Determine Leader lbs.

[Snapprhead27]

Hey all,

Is there a general rule of thumb that everyone uses in determining what pound leader to use with mono/braid line?

 

[Roccus7]

Think it all depends on your conditions and personal preference. On my bass spinning rods I use 30 lb fluoro. Why? Because I like its ability to take a decent amount of abrasion before I have to retie them; those bass gill plates can be brutal. If the blues ever decide to come back to Maine, I'd probably up my leaders to 40 lbs...

I also use 30 lb braid on those reels, but have a definitive reason; 30 lb braid is the same diameter as 8 lb mono, about the thinnest line my fat fingers can tie knots in while fish are breaking around me. It's not a matter of breaking strength; 30 lb is way overkill since I set my drags at about 5-8 lbs to prevent breakoffs and straightened hooks...

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

I use 20 or 25 flouro for bass. Really have not seen too many blues to make it necessary to get anything stronger and I really don't fish heavy rocky areas, More dropoffs and ledges. Like Roccus said if you have sticky rough bottom you may want to increase the line wt.

 

[BennyV]

Hey all,

Is there a general rule of thumb that everyone uses in determining what pound leader to use with mono/braid line?

Depends on the application.

That being said I tend to go a little heavier than most. I’ve seen to many large fish lost due to under-equipped line/leader choices. I also go heavier because when I fish it’s usually on a PB and I need to have a bit more control of the fish to avoid tangles, etc...

 

[Snapprhead27]

Thanks everyone, I pretty much use 30-40 on my Bass rod. On my spinning with 15lb braid I was thinking of going 10-15lb Fluoro