[Retroboy]

Was at Dorions and noticed a pretty big price difference between your basic Trilene fluoro leader and some of its competitors, on the order of four times as much cost for the same weight and length.

Got me to wondering about whether the price differential is really worth it for the longer and stringier parts of our gear. I know you can get really cheap massive rolls of pretty crappy line (which can double as leader) at a lot of places that should probably only be used for your six year old cousin's first time fishing five-inch perch, so let's skip that and move at least one step up to something that actually has a name brand on it.

I'm wondering how often and how much investing in quality lines and leaders makes a difference between a broken or birds-nested line and a full season or two of less painful fishing. What do you folks use, and how often do you find yourself replacing it?

(P.S. I've had enough broken and can't-troll-worth-crap swivels by now to know that they're worth paying a little extra for.)

 

[Jim VE9WH]

I use only Tuffline-XP, casts like you wouldn't believe and extremely strong

 

[Homebrew76]

all depends on what your using it for and how you use it. For bass fishing, I'm sure the 'pros' would recommend some lines for certian tactics (like popping top waters) and other lines elsewhere (like crawling a lure across the bottom). Then you look at how you use a leader, if you tie it on directly or use a swivel. Some folk don't use a leader. I suspect the most expensive lines would make a difference to those who know exactly how each line behaves and feels. For most of us, I don't think it would make that much of a difference.

For me, I like to use use a small swivel and a leader almost 100% of the time, but I suck at bass fishing so do not go by what I do! For spinning rods I find the Berkeley nanofil casts futher and smooter than anything else I've used, but you want to cut off about 20 yards of it after the season as it gets worn out, that or reverse it on your reel for the like new feeling.

For leaders, I like anything that is easy to tie and remains more or less invisible for most fish.

My sturgeon set ups are mostly 50 lb spiderwire braid with Berkeley Triline 40 lb mono for the leader.