Back your spools with cheap mono to about the halfway mark and then top-shot with your choice of line you want in front of the fish. Backing with braid seems very expensive.

The main two things are:
1. Added Sensitivity fishing deeper water.
2. Fishing with Tungsten weights that are expensive to risk a loss when hung up all the time.

I do the same for spinning tackle. All fluoro is like casting a slinky.

It's about sensitivity and the best hooksets without the hassle of using fluoro as a main line for me... Even though fluoro as a main line has less stretch than mono, it feels like fishing with linguini compared to 50 lb braid for me... Dont get me started on the amount of memory on big diameter fluoro, even the good stuff after its been on the reel a few weeks... Ridiculous. I sometimes tie direct to braid but I know I get more bites with a fluoro leader so that's what I do most of the time. Haven't had the leader knot fail in years. You can also change things up with different sized leaders too. I run leaders from 8 lb up to 20. Most of the time I use 17lb though. I have broken x heavy flipping sticks with braid/leader because of a giant hook set but the leader knot didn't give... You tie it right, you have nothing to worry about. Braid lasts longer too. Ends up being much cheaper for me in the long run. After a season on the reel you can spool it directly to another reel and what's on top is now what was deep in the spool last year: it's basically brand new line... The advantages are endless in my book...

What gutcheck said.

I do back them with other line, I try to put about 60 or so yards of braid on my reels.

I use the string on a couple of my spinning reels. I don't have a fear of it breaking but I use it enough to have confidence in the knots I use.

I use it because my 10 or 15 pound braid will cast a lot better than my 10 pound flourocarbon. Especially when I cast close up I can control the braid better and I don't have to worry (although its not a huge problem) about line twist with mono.

Most of the time when I use it I have a long leader. From 4 to 6 feet.

I assume you guys just use a blood knot between the braid and the leader?

No, I use a uni to uni.

Checkout the Alberto Knot, there's a good video on YouTube on how to tie it by the guy (Alberto Knie) that invented it. I've been using tieing 10# Fireline to 8# fluoro jerkin' crappie out of brushpiles and I've broken one line to leader knot in 3 years.

Yup, Alberto knot.

I use a 20lb Big Game leader for topwater, spinnterbaits, and large swimbaits. I feel that it acts as a shock cord and provides a little stretch when using a med/hvy or heavy action rod. I love braid for its castability and durability but it becomes limp after getting wet so I use a 6ft leader on topwater baits with trebles. A walking baits will foul in braid because the braid will float back to the bait. With a stiff mono leader I prevent this and retain castability. With spinnerbaits I could go either way, I'll use a softer rod so I don't have to use a leader. I'll use a leader with spinning rods and clear water, especially with a worm rig, (shakey, drop-shot, or texas rig). Usually if I'm using a spinning rod and worming the bite is tough. I use a blood not with 9 loops, it takes some practice to get it right but once I did, I haven't had a knot fail yet and have no problem with the knot traveling through normal guides. I love mono, still use it for all cranking purposes but have switched to braid for everything else and it has improved my fishing big time.

Go check out joe-fish's vids on YouTube and his thoughts about it. Personally it's a ratio thing for me if 95% of my line is tougher that's a good thing, yeah u gotta keep an eye on it sometimes but you can watch the braid less. Also somtimes I don't want to waste a spool of line, spinning rods, swim baits and deep jigs on clear lakes just to name a few situations. Also less stretch is ALWAYS good for me