Opinons on fluorocarbon leaders to increase bite

Spoke with a guy at work yesterday who went on and on about increasing his crappie take by introducing a 6' fluorocarbon leader at the end of his rig. Basic swivel and minnow at the end of a slip cork setup. Anyone done the same? Is the benefit worth the extra rig time?

I always use a fluorocarbon leader. I fish a clear water lake so it may be different in other places.

I'm a huge proponent of using fluorocarbon leaders and smaller line size. I'm a fly fisherman and tie my leaders with fluorocarbon. I'm not sure how line shy crappie are but I know bluegill, white bass and hybrids can be very line shy in clear, still water conditions. On 2 separate occasions I was fishing below the dam after they had shut off the flow. I was using using 6 lb. fluorocarbon and kept getting broke off by big hybrids. I changed to 12 lb. fluorocarbon and couldn't get a bite. I went back to 6 lb. fluorocarbon and started catching them again. On another occasion I was fishing with a friend and catching white bass on almost every cast using 6 lb. fluorocarbon. He was using 8 lb. mono and hardly catching anything. I gave him some 6 lb. fluorocarbon and he started catching. I use the same setup for crappie.

The downside is I will lose a lot more flies when fishing in the creeks.

I normally just use a double sturgeons knot to tie on the leader. I don't care for using swivels either.

Yes

I have been using floro for my live bait leaders so long I don't know if it makes a difference. It a pretty easy habit to get into. Just get a spool and keep it with your terminal tackle. I even tie my slabs with flies rig with floro.
Crappie rigs certainly get tied with floro at PK. I believe we use 8lb

There's not really a disadvantage to using flouro. Does it help? Probably at least some of the time. So why not use it?

I have never found that fluoro helps except in very clear water. I typically use red braid on my crappie rods and have no issue with fish being spooked.

Depends on lots of factors .... I have seen people use welding rods above their hooks and catch fish, then I have seen 12# mono spook them!
I got in the habit of using 6# to #8 test floro on everything except my rod I cast out to shallows with a float as the floro sinks too quick.

Thanks for the input. Think I'll give it a try and may even go 12# floro on my cane pole rigs as well.