Leader material

[Sawyer]

Just wondering what everyone else uses, in the past I always used Maxima never had a problem with breakages & fished with it with confidence, last 4 seasons I have used Seagaur fluorocarbon lovely & thin seems to make the fly flutter a bit more on the dangle (tested it in daylight) & is almost invisible, not an issue at night I know. Although I have caught with it (no better or worse than maxima) I am never confident, when I hit a reasonable fish & have to exert some pressure to stop it running I always have a fleeting thought "hope the leader does not part" & not "hope the hook does not pull".
Any alternatives out there use 10/12lb early season & 6/8lb when the smaller fish move in in numbers.

[squirrelblue]

Hi Sawyer
I use 12lb, 10lb & 8lb Pro Gold of a night time and have done for the last 4yrs and I'm more than happy with it.
for throwing jambo's and other surface lures I will go up to 14 or 15lb

For daytime fishing on a falling river I have just bought some 10lb WB Clarke line to try, its a line used by match anglers and has a diameter of 0.22.
I've not actually used this yet, and if it lets me down it will go strait in the bin.
I'll keep you posted on that.
SB

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Daytime would be Airflo G3 fluorocarbon in 8 or 10lbs then at night 12lbs Terry Eustace Pro Gold Nylon, or 15lbs for larger/heavier tubes and surface lures. Failing that, you cannot go wrong with maxima ultragreen.

I personally would never go below 12lbs at night because even though there may be smaller fish present the larger fish will also be there. Also, never found sea trout to be leader shy at night so no real benefit to dropping down in leader weight.

TT.

[Mick B]

Seaguar is superb, the very best fluorocarbon leader material on the market worldwide IMO
I've used it for more than 15years from 10lb up to 500lb (Marlin leaders) and never had a line failure, one or two slipped knots in the early years but that's all.
Best catch was 37kg on an 8kg leader, the fight lasting more than an hour! |\

Fluorocarbon is a solid material (unlike mono which is 20% or more air) and it will not bend around around anything with a diameter smaller than itself without fracturing, it also requires the FULLY tightening of all knots before use.
Highly recommended is the Tuna knot which will retain 100% of the line strength if tied and tightened correctly.

I also use Rio in 3lb and 4lb and find its very good, no failures so far.

The pale green Clarke (match team) I find very susceptible to breakages when a fish lunges about, might be alright for sluggish fish but in my experience its to brittle and not very tooth proof either.

[squirrelblue]

The pale green Clarke (match team) I find very susceptible to breakages when a fish lunges about, might be alright for sluggish fish but in my experience its to brittle and not very tooth proof either.

Thanks for the feedback Mick,
I lost my spool of Clarke match line on the bank the other day, maybe an omen?
will take a look at some seagar

Thanks again
SB