Using a Leader When Throwing Lures?

Does anyone use a leader when you are throwing lures like spoons, rattletraps or other artificials when surf fishing?

Thoughts?

Pros, cons?

I use a spinning reel setup with braided main line and a mono leader. 15# braid, and 20 or 25# mono is my normal go-to. Leader is about double the rod length so I can cut off rough spots from toothy fish or oyster beds several times without retying.

We use braid on spinning reels for jig heads. No leader.
Top waters and hard baits on casting rods w 15 lb Ande back country. No leader either. No one has ever shown me it was worth the trouble.

I use sevenstrand steel leader on most of my lures if I am offshore or fishing around the jetty. King mackerel and Spanish mackerel make it a good choice if you want to keep your lures. It is usually not needed in the bay, but I have not seen a reduced hook-up rate when I use it.

I use braided line with a mono leader with everything (soft plastics, hard baits, live bait, etc). Use the FG knot for the braid to mono connection. I like the added stretch I get with the mono leader when fighting upper slot or over slot reds. Also I would rather tie a knot with mono vs. braid especially while on the water. And mono is easier to cut than braid.

Lots of ways to skin a cat and some things come down to personal preferences. No really right or wrong about it. People get it done in a variety of ways. A couple of fishing friends like nylon monofilament on their baitcasting rigs and don’t use any leaders.

I never have liked the feel or balance of spinning reel set ups so couldn’t comment much on those. With baitcasting reels, I like braid on the spool for various reasons, but never liked tying braid directly to lures. One thing is that the braid will find its way into the hooks especially topwater plugs. Putting on a leader certainly solves the braid finding its way into the hooks issue. With an added leader, you can up size it to deal with the occasional bluefish or Spanish Mackerel. 30# fluorocarbon can generally withstand a bluefish or smack or two so you won’t lose your lure.

You will get a lot more braid on a spool than monofilament. Some of these baitcasting reels are pretty small and it will be tough to get very much nylon mono on them unless you get into sub 10# nylon. Extra line can be nice for a lot of reasons and one big one in the surf is running into a Jack creavelle. Those fish automatically run off a lot of line in a hurry if they have any size to them. Build in a leader weaker than your line and you won’t have to worry about getting spooled before you know it and losing all the line to the fish.

Braid costs more, but in relation to the many other much more enormous expenses in fishing, the additional cost over nylon monofilament is almost laughable to even think about. People often have hundreds or even thousands of dollars in lures but are going to worry that braid cost a few dollars more than nylon monofilament? Braid lasts for a long time anyway using a nylon or fluorocarbon leader. The leader gets chewed up on lure changes and saves the braid from being slowly whittled away with every lure change.

I have braid 15 or 20 lb on all my reels. 15 on rods that are ML or M and 20 on MH or H. I tie a clip (Tatical Anglers power clip) 25 or 50 lb to braid. I tie a swivel to 20lb floro for all jig heads, 30lb floro for all treble hook hard lures, and I use pre made steel leader for all spoons. The floro is typically 18 to 24 inches long with loop knot on jig or lure side and uni knot to swivel. I can pre tie different size jig heads and quickly change by clipping on or off new leader and jig same with hard lures. Even works for ready made up popping cork.

I typically carry only 6 rods and reels 3 spinning and 3 bait. My bay boat has 6 rod holders at console so that is why just six. My dad uses the 3 spinning and I use 3 bait. The ability to change out quickly with ready made leaders works for me and pop.

Find something you like and make it work for you.