What test braided line for general use spinning??

I notice those tournament fishermen usually have 60 pound test line on those casting reels.
I know the braided line is small, I am wondering what to use on open face spinning reels.
It seems that many use a florocarbon leader with it. What test is it and what is the purpose.
I have been using Stren mono with a 9 inch steel leader with a snap on the end.
It seems like this setup is a bit out of date for current day fishing.
Are the lures just tied on directly with a blood knot??
Sorry for all the questions, I guess I have been away from fishing for too long. Now trying to catch up.
Thanks for all the patient guys for answering my questions for this 76 year old geezer.

Roger

A lot depends on what kind of fishing your planning on doing.

I primarily fish walleyes with my spinning gear. Generally speaking, my walleye rods are St. Croix, medium light, fast or extra fast tips. Reels are Shimano 1500 series.

I have two spools for each reel. One spool is loaded with 10# Suffix 832 and the spare spool with 4 or 6# Suffix Hi-Vix Elite which is a mono line and used primarily in cold weather conditions where I believe mono performs better than super lines.

For my leaders on the Suffix 832 line, I use mostly 12-15# Seaguar fluorocarbon line. I do not buy Seaguar’s fluorocarbon leader material line for this. Seaguar does seem to be going away from selling the regular fluorocarbon line that once was their mainstay line but I have found that there InvizX or AbrazX fluorocarbon line also works excellent as a leader material.

The reason I buy that line vs the leader material is cost. You can buy 200yds of the regular line for the same price as 50yds of the leader material.

I’ve also had excellent luck using Bass Pro Shops XPS Signature Series Fluorocarbon line. Others will no doubt mention Vanish.

As for snaps vs snap swivels vs tying direct:

Jigs, live bait hooks = tie direct.

Spinners, spoons or anything you believe will cause twist in your line = snap swivel.

Crank baits & stick baits = just a plain snap.

Blade baits = depending on how and what you are doing, could be either a plain snap or a snap swivel.

I really like the versatility I get with 15# Cajun braid on my spinning reels! Covers almost everything i could ask of it.

I pretty much am in step with Joe on Walleye/spinning tackle applications, especially agree on buying std spools vs leader spools of fluoro

5-6 lb power pro. Clear swivel and 16″ Fluorocarbon leader. X2 on buying Fluorocarbon spool vs leader. Palomar knot and I like the plain quick snaps unless I’m pulling a harness.

Spinning reels I normally don’t go over 20lbs. But I think the best line for spinning reels is the Suffix 832 by far.

I have started using Nanofil for the past 5 fishing trips. I got the 12 lb test as I fish areas that would abrade your line. So far, no fraying, no wind knots. Casts well and good knot strength with a palomar knot. So far the best stuff I have used and I have used fireline, power pro and Tuf-Line Duracast.

For bass fishing- 20-30# Power Pro (reel size 20-30 use 20lb, 30+ use 30lb)
For walleye fishing- 10# Power Pro

If you like to feel your bite.. suffix 832

spiderwire 15 & 20 pound is my go-to for braided.

10 pound suffix 832 will let you target alot of diff species.

Here’s some bass fishing accident pictures. So it is very dependent on the situation. General purpose for me is 40lb suffix 832 with a 80lb fluorocarbon leader on a medium heavy casting rig. That covers me 90 percent of the time. I cast for Smallmouth Bass, Pike and deal with the occasional Muskie, fishing rocks, rapids, downed trees and heavy weeds. We boated a 41 inch Muskie earlier in the season and a couple of smaller Muskies during the year. I also use this setup for channel cats even though it’s overkill, but it wouldn’t be a good setup for most bait fishing situations. My general purpose rod is a medium spinning rod spooled with 10lb to 12lb Spider Wire. I use this for vertical jigging for Walleye, Smallmouth Bass and Panfish. I cast this rig with smaller lures for Smallmouth Bass, Crappie, WhiteBass, etc. If I still fished the southern Wisconsin lakes for Largemouth Bass, general purpose would be 8lb to 12lb Braid and I would fish most everything with that. If I bait fished The Mississippi I would probably spool up 6lb to 8lb braid for most situations. 90 percent of the time I cast artificials and my opinion is that Suffix 832 cost twice as much as Spiderwire, but it last 3 to 4 times as long for the fishing that I do, making it cheaper. For bait fishing my opinion is that Spiderwire is just as good as Suffix 832 and will cost less. Here’s some bass fishing accident pictures. Good luck out there.