# Leader Material



## butts (Oct 7, 2007)

Hi All

I have a couple of questions on what type of line/leader should I be using as a leader. My questions are based around saltwater fishing on in-close reefs flicking plastics for anything from Bream to Snapper to Kingfish with a depth of up say 20-40 metres (but usually 5-15m).

Currently I have 10 kilo braid and I have used 20kg and 15kg mono as the leader,but as I have not caught alot of fish I'm thinking maybe the fish are spooked by the leader (or I just can't get the hang of using plastics). I am thinking of down sizing to 5kg braid with a 10kg leader. Am I currently going to heavy or should I stay the same?

Can normal mono be used for a leader or should I be using the specifically designed leader material?

What length should the leader be 1-2-3 metres, acouple of rod lengths? Casting has been a problem with the 20kg leader and running it at 3-4m and using a small jighead (there just doesn't seem to be enough weight to get the line out through the guides).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Butts...


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## rawprawn (Aug 31, 2005)

This is something we learned on our trip to the Whitsundays. Like you I was fishing way too heavy and not catching fish. As soon as we dropped our gear down from heavy to light we started catching fish. I don't know the specifics of your area but I would try the lightest leader you could get away with and if you consistently get busted off try upping it slightly. It's much more fun hooking fish and getting busted off than it is catching nothing. You just need to experiment to get the right catch to bust off ratio that works for you and the area you fish.


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

Kings, cobia I use 100lb 10x Penn leader.
Snapper I use 15lb to 30lb mono leaders or straight through for SPs, depends if Im getting busted up or not. Sometimes the heavier leader gets more hits than the light but not that often. On my flasher rigs the leaders are 40lb and 60lb for snapper and if Im live baiting for snapper 60lb 10xleader. 
I also use swivels with 1-2m of leader more than a direct knot as Im more confident with the connection.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

If your working plastics - especially light ones I would reduce the leader poundage - Yo Zuri do a good leader material in clear ( its mono carbon something ) its bloody strong and thin.. maybe use 10 pound as a starting point. I would increase the mainline though to at least 20 - 30 pound and get one thats strong but with a fine diameter... length wise I have the knot ( leader / braid ) sitting out of the reel before casting ( stops the friction of the knot as it comes out of the spool in the cast) and the length from the lure to the tip of the road before the cast is about a meter or so........ one thing though if your not getting any hits though is it because there are no fish there or what...


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## blaggon (Jan 14, 2008)

for fishing sp's over offshore reefs for snapper etc i use 20lb braid with a 3-4m leader of 20lb fluorocarbon currently using FC ROCK ( good stuff too )
works very well in nearly all situations, the fluorocarbon is less visible in the water than what mono is and doesn't seem to spook the fish.


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

I use about 2m of 10, 20 & 30lb Nitlon fluorocarbon depending on outfit & conditions. The fluoro is superior to mono in that it's harder, thinner and supposedly less visible. The trade off is that it doesn't knot as nicely, so for heavier leaders I use Jinkai mono, and it's more expensive. Even the 10lb Nitlon is surprisingly strong.

Both fluoro & nylon leader material are superior to normal mono for this purpose for mine.


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## butts (Oct 7, 2007)

Thanks for the responses fella's, very helpfull.
Wopfish - I hear what your saying about having a starting point of 10lb and then work out what works best. But I was always led to believe that the leader was to be equal too or heavier than the main line (usually doulbe) never less than the main line (eg 2kg main line with a 4kg trace or 5kg main with a 10kg leader).

Butts...


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

mate i pretty much just use vanish(FLUOROCARBON) in clear. it is a bit of a prick to tie as it is almost invisible which is probably why it works well. i use really light leader because i dont catch much big stuff. i would think 6 to 8 lb and even 4 lb for bream. the only problem with the 4lb is if flathead get it in their teeth they will cut you off. the stuff is really abrasion resistant . i keep my leader out of the sun and use about 5 ft. i would think. because i usually tie 5 loop surgeons knots to attach to the braid if you go much above 5 ft its a mess to tie the knot. best of luck


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Hey Butts Kraley is on the money there...

Firstly though - your bream rig and king / snapper rig would be seperate in my books - Bream can be very timid - so fish as light as you can. As for the kings and snapper - I fish with Nitlon and its very fine at 30 lb - see what you can get by with for casting etc as a leader - you can go from 10 up to 60lb - but if you cant cast with the 60 or finding it hard to tie to the braid then you need to change your plan... but at 10lb the fish are rubbing you off.... so theres both extremes there and will depend on your conditions / fish / lures and terrain.... I try and let my braid do the grunt of the hard work... but the leader has to be discreet and have some durability...... if your getting rubbed off then youve got to go heavier... but if they stop biting then maybe they can see the leader... PHEW no wrong or right answers.....


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## KingHit (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Butts,

I think that to a degree the length of leader can also depend on the speed of the retrieve. Fishing for the kingies last year almost all the fish I caught were from a flat out retrieve albeit with a 2500 reel so line pick up wasn't huge. The point is that they all chased it down from behind with the strikes being visable. In this situation I have a feeling you could get away with a short and heavy / think leader although I didn't really push this and fished 10lb braid with 15 or 20lb mono leader (2 metres long) and got dusted up twice. I think that at the fast retreive the fact fluro sinks doesn't matter at all and it is less visable so will be my material of choice. I will be looking at using 25 or 30lb fluro this year with minimum 10 or 14 lb braid.

For the bream the reverse applies. Slow retrieve with delicate presentations = light leader minimum 7' however I have not done a huge amount of this fishing and am basing the assumptions maily on what happens with trout and fishing small flies.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Chris


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## KingHit (Oct 3, 2007)

should also mention that a loop knot is a MUST especially with heavier leaders and lures/plastics. not too large but not too small either for the loop. I recommend the lefty's loop for being reliable and easier to tie and adjust to the right size.


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## wobbly (Jun 13, 2007)

Ho do you ties lefty's loop knot


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

KingHit said:


> should also mention that a loop knot is a MUST especially with heavier leaders and lures/plastics. not too large but not too small either for the loop. I recommend the lefty's loop for being reliable and easier to tie and adjust to the right size.


I never use a loop knot for medium tackle plastics work (like kings in Sydney). Finesse is not a word in the kingfish vocabulary. What you want is a strong knot (unlike all the loop knots I've tried, particularly the inaccurately named perfection loop which is weak). What I use is a 5 turn uni, not pulled all the way up (which leaves a loop). First fish will pull this real tight (ie no loop anymore), but I'll keep fishing 'til I get snagged/busted off or want to change the weight and I've noticed no difference. Finesse fishing for bream is a different story, a loop knot is recommended by all the gurus & who am I to argue?


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## KingHit (Oct 3, 2007)

I guess I feel that the loop knot allows the plastic to more a bit more freely. I have used the uni knot before and not pulled it all the way down however that was whilst bass fishing and I got the sh$ts with it due to it pulling tight on weed all the time. Might try it this year however the loop knot i tie is easy and i have not had any issues with it.

Horses for courses i guess. I don't think the Kingies get together at the end of the day to compare notes on the types of knots they have seen.


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## JakeJ (Aug 31, 2008)

I have found that the Braid strengths are way underrated. 30 pound Fireline would actually be close to 50 Pound mono. ( Forgive my non-metric-ness but I'm working on it ;-) ) I try to use a lighter leader say 40 pound mono or flouro. Saves the expensive braid. Some say that the flouro is more abrasion resistant in the rocks, but I usually don't fish there.


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