To tie or not to tie, that is the question

I use long tapered fluorocarbon leaders for fly fishing. When spin casting I tie right in the end of the line. I find with rapalas and spinners that not having a knot helps through the weeds and moss.

 

love love love it.

my brother is the only one that got a Golden trout. I think he caught all the subspecies including this one odd rainbow only found in a lake near the kern. I was honestly fished out after while. the hike out was enough excitement.

 

Well i do a lot of trolling for trout and kokanee....kokanee have very soft mouths, requiring monofilament line with fluorocarbon spinner or dodger rigs. Somedays you'll just get a lot of light hits that you'll have to work harder....thats fishing.

 

I use 30# braid with a 6' length of 12# flouro leader on my baitcaster. I use an FG knot to tie the leader to the braid and then a regular clinch knot to attach a probably size 8 snap swivel to the lure end. My FG isn't pretty (first one I ever tied), but this knot has all the tag ends coming out the back so it casts easily. This combo was strong enough to bend the hook when my crappie lure got caught on something underwater the other day.

And yes, braid sure knots itself fairly easily when pulling out a backlash.

EDIT: I now use a Blood knot to tie the leader to the braid. I think the Blood knot is superior for flexible lines because it is symmetrical with the tag ends coming out the middle. It casts well and retrieves well. The FG worked well casting, but the rear-exiting tags wanted to catch a little in the guides when retrieving. I figured that might eventually lead to knot failure.

I could NOT tie 30# flouro leader to braid with the Blood knot as the stiffer flouro would want to spring open and destroy the knot after I tied it but before I could tighten it. Maybe what they call the Improved Blood knot would work but if I need ~30# leader I'll tie a swivel on using Palomar knots. I troll successfully for white bass with the 12# leader.