Braid to Flouro for Bass

Just want to see who all uses braid to flouro for bass fishing. And specifically I am talking when using casting rods. Everybody goes braid to flouro when using spinning rods. That is a very well known thing. What I am wondering is who uses braid to flouro on casting rods. I have heard of a lot of the pros doing this and to me it seems like a complete waste. To me it seems like an extra fail point in your line. When I want clear line, I just run straight flouro. Then on the other side I will just run straight braid. I have never tried braid to flouro on a casting rod, but my buddy has and says it’s terrible and useless and he says he’ll never do it again which just confirmed what I had already thought. What is your guys’ thoughts?

Most of my bait casters are straight braid, straight fluoro, or in some rare cases, straight mono. Lately I’ve been attaching about a 12-15 inch “leader” of seaguar blue label to some of these setups to avoid bite-offs from pike. It has worked so far. Losing lures from pike seems almost inevitable, but there are ways to mitigate that.

Its not an extra fail point in your line if you tie the knot correctly. Just tie it the same as you would with a spinning setup.

Something to keep in mind here too is that some people are pushing the limits on what they can do with a bait caster. I personally use spinning gear for lighter, more finesse-type applications, but some are using bait casters.

Ya I don’t use a short leader to prevent pike break offs. I don’t try to prevent pike break offs. I have just accepted that they happen and its just part of it. And if I am being honest I don’t break off to pike that often.

And I would argue that no matter how good you tie your knot that it is still a fail point. Especially when using casting rods and you naturally are setting the hook much harder with casting rods vs spinning rods. To me a leader knot is going to break before 40lb Braid or 17lb Flouro. But to each their own I guess.

Dylan Sluis wrote:

I have just accepted that they happen and its just part of it.

Ha. I used to have that same outlook too, then I started losing expensive spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and swimbaits to bite offs that would amount to over $100 in lost lures every season. I had to do something about it.

Oh ya I am for sure over $100 a year for break offs. I just consider it as an expense. Just like losing golf balls

I have a few set up with braid to fluro. Mostly for clear, open water stuff like t-rigs or deep jigs. I have the leader the length from the top eyelet to the hook keeper. I like that the braid mainline lasts much longer than fluro mainline and has a lot less memory.

And I would argue that no matter how good you tie your knot that it is still a fail point. Especially when using casting rods and you naturally are setting the hook much harder with casting rods vs spinning rods. To me a leader knot is going to break before 40lb Braid or 17lb Flouro. But to each their own I guess.
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Try a FG knot. I fish saltwater 2 months a year, 30 days this year. Use braid to floro leader 100% of the time. Usually 10# Power Pro to 20# floro leader. Tied properly it will give near 100% strength. More times my break offs were in the braid, once I got on to tying it. Secret is to pull so hard when you tie it. You need to wear gloves to burn the braid into the floro. Besides clearer, floro will hold up to oysters, Zebra mussels etc. better. One thing I found. Even though the FG is the smallest diameter knot you can tie. If you use a long leader that you reel through the eye. Micro guide rods don’t work well. Saltstrong.com has good videos on tying it. I’ve made a few variations that help with arthritic hands with little feeling left, the size of catchers mitts.

I fish a few braid to Fluro leader setups. There is way more stretch in both Fluro and Mono than you think. It can be a real factor when a bite comes at the end of a real long cast. you get a much better hook set without the monster hookset you mentioned. There is also the cost factor in that Braid last a LOT longer than Mono and Fluro. If you reverse the braid on the reel after a year or 2 you probably get it to last 4-5 times longer than Fluro. That is a fairly big cost savings.
Then there is the whole visibility issue in clear water. Braid direct to lure in those situation will cost you bites for sure.
I have not had any knot failures at the Braid to Fluro connection since I started using the FG knot to connect. I use Fluro designed as a leader material. This holds up way better than normal mainline fluro of the same Diam. this also aids in bite offs. People over estimate how tough braid is when it comes to biteoffs. I’ve had small pike bite off 40 lb braid like its butter. often I don’t even get to the hookset. Its thump and its gone.

fishthumper wrote:

I’ve had small pike bite off 40 lb braid like its butter. often I don’t even get to the hookset. Its thump and its gone.

I didn’t think they could bite through 40 pound braid either. They can.

We’ve all felt that “tick” or “thud” of something hitting a lure and then all of the sudden its weightless. You reel in and the only thing left is, well, nothing. lol

gimruis wrote:

I didn’t think they could bite through 40 pound braid either. They can.

