braid leader

[string]

hi guts,

 Has anyone ever tried using braid as a leader line on a rock and surf rig?  my thinking is that it's more abbrasive resistant than  mono and that the leader knot would be a lot smaller as the braid is of a much smaller diameter , the braid that i had in mind is the one one some of us use on our 10 inch KP's for botom fishing . this type of braid is a bit  thicker and perhaps more hardwearing than normal braid backing .

To the powers that be , Thanks for a great website, its great to be logged on again .

 

[Nemesis]

Howzit boet.I don't braid would be a good leader on the rocks,it isnt very abrasion resistant,but on open surf im sure it would work lekker.But then again as it isnt very abrasion resistant,you could be burnt of much easier.But that doesnt always happen.Would be good 2use it whilst fishing for blackfins,wouldnt bust u off as easily as would mono,also it should allow u to cast further

 

[Reefman]

String... Nemesis is right... braid has in fact got a notoriously poor Abrasion Resistance - it's always better to use Mono as a leader on top of braid topshot. A Good Mono has much better Abrasion resistance than braid.

 

[Kumz]

I wud have to Agree with the 2 previos posts !!! I remember seeing a video on youtube that showed that braids abrasive resistance is rather low !!!

 

[string]

thanks alot for the info guys ... guess a braid leader is a big no-no. back o the drawing board .... to hatch another nefarious plan

 

[Whaler]

Hi Guys, if you use the correct braid it is allot more abrasive resistant than any mono! I bought a spool of Berkley fire line 80lb it has a funny wax coating and is incredibly strong  i use it in the bricks when i fish for spottys and smooth hounds, and have never been cut off, you actually battle to cut it with a side cutter! i sent some to hooked to test and he is equally impressed, i know Haakies also uses it for yellow tail.

 

[christodeb]

I was thinking of the same thing a while ago. You get some pretty thick fireline 100lb +, wouldn't that work well for shark fishing?

 

[wp34]

I have been using braid as a leader for edibles for some time now, and found that ,unfortunately, as with everything else in life, you get what you pay for! You want good braid , you going to pay for it!! Fireline definitely the best out there!! IMHO!

 

[Simen]

Agree with Whaler & wp34. There's braid and there's braid and then there is Fireline.

 

[Hooked]

I have been toying with the idea of using Fly line ( the stuff the guys use to wave feathers around in the air ) as a shock leader.Any thoughts?

 

[Hannes101]

It should work if ones uses a 12wt intermediate flyline it should be strong enough but its gonna cost you a few bucks...

 

[Daryl]

All i can say is....land your own fish when using braid as leader. I have seen someone almost get cut in half while trying to land the fish! Wanna friend to lose a finger..use braid. Mono is and always will be the best leader. It stands up to one hell of a hiding! Wesley Rapson hand a nice bronzy on and during his 5hour fight with this monster he was getting rapped around bricks time and again. He had 1.8mm wind on leader. Anything els would never stand up to it.

 

[JJ Pienaar]

I'v use'd 350pound braid i got off a yank's reel at tha shop and used it as a leader it cast's smøoth but if u make the leader to long it cut's your finger moer toe especialy on the first cast when the braid's not wet yet..I would rather use möno ..But i put the braid leader on my out fit i use to cast poper in the surf so if u not gona be casting a lot and use it for rock and surf bait out fit's than try it..

 

[Nemesis]

Money guys,Money...in this time i would think its a better option to use mono...Its much cheaper to replace.But if you got the money for Fireline,go ahead.But as stated,you going to be in kak if you the owe that has to go pull the fish out the water and the fireline gets rapped around you...

 

[Hooch]

Hi Everyone

This is a bit of a conravercial topic. Not so long ago i asked the same question, due to my dad that were advised the same thing at a shop in shelly beach, and the concencus were to use the sales rep as a swimbait, due to incompetance.

Now the storry has changed.

Some people feel it will work were other feel it wont.

Now here is a true question: All of us agree that braid has a very low abrasion resistance. Period. Now if the abrasion resistance is so poor, why do all of us use it as backing on our reels? I know its due to line capasity, but hey, what happens if a fish is 400 to 500m out, and it goes over a reef or musselbed? The braid will part before the mono will, or am i missing something?

Dont you gents think we should look at a alternative to braid, maby something with a better abrasion resistance? If braids abrasion resistance is so low, why do we even bother fishing with it from the bricks?

Just my 2c

 

[Daryl]

Hi H. Yes we use braid as backing because of line dia and so on. If there's a reef 500m to 900m out then your in the kak as it does happen that you get cut off but the main reason for not using braid as leads is...when landing a fish the chances of your leader rubbing on the bricks, sand whatever is so much higher than it is when the fish is 600m out. You need that extra strong leader to withstand a fish suddenly darting off or ducking down the ledge. Down at Battle of the Generations i had a bronzie that had me all over the mother in laws. If it wasn't for the 1.5mm wind on, i would have lost that fish. D

 

[Trophy]

Bang for your buck! Simple fact is I go through 100m plus of leader line every month at R400 - R600 for braid I would have very shallow pockets!

 

[Whaler]

Here is some thing i have learnt in my fishing career, don't talk about things you have not tried your self, and trie everything once because that is what makes the sport evolve, Guys i have been fishing with fireline in the bricks for quite some time and it has no equel! it is not expensive either it works out to R1 per meter and if that makes a diferense in landing a fish 8 bucks is a bargain!

 

[tkei]

I was in Moz a few years back and a mate tried to use Firelin as a leader to the popper he was throwing. I used 1mm leader and landed a good size king. he got smashed by a 20+kg king and in about 5 seconds it came back without the popper, bitten clean off. His thinking was that its such a mission to cut that fish wont bite through it easily, but thats wrong, theyy make short work of it.
Hooked, your idea about flyline,. also not such a good idea. Flyline has a very low breakign strain for its thickness. it usually has a nylon or dacron type core with a "plastic, vinyl coating depending on brand, price etc. I standto be corrected but most break around 30-40lb but maybe the 12-15 weight lined break higher. Remember that fly line records only go to 20lb tippet so the pressure you can put ona fish is not like you can on conventional tackle.

 

[Reefman]

Whaler wrote:

Here is some thing i have learnt in my fishing career, don't talk about things you have not tried your self, and trie everything once because that is what makes the sport evolve, Guys i have been fishing with fireline in the bricks for quite some time and it has no equel! it is not expensive either it works out to R1 per meter and if that makes a diferense in landing a fish 8 bucks is a bargain!

I think we need to clear something up here... comparing proverbial apples with bananas... I might be nit-picking here...?

Fire Line Facts: FireLine is a thermal filament fishing line, NOT a mono and NOT a braid. It is made from MICRO Dyneema, the world’s strongest fiber. It is a lot of small fibers bonded together to deliver the best HIGH PERFORMANCE LINE ever developed!
(taken from quotes from Berkley).

Having said that - it is a LOT thicker than other braids of the same breaking strength - we all know it's tricky to measure the thickness of braid, but just by visual inspection, 20lb Fireline is MUCH thicker than 50lb Whiplash.