Mono Leaders Vs Florocarbon Leaders

pacemaker

pacemaker

Well-Known Member
Hi,
I am looking for people's thoughts about what difference, if any, there is between using regular Mono leaders as opposed to using Florocarbon leaders. I have been using mono leaders forever, 40# Maxima Ultragreen. I normally troll spoons or hoochies behind a flasher, but occasionally drag a 'chovie or 2. For those of you who have recently made the change over to Florocarbon leaders, do you do things differently now or is it all the same?? The vast majority of my fishing is at Nootka where the fishing is shallow.
 
I use 40 flouro for spoons and bait holders. I like the durability of it. It is way less subject to abrasion than mono. You can land more chinook before you need to retie. For hootchies I use 60 flouro, it really lasts and up here where we get lots of halibut on the troll it really holds up well. Not sure if the less visibility results in more hits but it can't hurt. I don't bother with it for jigging.
 
i went down the fluoro path a few years ago and now i’ve totally abandoned it and went back to mono after losing several fish due to knot failure.

you need specific knots to tie fluoro properly if you want to achieve decent knot strength. i eventually changed to Uni knots which hold well; but being as it’s a sliding knot i was having difficulty getting accurate lengths on hootchies for example. doesn’t matter much with spoons and teaser heads if your a couple inches off.

anyways it’s expensive and with the depths i fish i just don’t see the benefits.
 
A friend gave me a couple spools of 30 lb which I use as leader for spoons.
It's definitely harder and more abrasion resistant.
Clinch knot works fine so far.
 
I would never fish anything else but flourocarbon. I have to fish everyday for 70 days straight during the summer. Flourocarbon stands up to some serious abuse as leader material. Tying it is definitely a pain in the butt. Take your time tying, wet your knot thoroughly and cinch it down tight. It will hold tight then. I use 40 lb for spoons and bait and 50 lb for hootchies. I find the increased stiffness of flourocatrbon actually imparts more action on your gear when trolling. I will use a loop knot when trolling spoons as this will also add more erratic action to the spoon.
Can't say enough good about it. I can't imagine fishing anything else at this point. 40 lb flouro is also great to work with when flipping off shakers and such. It's easy on the hands which in turn means it's easier on the fish released as well.
 
I switched to 50# seaguar red label this year for everything and I didn't lose a single fish or lure due to line or knot failure. I used clinch knots for lures and albright special for transitions to 30#-50# braid on trolling/jigging gear. I used to use 40# maxima, but this stuff seems way better and definitely less tangly
 
The only time I tried FC for salt fishing I couldn't stop the knots from breaking.
40 pound ultra green for everything except cut plug I use 25.
Saltwater fish just don't care about line visibility.
I do use FC for trout tippets.
 
I’ve been using blue label Segar fluorocarbon for a number of years now. I changed from Maxima 40# because of too many cut offs by big Chinook head shaking and cutting the line. Have not had that happen since I changed over. I use Palomar and Snell knots. No problem with those
 
For those people who changed from Mono to FC, did you still keep your leader lengths the same as before, or did you change them? Longer?? Shorter??
 
I don’t like getting fussy when I tie knots—-I use only one knot and that’s a clinch knot with the line doubled on itself ——I like to tie it quick and get my gear back in the water

I bought a spool of fancy Seaguar fluoro this summer and it cost me multiple fish. I found it too stiff to tie a quick knot—-you have to baby it and that’s beyond my pay grade when I’m on the water. I went back to plain-Jane 40 lb Berkeley and 30 lb Maxima Ultra Green and never lost a fish.

I’ll also add that I re-tie all my knots continually, whether I’m fishing river or salt chuck
 
Fluoro's worst enemy is dry line when cinching down the knot. If you're not wetting the line REALLY good you will have knot failure because the fluoro heats up and chafes. I always use a palomar knot when i can but haven't had problems with double clinch either. 40 lbs. Spoons and bait, 50 for hoochies. Worth the money in my books, that said i always have a spool of 40 lbs. Clear mono on board for backup. Leader lengths stay the same for me.
 
Tried 30# FC a couple years back and didn’t have great success with it as I had multiple knot breaks in the net when the fish was thrashing when landed in the boat. So I found myself retying a lot. So I went back to mono but again just not quite happy with it. I just received my order from Amazon of some 35# FC to tie up some leaders and bait rigs. Why 35# well just cause that’s the way I am lol. Don’t like too thin don’t like too thick. Did up a couple leaders last night and used olive oil for line lube to keep it from burning made a darn nice tight knot with a simple single clinch knot. I think I’m going to be happy with it we will see.
 
Last edited:
walleyes said:
Tried 30# FC a couple years back and didn’t have great success with it as I had multiple knot breaks in the net when the fish was thrashing when landed in the boat. So I found myself retying a lot. So I went back to mono but again just not quite happy with it. I just received my order from Amazon of some 35# FC to tie up some leaders and bait rigs. Why 35# well just cause that’s the way I am lol. Don’t like too thin don’t like too thick. Did up a couple leaders last night and used olive oil for line lube to keep it from burning made a darn nice tight knot with a simple singe clinch knot. I think I’m going to be happy with it we will see.
Click to expand...
I use the 40lb FC after @Reeltime INFLUENCED me to do it. I've had a lot break off in the net but I think that's more to do with the added stress and pressure of the fish and teeth all tangled in there. I've never had one snap while playing a fish. I keep a lot of pressure on the fish. I actually hurt my hands, shoulders, knees and toes trying to break a seal off.
 
Tried not really a fan but I also use 45 lb test YAMI line and thats VERY tough never have knot failure , plus I think paying almost 25 bucks for 25 yards is insane...
 
I had some 30 Lb.P-Line Fluoro break on me last week.Threw it out.Went back to tried and true Maxima mono,never had problems with it.
 
Switched to fluoro a few years ago. Haven’t broken off a fish since. Retie less. I like everything about it at this point. I used maxima before that.
 
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