Walleye line.

[Squidlips]

Walleye

When using braided line, do you use fluorocarbon leader material or do you just use line as a leader? Also, do you use a blood knot or a different type to connect the two? Or do you you usually go for a swivel, considering line twist.

I was considering a very small swivel, but didn’t know if I’d then be able to have a long enough leader without the swivel being reel’d into the eyes on the rod. Maybe braid doesn’t twist as much and I don’t even need a swivel?


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[walleyechaser]

Which ever floats your boat really. Walleye are not nearly as line shy as people make them to be, especially river walleye. If from a boat usually a small swivel and 10lb fluorocarbon, even then I dont think it matters that much, guys who use their mainline still catch plenty hogs

[Squidlips]

Which ever floats your boat really. Walleye are not nearly as line shy as people make them to be, especially river walleye. If from a boat usually a small swivel and 10lb fluorocarbon, even then I dont think it matters that much, guys who use their mainline still catch plenty hogs


Kinda what I figured and glad to hear some confirmation, thanks. I was using my trout rod for walleye, but now that I have a new rod just for walleye I can finally switch to braid.


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[timsesink]

I would disagree pretty strongly with the above post! I've done experiments with me and another guy in the boat. One guy on straight braid and the other using a fluorocarbon leader. Depending on the day the fluorocarbon leader outfishes the other one by as much as three to one. It's incredibly simple, get 8 pound test fluorocarbon, tie directly to your braided line. Anywhere from 2-3ft is fine.

A murky river may be an entirely different story.

[walleyechaser]

I would disagree pretty strongly with the above post! I've done experiments with me and another guy in the boat. One guy on straight braid and the other using a fluorocarbon leader. Depending on the day the fluorocarbon leader outfishes the other one by as much as three to one. It's incredibly simple, get 8 pound test fluorocarbon, tie directly to your braided line. Anywhere from 2-3ft is fine.

A murky river may be an entirely different story.

Sure if its ultra clear. Hardly ever that clear down south anyway.

[Talking moose]

Since there’s almost always some pike around in walleye lakes go fluoro.

[HuyFishin]

When I am targeting walleye I always use a fluorocarbon line as my leader.

Not fluorocarbon leader material , i'm using it from a fluorocarbon filler spool.

[Rvsask]

I think it depends on the water body and the dynamics of the ecosystem itself. In some places it seems to be that walleye want to softly pick up things like slow fished leeches and crawlers and anything other than clear line will not get you a bite. Then there are other places where they'll smack spoons cast for pike and be unafraid of taking wallops at great big crankbaits being burned over weedbeds. I personally prefer fishing the latter of the two examples.

[Squidlips]

I would disagree pretty strongly with the above post! I've done experiments with me and another guy in the boat. One guy on straight braid and the other using a fluorocarbon leader. Depending on the day the fluorocarbon leader outfishes the other one by as much as three to one. It's incredibly simple, get 8 pound test fluorocarbon, tie directly to your braided line. Anywhere from 2-3ft is fine.

A murky river may be an entirely different story.


Do you experience line twist with your braid? I swear by an in-line swivel when jigging, but have never used braid.


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[Squidlips]

When I am targeting walleye I always use a fluorocarbon line as my leader.

Not fluorocarbon leader material , i'm using it from a fluorocarbon filler spool.


Perfect


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[58thecat]

I use 20lbs sufix 832 tied directly to the jig head...throw on a minnow and bang the bottom ish….thousands of eyes caught that way....nothing fancy.


also use it for ice fishing....lake fishing for all species....have no issues catching.

this is the same dia as 6lbs mono....thin and very durable.

[Poppa]

10lb Power Pro (ALWAYS - ON EVERY REEL) with several wraps of P-Line 12lb fluoro attached is my ideal set up for jigging walleye.

[DiabeticKripple]

I just use straight 10lb power pro to a quick snap swivel and have no problems fishing against straight mono in the same boat

[trigger7mm]

Like others have said 10 lb. power pro is a great choice. I usually like to add about a 4’ length on either monofilament or fluorcarbon to the end to make things less visible. Tie on with a double uni knot and a dab of superglue. It’s very strong and a great way to tie line to line.

