i use a flouro leader in the winter on pool 4 until runoff starts. the water is clear in the winter evidenced by early morning or late evening bites.
X2
Early spring/late winter last year, line played a huge role in day time hook up rates in my boat, in the clear water. Went down to a 4 lb, 6′ green mono leader. I know, nuts on the river, where line isn’t supposed to be an issue. It made all the difference in the world. Along with a smaller barrel swivel, minnow and a more neutral colored hook. After a lot of trial and error with line, I’m convinced that it isn’t just line shyness, but also the stiffness of heavier line. The stiffness of flouro, for me negates the clarity issue benefits in some situations. I’d rather use a limper mono on nervous eaters. But that is just what I’ve experienced with the products I’ve used. For others, who use different products, they’ve probably experienced the exact opposite. If the day time bite is tough, yet the night time bite is good, there’s still daytime biters just off that main after dark feeding area, which tends to be a touch shallower. So keying in on or around that edge can work wonders. Clear lakes have taught many that the day time bite isn’t worth fishing, when it can be. If a few adjustments are made and there’s an understanding that it isn’t going to be easy, Katy Perry bar the door action, like after dark or the peak of dusk, when hungry fish fill up the shallows. And when a turd with 3 treble hooks, fished on para cord would work. That limpness of a smaller mono presents the bait in a lot more fluid, natural state than a stiffer flouro or higher poundage mono. From everything I’ve experienced, it’s not just a not seeing the line issue or line shyness, but presenting live bait in a more natural state, floating, instead of arched and stuck stiff. Much like marabou jigs that seem to breath on their own.
Great discussion on line, online! Grilled cheese, that was bad. There are so many choices. It can be difficult to navigate through all the pro’s and con’s of all the new products. With younger and inexperienced anglers, mono is hard to beat. Lots of forgiveness and room for error. In an average anglers hands, braided line can give them a good edge. But it also can start to be a hindrance, with trying to set the hook to fast on quick pick-ups, especially on uncommitted, nervous eaters, with overly enthusiastic want-a-bee’ers, with snap quick wrist shot premature hook set issues, most bass fishermen suffer from. Flouro, has it’s pro’s and con’s, and is still a very functional product, without over thinking it too much. In the hands of a good angler, line can make a gigantic difference. More often than not though, there’s a sum of all parts intelligence with good anglers, that don’t worry to much about the intellectual, nonsensical holes in the details, that lead down Alice in Wonderland rabbit holes. Especially when it’s not concerning the ending result, catching fish. It’s like wondering why a fish bites on a seemingly, totally and completely un-natural lure, that just flat out produces fish. It’s fun taking the puzzles apart or putting them together. But sometimes it is just plain fun to feel a fish tugging on the other end of the line. Whomever never looses that wonderment over what is at the end of the line, like a kid with a Zebco 33 and 10# coiled up old blue Stren line, that is totally engulfed by the moment for what it is, an exhilarating, fleeting moment in time to have a fish on the end of the line, is truly blessed.
