What Is A Leader?

[mauser]

Is it a length on line from the hook to reel line? If so what is the reason for this? Why can't you attach the reel line straight to the hook?

[maghouse]

Hi Mauser - do you mean for Freshwater or sea ?

[Banana Steve]

Hi Mauser, the reason for the Leader as you call it, is normally refered to the Hooklength, This subject could be the length of a book, with all the different types and reasons, but the basic reason for this is that you fish a hooklength lighter than your main line, so if the fish snag you up and you pull for a break the hooklength will snap first. its better for the fish to carry around a short hookletgh than beeing caught up by the main line. as a rule of thumb if you are fishing 5lb line then a hooklegth of 2.5lb is a good choice. The more you become advanced, the choices become a lot more and you start looking into diameters of line rather than breaking strain of the line.

A good starting choice of Hooklegth is Maxima, I still carry 1.5lb and 2.5lb line for hooklegths. You can buy premade hooklengths with a good choice of hooks, and as starting option it is a good idea to use these, as they take out the hastle of tying spade end hooks.

Hope this Helps

[mithrandir]

you can also get a shockleader or a leadcore leader.

A shockleader is used when casting heavy leads with great power, it is three rod lengths of high breaking strain line attached to your main line and connects to the lead, this stops the line cracking off ( breaking on casting ) when the load of casting is applied to the line, this is used on beach casting and extreme distance carp fishing ( 150yard casts). Probably something you will not use in your early fishing as in requires fiddly knots and clever rig design to stop them becoming death rigs ( I have caught a crap wrapped in shock leader with weight and hook still attached, used by some idiot in the wrong sort of conditions and he had managed to break it off above the leader)

A lead core leader is used to attach a heavy weight piece of line between your hook length and your mainline, this makes it sink and gives a "safe zone " around your baited hook where carp are less likely the brush against the mainline and get spooked, this again requires special rigs so that in the event of the mainline breaking you do not end up with a death rig. ( one where the hooked fish continues to drag the lead around until it snags and tethers the fish until it dies ).

[mauser]

Banana Steve, I'm struggling a bit with this. Why bother with 5LB line for example if the hook length is 2.5 LBS or less? Why not have 2.5LB line from the reel to a seperate hook length of 2LB Line? I now understand the need for a hook length to reduce the chance of injury to the fish but don't get why the reel line has to be so much heavier.

[mithrandir]

I always have mainline at least a couple of pounds heavier than hooklink, on 15lb mainline 10 or 12lb hooklink is my maximum, this is because your mainline takes a bit more wear and abuse, afterall you may change your hook 6 times in a session but your mainline could be on the reel for a year. The mainline will weaken with time, just gives a bit of safety, also the larger the diameter the less you have to spool onto your reel, the mainline is cheaper and less consistent in quality than hooklink.

those are my reasons.

The mainthing to ensure is that the hooklink breaks before the mainline, leaves the minimum tackle attached to a fish if you break off.

[Banana Steve]

normally the hooklength = h/l is of lower diameter than the main line, because the diameter is lower the tend not to be spoked by the lower diameter, where as 5lb line is higher dia, it is also stiffer giving a unatural look in the water so when direct through the hookbait can look strange to the fish. if however thne h/l is a lower dia it will be better on presentation and hopefully improve your catch rate, there is nothing stopping you fish straight through and if the fish are up for it then thats fine, but if the bite are difficult to obtain then a lower dia line as h/l helps. like i said i tend to go lower dia h/l than the mainline not lower lbs however the down side to this that there is very low strech in high tech lines. example my match set up for the float for carp. 2aa float attached to the main line which is 2.5lb maxima at 0.14mm diameter, this line is a good reel line and has plenty of strech, my h/l is 0.12mm but 3.8lb breaking strain, but there very little streach, but with the line being lower in dia, the bites are a lot more possitive.The maxima helps to compensate the lunges of the fish because there is strech in the line. I think that it personal prefrence on weather you use a h/l. I personally have always used them and i find that it helps me catch more, i have seen people not using them and catch then again i seen people struggle for bites useing them or not. Me personally i will always use them and i feel that i catch alot more than i would if i didn't.

[BoldBear]

If I am fishing for Barbel I sometimes fish the reel line straight through to the hook as line can be weakened by knots so the fewer knots the better; especially as Barbel are particularly hard fighters; however I fish with leger tackle that cannot be left attached to the line if I get broken up.
However if I am using braid as a hooklength I would generally use a slightly lower breaking strain braid hooklength even when Im fishing for Barbel.

But for nearly all my other fishing I would generally use a hooklength with a slightly lower breaking strain than the main line eg. 10lb main/8lb hooklength, 5lb main/4lb hook length, 3lb main/2lb Hooklength etc. but remembering that knots normally reduce the breaking strain slightly as well.

Some knots are better than others and the reduction of breaking strain is less pronounced.
Some knots tend to curl certain makes & types of lines more than others when tightened; so it is worth learning a couple of really dependable knots.
If you are using pre-tied hooks then you may use the loop to loop method to connect the hooklength its your choice.

tight lines
BB