[Fishwhere]

I would say depends on how you are fishing. If youre jigging then i would say to think about a flouro or mono leader. If casting and moving hooks around a decent amount you can get away with alot more obviously.

Good luck

[Walleyedude]

I would disagree pretty strongly with the above post! I've done experiments with me and another guy in the boat. One guy on straight braid and the other using a fluorocarbon leader. Depending on the day the fluorocarbon leader outfishes the other one by as much as three to one. It's incredibly simple, get 8 pound test fluorocarbon, tie directly to your braided line. Anywhere from 2-3ft is fine.

A murky river may be an entirely different story.

This is my experience too. It does make a difference. The difference is huge in really finesse situations, and less pronounced in more aggressive presentations. Having said that, I can honestly say I've even seen an improvement in catch rates by using a 10-15 ft fluorocarbon leader when trolling crankbaits rather than braid right to the crank. It's not a big change, but it's there, especially when the bite is tough.

The other major benefit in my opinion to having a fluorocarbon leader is that re-tying your jig is a piece of cake. Simple palomar knot and bite off the tag end. If you're using straight braid, you're gonna need scissors or a knife and it's a little trickier to deal with. Grabbing your line is a lot more user friendly with fluoro too compared to braid.

My go to setup is Power Pro Super Slick main line with a 3-6 ft Suffix 100% fluorocarbon leader, joined with a blood knot. I generally go 8lb on both, but I'll drop down to a 6lb leader if it's really touchy.

[calgarygringo]

I am in the braid/flouro combo group as well. I also tie a swivel in between the 2 for twist and also for ease of changing leaders. I usually use around 10 or 12 lb for walleye but if we run into a bunch of pike I quickly tie a 40 or 50lb flouro leader on for the toothy ones.

[RACKER]

I use braid for jigging and have just as good luck as any other line in the boat. I use a small snap swivel attached to a 3/8 jig head and a minnow and have zero twist issues. I mainly fish Pigeon and have fantastic results there -as everyone else but it produces well at Buck and Battle. I feel your jig and bait is way more important than your line. I always outfish guys that are using a jig with a tail on it. Also I use braid in the winter and fish bite just as good and are not shy of the line.

[old dog]

I use 15 lbs power pro and 15lbs flouro And use a Uni Knot On most of my rods

[Squidlips]

Lots of personal preference, but all following the same baseline. Great tips thanks


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[cube]

This is my experience too. It does make a difference. The difference is huge in really finesse situations, and less pronounced in more aggressive presentations. Having said that, I can honestly say I've even seen an improvement in catch rates by using a 10-15 ft fluorocarbon leader when trolling crankbaits rather than braid right to the crank. It's not a big change, but it's there, especially when the bite is tough.

The other major benefit in my opinion to having a fluorocarbon leader is that re-tying your jig is a piece of cake. Simple palomar knot and bite off the tag end. If you're using straight braid, you're gonna need scissors or a knife and it's a little trickier to deal with. Grabbing your line is a lot more user friendly with fluoro too compared to braid.

My go to setup is Power Pro Super Slick main line with a 3-6 ft Suffix 100% fluorocarbon leader, joined with a blood knot. I generally go 8lb on both, but I'll drop down to a 6lb leader if it's really touchy.

I used to do exactly the same as you but after seeing the line to flouro data on knots I changed to an inline swivel to make the connection. Most braid to flouro knots weaken the line by about 13-50 percent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_2xautA1U
While line to swivel knots don't weaken the line nearly as much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91aqhBQFLPk
Given an 8lb line weakening it by 25% gives you a 6 lb line which is a bit light with no advantages gained.
I also find that with the swivel it is faster and easier to change the flour leader and helps with line twist.
I use very small high grade swivels and they test out around 40lbs. And again they are tiny.

