The perfect leader setup for surface lures?

[Windknot]

I know it's not really the time of the year to be thinking about using surface lures. They're more of a summer proposition, down my way they are, at least.

All of this cold weather has me dreaming about next summer and all of those 'hot to trot' bream and sand whiting, keen to chew on my 'walk the dog' lures. In the past though, I have experienced some minor problems where my sinking flourocarbon leader tends to pull my surface lure under the water. This is particularly noticable when I'm using my smallest lures with longish flouro leaders.

As a way around this situation, I have often opted to use very short leaders for this work. It works, but I'm sure the short leader would offset some possible strikes by fussy fish. I've also thought about using a mono leader and I've also thought about using musilin (spelling?) like flyfishers use to make their leaders float. I'm sure both of these solutions would work to a degree, but I still wonder if I'm missing some other obvious solution.

What do you do to get around this problem?

[AverageAngler]

Personally i would use a short bit of 4 - 8 pound fluorocarbon however i have heardof people using a short mono leader with a special substance which is rubbed on which turns it into a fluorocarbonish leader. Hope this helps!

[Breamingwithjoy]

I personally would recommend a hard wearing nylon mono. fish it the same as a fluoro leader and it should be much better.

[Windknot]

If I was to go with a mono leader, what poundage line and what length would you recommend? I suppose I could just try a few combinations and find out for myself.

Has anyone tried using muslin? I don't even know if it would work in salt water, but I can't see why it wouldn't.

Thanks for the replies fellas.

[GRIM BREAM]

you can buy floating flurocarbon leader at several places..or run your leader through some vasaline..

[pipnosis]

6 or 8 lb nylon 50cm.

[seamonkey]

Just fish 4lb mono straight through. You'll get a better hook up rate too.

[pipnosis]

Nice one Seamonkey. All the fuss about what line? Go back to basics for surface lures. A good 4lb mono straight thru. No knot catching in the guides, simple set up.

Great solution.

[Dodgy back]

I love topwater breaming and do lots of it.

I just use flouro leader at around a rod length. I have never had issues with leader pulling down lures.
Maybe you need to match the size leader to the lures you are using.
For the small tiemco size topwater I use a 4lb leader, for the N W pencil size lures I would use 6lb leader.

If for instance I'm silly enough to throw a pink grub, you want a leader that will help sink it when at rest.

Relax guys , use a leader you are confident with.

For me it V Hard (is that a subtle plug ?)

[The G factor]

Originally Posted by Dodgy back

I love topwater breaming and do lots of it.

I just use flouro leader at around a rod length. I have never had issues with leader pulling down lures.
Maybe you need to match the size leader to the lures you are using.
For the small tiemco size topwater I use a 4lb leader, for the N W pencil size lures I would use 6lb leader.

If for instance I'm silly enough to throw a pink grub, you want a leader that will help sink it when at rest.

Relax guys , use a leader you are confident with.

For me it V Hard (is that a subtle plug ?)

i dont think its really brand he is after as opposed to what type of leader (mono/fluoro) and then length.

I dont worry much at all about surface lures and spooking fish with your line, generally the fish wont see the braid if they are focusing on the lure itself so a long leader really isnt necessary.

Long fluorocarbon leaders will pull lures under/ruin their action. I have noticed this with very light lures that sit predominantly under water (but still surface lures obviously). Lures also like the tiemco tiny trick trout and the jackson t pivot can be very temperamental if your leader isnt right. A meter or so of light mono should do you just fine for most leaders, 4lb is a good medium,6-8lb if you are putting the lure over heavy structure.

[Windknot]

I mainly use Smith Towadi's and Atomic Pup's with 4lb flourocarbon. I've only ever really had problems when I've been using a long leader, ie, something like 15 feet, that was left on the reel from a previous trip. Once I've cut the leader back to around 6 feet, it's usually quite manageable.

Leader length, etc, doesn't seem to matter much when using larger lures, like Atomic Walkers, etc, as they float well anyway.

I think I might just stick with using short 6 foot lengths of 4lb flourocarbon in the future, as this makes the outfit more flexible if I later decide to fish hardbods or SPs.

[mildawg_mt]

I use Sunline system shock leader in 4 lb works really well for me on the small surface lures and its the only good quality mono that i could find in 4lb cant fault it at all had nothing but troubles with other brands

[Bream_Hunter]

I'm also a fan of the Sunline leader.

Having said that I find that if my leader is longer than 1 rod length then pending on the lure(sugapen is a bastard for this as is the bent minnow) I will encounter diving problems. This often presents a problem for me out of the canoe as I usually just have one rod rigged for softies and one rod rigged for hards. As I use a minimum 3m leader on both I will often encounter this dilemma especially if fishing two out.

One would imagine the drama, not to mention the wastage, of having to be constantly changing leader out. And yes it is easier to have three rods(or six like some), one for each application but tbh I just plug on and if I miss a strike because the lure dived at that critical moment, meh, I just put it down to shiz happens. Besidess, if the fish wants the lure it will eat it regardless of leader length.

[ruski]

For surface lures, I mainly use 12lb floating leader material (Unitika Silver thread) or if i'm in the racks, any "solid" 20lb mono will do the trick.

Other times, I have done well fishing open flats with 3lb straight through and small surface lures like the Atomic K9 pup.

Hope that helps!