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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | I started making my own fluoro leaders for the last couple years. I've always gone with 100# fluoro but wanted to upgrade this year to some heavier stuff but simply cannot justify spending the money on more fluoro if the "invisibility" is the only advantage. Instead I bought 50 yards of 135# mono for basically the price of nothing, $10. The same amount of Seaguar fluoro is $140. The whole idea of making your own leaders is to save some dough, right?
So my question, what is the difference between Fluoro and mono? Is mono any less abrasion resistant or inferior to fluoro in any way? |
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Posts: 1243
Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | Others will have more educated feedback than my own on this one. But my understanding is that fluoro will hold up much better than mono. And yes, mono is inferior to fluoro when it comes to being abrasion resistant. I don't have any personal experience with heavy mono leaders, but this is what I've been told. And I have been extremely happy with the 130# fluoro leaders from Stealth Tackle that I have been using.
Aaron |
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Posts: 214
Location: Beaver County, Pennsylvania | i know of far too many extrememly successful musky fisherman who wouldnt use flouro or mono to save their lives.....stick with whats guaranteed to not fray or fail to the teeth of a musky..... |
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Posts: 1529
| in trolling open water mono is just fine. in rocks and zebra mussels floro is better. just my 2 cents. always check your leader regardless of what you use.. it only takes seconds . |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | fluoro has better impact strength than mono, also it is stable against uv rays. fluoro has better cold resistance and higher abrasion resistance than mono. it is also of course more invisible than mono. which are a few reasons why it is alot more expensive. not that applies much to musky fishing but fluorocarbon is also more sensitive than mono.
also keep in mind that not all fluoro is the same, there are differnt grades of fluoro as well as differnt brands, some good and some not so good.
Edited by muskihntr 5/15/2008 10:27 PM
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | Thanks guys, I really appreciate your opinions. I have really never heard of anybody strictly making only mono leaders instead of fluoro and never understood why.
After making a couple leaders, I tested them out. In a side by side comparison, I was able to break 100# fluoro and 135# mono with about the same amount of effort. Both broke in the exact same spot, split the loop in half on the ball bearing end. The only difference that I noticed, like muskihntr said the fluoro has A LOT more give to it.
adudeuknow, I agree, I still don't trust fluoro leaders nearly as much as my single strand leaders. But when using bulldawgs, I don't see any other option. One "dawgball", and both the leader and the bulldawg are bent at 90 degrees. |
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Posts: 2112
Location: The Sportsman, home, or out on the water | The one thing about fluoro is that once it gets a nick in it, it does not continue to tear, as mono does. |
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Posts: 214
Location: Beaver County, Pennsylvania | i've not seen #100 multistrand wire kink very many times using bulldawgs.... |
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Posts: 32
Location: Manawa Wiscowsin | What knot do you use when making up the fluorocarbon leaders? I have heard of CABLE Knots but do not know how to tie them. Others have recomended SAN DIEGO or UNI knots. I want to use long flurocarbon leaders for trolling in areas where zebra muscles are now a problem. |
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Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | This is a much discussed topic, i.e., fluoro versus mono. Be careful, there is hard mono & regular mono. Flouro does have lower refractive index (lower visibility in water) and I believe it is generally more absasion resistant than either mono or hard mono. Mono also absorbs water over time, so over the course of a day it increases in diamater and becomes softer.
Some folks here ( including Norm Wild- whom I greatly respect) would argue that to use either mono or flouro for muskies is to risk losing that fish of a lifetime. All I can say is that I respect his opinion and will continue to take that risk, i.e., that's my personal choice.
Al |
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