Leader recommendation?

[Paul Schlagel]

I have one more bit of information to share that I picked up last weekend at the Milwaukee Muskie Expo. I stopped by the Stealth booth to pick up some leaders and had the opportunity to chat awhile with John Bette. He shared some information about changes that are taking place in the fluorocarbon industry. Changes are taking place similar to the changes that regular monofilament went through 10-20 years ago. The polymer chemists that create the raw material used to make the leader material are changing the formulation to optimize it's properties. According to John, the fluoro is getting stronger and the line is then of slightly smaller diameter to produce a similar pound-test. While maintaining a similar break-strength at a smaller diameter might sound like a good thing, reducing the diameter will lessen the abrasion resistance. So, a gain in one property probably comes at the cost of another. Abrasion resistance is the most important consideration in a leader application since it's abrasion resistance, not break-strength, that protects against the cutting and scraping action of a musky's teeth. For that reason, John recommends considering moving up on break strength. His reasoning makes sense - move up on strength to get a leader that's the same diameter that you're accostomed to, and the extra strength is a bonus. I was using 130#, but based on John's advice I'll be using 150# this season.