm also one of those fishermen who likes to experiment & make my own leaders, and then I'm the one too blame if it fails to perform as needed.
Have fun!
Al |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | bigbite - 4/20/2009 12:43 PM
You can't go wrong with Stealth Tackle's leaders. John Bette's flouro leaders are absolutely the best in the business, hands down! They are the benchmark by which all others in the tackle industry are measured by.
i would NEVER measure any leaders against a leader that has to be tied, crimped and glued. if your crimp wont hold and your knot wont hold then maybe you should find a new way to make them. i bet that genes(leaders & lures) crimps will hold just as good as a stealth. stealth over compensates, were not pulling boats with them. |
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flouro leaders