We’ve all felt that “tick” or “thud” of something hitting a lure and then all of the sudden its weightless. You reel in and the only thing left is, well, nothing. lol

Yep. It happens often when fishing a jig and pig. Back when vertical jigging milfoil on Minnetonka was real popular. I once lost 9 jigs in one day due to biteoffs on 45lb braid. Only set the hook on one of them. it was rare to have lots of biteoffs from pike in the foil, but it was bad that day. The bad thing was white jigs with a white trailer was the hot bait for bass at the time. I had a tourney a few days later and could not find white jigs anywhere. I had to beg a few off of friends for the tourney. luckly, I only lost 2 on tourney day as I only had 3 to start the day.

I use braid to fluoro on my cranking rods. I like the braid because it gives me so much more sensitivity when cranking. It allows me to know exactly what my crankbait is running into. I don’t get that with straight fluoro. I add the fluoro leader because of the visibility braid has in the water and it gives you a little more protection against those darned pike.

Topwater-braid
Punching pads/mats-braid
Docks/shallow pitching-straight fluoro
Jigs/Deep jigs or plastics-straight fluoro

I do braid to flouro on all cranking set ups, most my finese jigging rods and pretty much everything I don’t run straight braid on, which I only run straight braid on heavy punching rigs

Frog rod and Buzzbait are straight braid. Jerkbait and crankbait rods get 10 pound flouro. Every other rod has 30 pound brait to 15-20 pound flouro tied with an FG knot. I have been using this setup for 3-4 years and will never turn back. The only changes I have had to make are to the hooks I use. Instead of running a regular wire EWG I have stepped up to a heavier wire hook due to lack of stretch compared to straight flouro. The hardest part of the entire rig is mastering the FG knot. There is no easy way to tie it. But once you get a good one tied, you will know. If it is tied incorrectly the knot will slip or unwind. So my biggest recommendation is to practice the FG knot until you have it mastered. There are other knots that I have heard good things about but nothing can beat the FG.

I have braid on every single one of my casting and spinning reels, and then flouro or mono leaders of various weights depending on what I’m fishing. In certain cases such as frogging or heavy jigging, I’ll go straight braid. Often times I’ll run 12′ leader (e.g. finesse jigging, ned rigs.)

To me this is the best of all worlds; in terms of line management, line twists, birds nest fixing, and casting I find braid superior in every way. I rarely ever have to change the braid on my reels (once every 5 years or so) and can just tie on whatever leader I need at a given moment.

At home I use the FG knot (difficult to master but highly recommended) but I’ll go Alberto knot if I have to re-tie on the water. I’ve maybe had 2-3 leader knots fail over the years so it has never been a concern.

I go braid to Invisaswivel to mono on one of my topwater/jerkbait rods.

I just retied some leaders with FG knot. One hack that helps me. I tie the tag end of the braid to the crank handle of the reel. Reel it just till the rod tip bends a little. It’s like having a 3rd hand. I have almost no feeling in my fingers anymore, every little bit helps.

No real way to prevent pike/gar biteoffs other than using wire leaders. Pike have bit through 65lb braid.

milemark_714 wrote:

No real way to prevent pike/gar biteoffs other than using wire leaders. Pike have bit through 65lb braid.

That’s because you’re using braid. Braid is inferior to mono and fluoro in abrasion resistance. By a lot. Using 12 lb fluoro on cranks, spinners, or bladed jigs (lures pike tend to go after) will limit your lures being cut off by them by a lot AND you don’t have to use wire leader. Fluoro also helps your hook up ratios with reaction baits because it has some stretch and doesn’t pull the lure out of the fishes mouth too fast, whereas braid has zero stretch so that fish gets the full power of your hookset and can rip the lure out of the fish’s mouth too fast resulting in missed hookups.

milemark_714 wrote:

No real way to prevent pike/gar biteoffs other than using wire leaders. Pike have bit through 65lb braid.

I use 20 or 30 pound Seaguar blue label to mitigate bite offs.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>milemark_714 wrote:</div>
No real way to prevent pike/gar biteoffs other than using wire leaders. Pike have bit through 65lb braid.

I use 20 or 30 pound Seaguar blue label to mitigate bite offs.

You don’t even need that heavy test. Just not having braid will bring down the number of your lost lures to pike exponentially.

mahtofire14 wrote:

You don’t even need that heavy test. Just not having braid will bring down the number of your lost lures to pike exponentially.

I only use that heavier fluoro as leader material on certain moving lures like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits, etc. Two years ago I used all 20 and every once in a while they would cut through it. Last year I upped it to 30 and never got bit off once, but the 30 is pretty stiff and tough to tie knots with. So I might try to look for a 25 if they make it.

My slower finesse presentations with plastics use actual fluorocarbon like invisix in 8 or 10 pound test. But I don’t get bit off nearly as often with plastics as I do with those other moving lures.