[Poppa]

I used to do exactly the same as you but after seeing the line to flouro data on knots I changed to an inline swivel to make the connection. Most braid to flouro knots weaken the line by about 13-50 percent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_2xautA1U
While line to swivel knots don't weaken the line nearly as much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91aqhBQFLPk
Given an 8lb line weakening it by 25% gives you a 6 lb line which is a bit light with no advantages gained.
I also find that with the swivel it is faster and easier to change the flour leader and helps with line twist.
I use very small high grade swivels and they test out around 40lbs. And again they are tiny.I prefer this method, too. I know some people say that putting a barrel swivel in there means one extra knot that can fail, but I personally prefer having that in there. And I usually tie leader-line straight to the lure, but have been thinking about putting a snap swivel at the end of my mono just for easier swapping between lures....but unsure on that just yet. I like having direct contact to the lure with straight line-to-lure...

[Walleyedude]

I used to do exactly the same as you but after seeing the line to flouro data on knots I changed to an inline swivel to make the connection. Most braid to flouro knots weaken the line by about 13-50 percent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_2xautA1U
While line to swivel knots don't weaken the line nearly as much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91aqhBQFLPk
Given an 8lb line weakening it by 25% gives you a 6 lb line which is a bit light with no advantages gained.
I also find that with the swivel it is faster and easier to change the flour leader and helps with line twist.
I use very small high grade swivels and they test out around 40lbs. And again they are tiny.

I use the barrel swivel technique on my jigging rap and shiver minnow setups where you get a lot of twist.

On my jigging setups I really don't care for it. No matter how small the swivel, I find it annoying. I don't like to cast with a 3-6' section of line hanging off the rod tip before the jig, I want a gentle pitch. I know the really small swivels will go through the guides, but they tend to snag and decrease casting distance, especially with light jigs, and I can't help but think I'm not doing my guides any favours either. On my trolling setups, I like to run about a 20-25' leader, so the swivel would end up in the reel, and that's a no go.

I'm not sure how the math on the percentages works, it might still favour the swivel, but I tend to think a single well tied knot is as good as two knots.

Knock on wood, I can't recall ever having my line break at the blood knot to the leader.

[wildwoods]

Do you experience line twist with your braid? I swear by an in-line swivel when jigging, but have never used braid.


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you will get some but an inline swivel is not nesessary

[CptnBlues63]

Braid for the mainline and flouro for the leader.

[riderprider]

I’m a braid to flouro guy as well. I used to use a small swivel but for various reasons I don’t anymore unless I am using a jigging spoon or something similar. Just a uni to uni knot.

[EZM]

100% braid to fluorocarbon too.

Also saw this set up out-fish straight braid on many occasions under the ice and when the walleye are shy and/or suspicious. Invisible is better than visible. Using a camera under the ice drives this point home you can watch it happen over and over again until you can no longer argue about it. We were even counting them off rejection versus takes and how long those takes took ...... it can be significant some days. I will say, On other days where they are active, swarming and aggressive, it doesn't matter.

I run a rated quality barrel swivel between the two. Seems to make the best connection.

[OL_JR]

On my jigging rod I buck the trend a bit and use regular old mono just as it's more versatile with what you can do with it. Example if I want to slip bobber fish it's more convenient. Mostly just laziness as it cuts down the amount of leaders I have to tie but it's personal preference.

Trollings rods that pull harnesses or crankbaits, and double as casting rods for pike get power pro with a flourocarbon leader. Walleye (and pike as well) can absolutely be line shy so I don't chance it anymore.

Lately I've been using the Alberto knot for leader connections that SamSteele suggested in another thread rather than a uni to uni and I think that is the new way for me. Slick compact little knot that seems really strong and easy to tie.

[Squidlips]

Great advice everyone


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[Azashi]

Walleye are not nearly as line shy as people make them to be, especially river walleye

I went pike fishing with a 20lb braided line and a steel leader.

I pulled up 3 walleye and a single pike.

On a large pike lure.

[martinbns]

I use 10lb PowerPro, usually the bright yellow and a 5-6' PLine shinsei flouro leader.

I tie it with an Alberto knot, very strong and very small, no hiccups going through the guides.

[MooseRiverTrapper]

The only thing I don’t like about braided mainline is that when you get those 8 pounders to the boat and they start doing a few head shakes you have to be gentle. No stretch in the line and have had a few lightly hooked ones get off.