Braid v mono, and fluoro?

[dom]

I am decades behind in my knowledge of the latest tackle. Since being here I am basically starting from scratch.

I have always used a good quality mono, but this weekend I tried braid, wow so thin and casts beautifully. I was able to throw my live bait a fair distance with-out a weight!!. Managed two barracuda while free-lining, I am sure it will also work for the Kings.

Initially I have loaded my 8000 size reel with 30lb suffix braid, I tied braid to snap swivel with palomar knot, then attached wire hook trace.

Now the tricky parts, the leader knots.......leader lengths and strength.....also mono or flouro??.

All research suggests I should have a leader. I have a few questions.....

Is the leader to act as a shock leader, ie be long enough to wrap the spool while casting?

Or is it for presentation/line visibility? (maybe a three or four foot section is sufficient?)

If just for presentation is that where the fluoro comes in?.

Must it be a lighter breaking strain than the braid so as to protect from loosing braid while snagged?,( many suggest a heavier mono to protect from rubbing rocks etc while fighting a good fish).

The crucial question...which knot???...I am presently practicing tying the FG knot.

Back to the leader, I have personally seen three King fish landed on lures fished with braid direct to lure, (no wire, no leader). They were all played with a light drag and gave a great fight. Were they just lucky or is it a viable set up to be considered?....

Lots of experimentation to be done, any feed back will be greatly appreciated.

Dom.

[bartailflathead]

Good qs there Dom
I'm no professional, so - like the guy queuing up for orthopaedic shoes - stand to be corrected, but here's my take on it.
I always use a leader when fishing braid, either fluoro or mono. Knots? lighter gear (up to 30lbs or so) a Uni to Uni is fine or a spider hitch. Heavier gear, go for an FJ or PR knot.
I tend to use heavier leaders than mainline due to abrasion resistance as I usually fish around structure, but that will depend on the application.
Re: your last q, light drag is key to kings IMHO. My choice would be a med/slow or slow action rod with mono for kings - plenty of stretch and room for lightly hooked fish. However, for some apps like long casting, braid will be far better, but the softly softly approach regarding pressure on kingfish still holds true. I personally would never fish braid direct to the lure, but if it works as you mention, hey....!! Fair enough!! Tight lines and way to go!!

Whether to use wire or not is a subject of debate. Larger lures you will generally get away with no wire, but with small spoons etc you run more of a risk. Heavy mono/fluoro will not save you from a direct dental hit from a king/cuda, but will protect against abrasion once it's hooked. Hope that makes sense.

[Sunny]

Good info BTF.

I use fluro straight through for mullet and will for the big milkies (when I eventually get there), as it is a superb shock absorber and has good abrasion resistance.

All of my lure fishing here has been for small stuff, so they have not touched the leader; but I have a small wire section to lure. Listening to this I guess I am over-engineering and it sounds unlikely that the predator will engulf the lure; and thus no need for strong leaders ?

I always use 300lb nylon for ledger work, regardless of the target species. Never met a fish yet that was 'trace sensitive' except mullet and they can't chew through pasta :-)

I like the 300 nylon over wire, easier to use and easy to replace hooks when out fishing; especially where the fish is deep-hooked and the best option for C&R is to cut the line. I have seen bass gutted with old deep belly hooked stainless hooks and the fish was healthy, so using steel hooks with micro-barbs they will soon rid themselves of the deep hook.

I bow down to local knowldge though and I'm guessing when it comes to Kings and Barracuda being able to bite through 300lb nylon ?

[dom]

Thanks BTF and Sunny for your informative replies, very helpful.
I will try the uni-uni and see how I get on.
I did try a heavier leader(50lb fluoro) yesterday evening when ledgering live bait, purely as I could see the benefit of protecting against the rocks while landing a large fish. Unfortunately it snagged and lost the leader and some braid. May try 25lb to protect the mainline in case of catching bottom in the future.
I think the soft rod and light drag may negate the need for a leader while plugging with braid, (longer cast the payoff against a rubbing leader, also no leader knots to worry about). I use a long handled landing net so the rocks can be avoided(if the fish does as it is told! and is not too big).
I am still a distance from finding the set up I am happy with....but I am getting closer with each experiment.
Dom.

[Sunny]

Dom,
With baits is there a risk of the line getting chomped ?

[dom]

Braid-leader-wire, my wire trace is at least 400mm, so that will take all the teeth and thrashing about.
Still not yet settled on wire strength, I have had more fish on 20LB wire, but changed to 40lb after being bitten through, I am sure the presentation is better with the lighter, leading to more takes.
Also my hook set up started as two spaced at 4-5 inches to one nose hook plus a treble, plus a tail hook, since adding the treble in the middle I have had no kingfish, just lots of barracudas. ( I added the treble as was missing fish that were hitting the center of the bait).
All part of the learning curve.
Dom

[Sunny]

You're miles ahead of me Dom....still to catch either a Kingfish or Barracuda !

I have wire with me, but only left over stuff from sharking in the UK. All my other traces - including tope & conger - were always heavy nylon. But then I didn't do much livebaiting and when we did it was just to keep us entertained whilst the shark baloons were boringly bobbing around

I can see that I am going to have to re-think some strategies

[bartailflathead]

Dom - what 20lb wire are you using that gets bitten through?
Are you sure it's not getting kinked (and weakened) instead?
Best
BTF

[dom]

It was AFW blood wire, there were no crimps involved, bait picked up, very strong run, I hooked into fish, then wire parted above hooks.(mainline was 20 lb berkeley mono , no leader)
I was initially maintaining a stiff drag, maybe that didn't help.
I have since changed the set up, I use 6- 8'' of 45lb wire with two bait hooks, then a 36'' or so length of 50 lb flouro joined with an albright knot, I feel the bait is presented better than a straight through wire trace.

[toneson]

Dom - im using knot-able wire - leader - braid (first exp of it), but finding the braid is twisting and knotting above the leader knot. Initially I thought it was down to the snap swivel above the lure, but not so sure now - you experienced this?

Also tried shortening the leader.

[dom]

I am still not convinced with braid but will persevere, it casts well but I am getting the odd wind knot.
If you are braid - swivel- trace - snap and lure you should be ok from knotting.

[toneson]

yeah, i've opted for the purist approach and have knotted brad to leader to knotable wire to snap-swivel to lure ;-) - not sure about the wind-knots - more like a birds-nest.

Might try braid direct to wire, perhaps?