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Author Topic: What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)  (Read 5953 times)

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What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)
« on: April 10, 2014, 06:00:54 PM »
Gidday all.Well,I've been watching every fishing show,& reading all the posts I can.I've seen lots,if not all,use a leader line.Are these a stronger piece of fishing line located from the hook to a swivel or something else?I vaguely remember using a wire "tracer?" when I was a young fella.Our target species is bass,or any perch,& we are currently going to try our luck at lowood bend,twin bridges,fieldings reserve etc.
Pretty new to this(as Mr fitzy knows.lol) Help please.Thanks.Marty



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Re: What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2014, 08:28:31 PM »
10lb's good pal

cleaner the water the thiner the string. No steel in the fresh right.

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Re: What are leader lines? (Excuse my ignorance)
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2014, 08:37:54 PM »
A trace, in sweetwater use serves a couple of purposes.
It is a sacrificial section of line that gets worn, abrased and consumed a little each time you cut your line and re-tie a knot or change lures.
Depending on the application, a trace can be lighter or heavier than the main line, but mostly it is heavier than the main line as it at the business end of the line where it's most likely to get worn on rocks, snags and fish teeth.

A typical set up for bass fishing could be anything from 4lb to 15lb main line, very commonly a braided or thermo fused polyethyline (all are commonly just called "braid") of some type & the breaking strain dictated by the country you are fishing, the distance you want to cast (lighter line will cast further) and even how spooky the fish are (are they remote fish that have never seen a lure or heavily fished & educated fish).

Then the leader can be anything from 6lb to even 20lb mono or flurocarbon. This is always cheeper than braids and is therefore better to sacrifice this than the more expensive braided line.

Braided lines are much thinner for their breaking strain than monofilament or fluorcarbon so you can get more the spool. Braided lines also cast further and have much less stretch than mono or fluro (3-5% Vs 25-35%) so you get alot more info or "feel" back up the line than with mono.
The down side of the much thinner "braided" lines is that being much thinner they are less snag resistant than mono or fluro line, especially around sharp object like rocks, oysters etc

So it makes sense to use braid as the main line and use a mono or flurocarbon line as a leader.

How much leader? I usually only use around 3 or 4 feet for bass fishing, not much more for barra actually; at most a rod length.

Wire in sweetwater in Oz? I wouldn't ever use it or see a need for it. Wire is pretty heavy and can kill the action of a lure and is very easy for a fish to see compared to the transparency of mono or fluro leaders.

Brands of leader? Um, I think I'll sit back and wait for everyone else to offer their thoughts on what is best. I personally don't like flurocarbon for leaders it is "slicker" than mono and you have to make sure your knots are done properly. I've had a few spools of Penn 10x in various breaking strains in my leader bag for yonks & can't complain about it. Have a couple of others here & there with both good and bad results. But like John Laws always says ......"When you're on a good thing,,, stick to it".

I reckon a trip to a GOOD QUALITY tackle store and ask the staff to show you through some options and allow them to guide you on a matched setup will be of enormous value to you and even take your rod/reel combo in to show them, it will help them guide you to the best options for you. If you're in Ipswich, call in to the team at Charlton's Fishing @ Redbank.

Cheers,



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Re: What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2014, 01:22:16 AM »
I generally use platypus pre test for leader I prefer mono over flurocarbon, for bass 6lb braid with 8-10lb leader, I use an albright knot to tie leader to mainline

Dave


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Re: What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2014, 07:01:46 AM »
Berkley fluoro carbon is so far, my bang for buck favourite leader. It comes in 150m spools, don't get it confused with Berkley Vanish fluoro carbon leader, that stuff is garbage.
That stuff in the picture is what I'm using. But like I say, their 'Leader' version is terrible.

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Re: What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2014, 09:25:01 AM »
Thanks to all for your advice,especially Fitzy,who is always so knowledgeable and informative.Just to clarify,i used a wire tracer 40yrs ago as a lil tacker,only whilst beach fishing at Coolum,on an Uncles rig.I'd never use it in fresh,or at all now,but just wondered if a trace was the same as a leader,just different terminology by different generations.I und3rstand now what a leader is,its purpose,& some brands to try.Many thanks to all ,especially Mr Fitzy(Encyclopedia Fishtanica). : :thanks
Oh-Im between Gatton and Esk so its a 90 min round trip to Charltons/ Toowoomba sadly.

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What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2014, 08:25:24 AM »
UBK..  you have vanish in your picture??

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Re: What are leader lines?(Excuse my ignorance)
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2014, 11:24:06 AM »
Yes, that is the regular vanish line not the 'Leader' line version of vanish. That's what I use for leader at the moment in up to 15lb, great bang for buck. They charge you twice as much for half the spool size of their leader also.. Here's a better picture, had both varieties in the picture, the one in the left is the good stuff, the one on the right is the bad stuff..

 

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