Most angling tactics call for adding fishing leader to your mainline. But all leaders – and how you attach them – are not created equal.
When run behind weights, some trolling lures, like this spoon, work best when on a very long leader. Photo, Lenny Rudow
Whether you cast, troll, chum, or jig, you almost certainly need to add a leader to the end of your fishing line. Leaders can serve a number of critical purposes, depending on the nature of the fishery and the tactics being used. They often provide enhanced chafe resistance when fishing around docks or rocks. In many scenarios, heavier leaders are used to provide extra strength at the end of your line; in some other cases, lighter leaders are used to fool suspicious fish eyeballing your lure or bait. Toothy fish might call for bite-proof leaders, and large fish that can rub through line with sharp fins or tails might call for extra-long leaders. The list goes on and on. If you want to be a successful angler, you’ll need to make sure your leader choice matches up with whatever the situation demands.
Types Of Leader Material
While there are some special cases that fall outside of these standard parameters, the vast majority of the time you’ll be choosing between monofilament, fluorocarbon, or wire leader. Monofilament is the least expensive type of leader material, provides relatively low visibility, and has the most stretch. Fluorocarbon is a type of monofilament, but it most closely resembles the refractive index of water, so it’s the least-visible type. It’s substantially more expensive than regular monofilament and a bit stiffer, too, but it works so well for so many purposes that it’s become the most common option for the widest range of anglers. And as you might guess, wire leader is the toughest for fish to bite through, so it’s the go-to choice when angling for fish with razor-sharp teeth.
Beyond these basic parameters, there are some additional considerations to keep in mind when choosing a leader material. Will you be using very long leaders that require handlining in the fish at the end of the battle? Or will you be swinging fish aboard as opposed to netting or gaffing them? In either case, the extra stretch of monofilament can be a blessing. Do you plan to fish using a method where bait will sit or float in a static position? Then the low visibility of fluorocarbon might be a must-have. Is your target a species like pickerel that’s both toothy and armed with excellent eyesight? If so, you’ll probably catch more fish if you stick with low-vis leader instead of wire, but in that case, you’d better choose a long, tooth-proof lure that won’t allow the fish’s teeth anywhere near the line.
As is true with many aspects of fishing, the combination of factors is virtually endless. So you need to take as many as possible into consideration, then make a call while considering the attributes of each different type of leader material.
Choosing Leader Strength
Anglers will argue endlessly over whether 20-pound test is ideal for a specific fishery, or if 30-pound test is perfect. But no matter what that fishery might be, in truth there is no one “correct” answer. In fact, one angler might catch the most using 20-pound test leader because it better matches their drag setting and fight style, while another might consistently break off leader of that size – yet fill the cooler in short order when using 30-pound test. Again, there are so many variables and factors coming into play that every individual will have to make their best guess, then modify it according to results of experience.
That said, there is a rule of thumb we can offer up as a starting point. In most fisheries it’s common for leader size to be around one-and-a-half to two times the mainline size. So if your reel is spooled with 15-pound test, leader in the 20- to 30-pound test range would be a reasonable choice. But – and this is a big but – in many cases, using a lighter leader (which the fish can’t see as easily) will lead to more strikes. On the flip side of the coin, using a heavier leader will lead to fewer break-offs. So it may be smart for an experienced angler, who’s skilled at fighting fish with finesse, to opt for 20-pound leader. Yet an inexperienced angler would probably end up landing more fish using 30-pound test even though they got fewer strikes.
Note, however, that in certain specific fisheries this way of thinking can go right out the window. When chunking for yellowfin tuna in clear oceanic waters, for example, the fish may not hit anything heavier than 30-pound test leader. So even if your mainline is 50-pound test, you’ll be tying on 30-pound leader and fighting the fish with an exceptionally light drag. Conversely, some species, like catfish, aren’t leader-shy one bit. But they often live in craggy, snaggy structure on the bottom where line chafe is a guarantee. In that case, you might want to load up with 60-pound test leader, even when fishing with 20-pound gear, for the additional abrasion resistance.
Clockwise from top left: With some species that aren’t leader-shy, like catfish, you can up-size your leader without worrying about getting fewer bites. For toothy fish like this wahoo you need to either use wire leader or a long, biteproof lure like this large metal spoon. Fish with acute eyesight, like this yellowfin tuna, sometimes will only bite on exceptionally thin fluorocarbon leaders. Note that here the leader remains essentially invisible (arrow points to the hook). Photos, Lenny Rudow
Choosing Leader Length
Three or 4 feet of leader is generally all it takes to fool even the wariest fish – and in many cases is plenty of length. But leader length is often less dependent on the type of fish you’re going after and more on the tactic and/or lure type, because certain forms of fishing do require longer leaders or leaders of a very specific length.
If you’re trolling spoons behind inline sinkers, downriggers, or diving planers, for example, you’ll generally need at least 15 to 20 feet of leader between the weight and the lure for it to swim properly. In the case of tandem rigs, leader length might be based on the desired lure separation. And when using braid mainline, you might want a longer monofilament leader to help absorb the pressure of a fish surging against a fully bent rod.
Tournament anglers can be an anomaly when it comes to leader length because certain tournaments that award points based on released fish count it as a catch anytime the leader reaches the rod tip. In these cases, anglers generally use the longest leader allowed so they can rack up their points as quickly as possible.
Making Line-To-Leader Connections
In some cases the mainline can terminate in a swivel and clip, which can then be attached to the leader. In others, a knotted attachment point is in order. The big consideration here is whether you need to be able to reel the leader into the rod, or not. If you don’t need to reel that line all the way in, feel free to use a swivel, which allows for easy and fast lure and leader changes. But if you do, you’ll almost always need to make a knotted line-to-leader connection. (Some “wind-on” swivels exist, but mostly for very specific gear and fisheries).
There’s a huge variety of line-to-leader knots out there. It seems like everyone has their own favorite, and many people will swear that Knot X or Knot Y is the absolute strongest or best. However, in-depth trials testing multiple knots tied by multiple people have shown that there isn’t really any one knot that’s “best.” Knots of the same type can show varying breaking strength when tied by different people (due to the way they make their wraps, cinch the line, and factors that may differ from person to person). Additionally, some knots test stronger or weaker by varying degrees depending on the diameter and type of lines being used. So while Knot X may be the strongest when you tie it with 20-pound braid and 40-pound monofilament, it might not be the strongest when you’re working with 40-pound braid and 20-pound monofilament.
Most of us choose one specific knot or another because someone taught it to us, we learned how to tie it, and now it’s the one we can use to join two lines together fastest. In most cases, this is just fine, because any of the popular line-to-leader knots are likely to serve you well. Three top popular choices include (in alphabetical order) the Albright or improved Albright knot, the FG knot, and the uni-to-uni knot.
You can learn any of these in a blink by grabbing some line to work with and watching a few YouTube videos. Before deciding which one to take up, however, consider that the Albright is one that can vary in breaking strength quite a bit depending on who’s doing the tying. The FG tends to vary more by the lines being used, and some people find it a toughie to learn. And the uni-to-uni (also called a double-uni) can snag a bit in rod guides during casts if the tag end isn’t trimmed close enough.
Did you come into this thinking that leader is a simple topic? We certainly hope we’ve cured you of that impression! We also hope that now you have a better grasp on that little bit of line connecting you to the fish – and with a little luck, the connection will stay strong right up until that fish is flopping in your cooler.