Used brad for a long time as leaders and for fishing it has many disadvantages.
First one being the lack of stretch at the most critical peice of the fight, land the fish. Every time they shake there head when you are at the braid leader, it loosens the hook more and more, where as mono absorbs the shock and makes for a smoother ride.
The illusion of braid having more resistance with some anglers is a myth. Under strain it shreds quickly. It is hopeless around rocks and snaps at will. Mono on the other hand will take a hell of a lot more of a hiding and stand up on the sharp stuff.
The biggest advantage with a braid leader is the speed it loads the rod on a cast when wading out, and the small knot size. Because you can use a heavier breaking strain leader with braid and still keep the knot size down, it allows for a smoother cast. You need to tie the leader knots more frequently though, as the braid does wear into the mono mainline.
Anywho, both work, back to the main question on colour. I am a huge fan of keeping everything as simple as possible. When the fishing is tough, and the buggers are shy, I personally hate bright lines reflecting in the water under UV. My moto is, if a stupid seas gull can see my line, so can the fish, so it's there for important to keep it clear, and fluro coated if possible.
To support my argument I look at years of fishing, chasing kings, snapper and gurnard. When you use wire trace, 80lb mono ect.... when there is plenty of fish around, no worries, you will catch fish all day. But its when its tough, and the only kingfish for the day comes it and sees the 130lb trace and shy away that you think bugger ! he can see that. Yet if that trace was 40-60lb, bang every-time. Same with the snapper, drop to 40lb fluro and bang, your away.
Take soft-baiting as another example, if you use 40lb on the leader, the strike rate compared with someone using 15lb is just unreal.
If you throw a pilchard head over your shoulder onto the sand, the gulls smash it, you tie it to a line and and do the same, and they leave it. Fish to me are the same, I can not see the point/advantage of using a bright leader under the water so close to your bait, its like a beacon telling the fish to bugger off. Save all those bright colours for your reels and rods if your that way inclined. .
Do everything you can to keep it simple, plan without advertising to everything in the water your there to catch the buggers. If its to help you see the line, imagine how much it improves the vision of fish on seeing that line considering they can see bait fish ad crabs at the worst of times. Fishing is hard enough, don't make it more difficult for yourself.
Interesting post containing some debatable points. I use five kilo main line with a twenty kilo braid leader. In fairness I don't fish over rocks only sand or shingle. Can't say I have ever experienced the mainline shredding, and I am still using the original leader I put on at the start of the season, mid spring and it hasn't been retied.
Like most anglers I often have a gull fly into the main line, this is reasonably common but you do get an amazing take on the rod that gets the heart pumping. I seem to recall a story on here quite recently of that happening.
On occasions I also fish a long line from the beach, the Napier seagulls must be a fearless, motley crew. Turn your back for a second and they are into the baited hooks that are waiting to be loaded for the next set. They seem totally unconcerned they have heavy traces, orange beads, plastic tubing and sea harvester clips attached.
Possibly the biggest problem with braid affects the newcomer to its use: forget to do the drag tension up tight when casting and you will have an index finger that can point in two directions at once.
One advantage often overlooked, braid is so thin the colour is of little concern but there is a variety of colours available if this is a genuine worry. Speaking only for myself, I find that braid being thinner does make the terminal tackle a little more aerodynamic when casting. This may (or may not) give a little extra distance when dragging out larger baits.
Ive never worried about line colour or shock leader colour but will do so after reading these posts. I prefer tapered leaders but only when I'm flush enough to afford them. Only ever used braid leaders with braid mainline.
Re: Coloured leaders
Posted by surfcasterbop on 14/12/2012, 11:47 am, in reply to "Re: Coloured leaders"
Has anyone used the sunline siglon leader? Is there any advantage to having it built in to your mainline (otherthan not having to tie a blood knot or for the same price (or cheaper) getting x5 leader lines only?Piscari Ergo Sum
Re: Coloured leaders
Posted by SNAPPA NAPIER on 14/12/2012, 7:00 pm, in reply to "Re: Coloured leaders"
on 13/12/2012, 5:22 pm
