Mono Ice Line. Any suggestions?

[.45-75WCF]

Last February, we entered a Mac fishing tournament here in Montana.  We were using a braided line with a 3' leader of Berkley 12lb. mono.  On two different occasions, my friend and I hooked a couple of very large fish and both times, on setting the hook, our mono leader broke in the middle of the 3' section.  Our thought was that the mono we were using was not sufficient for cold water use.  We are now looking for suggestions on a 12 to 15lb mono that we can use for cold water ice fishing conditions.  Any thoughts or suggestions?  Yes we did tie our braided directly to the tube jigs, but the bit was much slower, so we feel the short mono leader worked best. 

[Dirty P]

i had the same problem last year with my tipups and did the excite direct tie to my lures but the bit was on and i didnt bother with a leader after that. don't know if I will do a leader for a while. i do see alot of different mono's for ice that go up to 20# i think. Bionic is one i think.

[Kinkyline]

   Maybe just sharper hooks and no so hard of a hook set.

[MBrown4]

I ran into this problem once.now I use 6 ft plus leaders.abspbrbs the shock much better

[stripernut]

I use Seaguar fluorocarbon (Leader Material, there is a big difference) and don't have any problem... You can also go heavier with the floro if you wanted, the fish just don't notice it as much as mono...

[Bigassbassman]

I use Seaguar fluorocarbon (Leader Material, there is a big difference) and don't have any problem... You can also go heavier with the floro if you wanted, the fish just don't notice it as much as mono...

X2.  Seaguar blue label fluoro works great.  It sinks better than mono, too.  Just watch for any signs of fraying, and switch it out as needed.  I use Palomar knots to attach terminal tackle to leader and uni-to-uni to attach leader to braid.  Or use a swivel to attach to braid, and you can tie a bunch of leaders with swivels ahead of time. Never had a break-off.

[J_Edwards]

I agree with the Seaguar statements.  Also, just to clarify, you were actually using leader material, correct?

[evobassfish]

Last February, we entered a Mac fishing tournament here in Montana.  We were using a braided line with a 3' leader of Berkley 12lb. mono.  On two different occasions, my friend and I hooked a couple of very large fish and both times, on setting the hook, our mono leader broke in the middle of the 3' section.  Our thought was that the mono we were using was not sufficient for cold water use.  We are now looking for suggestions on a 12 to 15lb mono that we can use for cold water ice fishing conditions.  Any thoughts or suggestions?  Yes we did tie our braided directly to the tube jigs, but the bit was much slower, so we feel the short mono leader worked best.

Just a thought but did you happen to be using a spinning reel and didnt adjust your drag properly?

[Svengalli]

I use Seaguar fluorocarbon (Leader Material, there is a big difference) and don't have any problem... You can also go heavier with the floro if you wanted, the fish just don't notice it as much as mono...

This.  Not necessarily Seaguar all the time, but always the leader specific fluoro.

[Fontona19]

Another vote for flouro. You can tie direct via uni to uni, or a small barrel swivel. I prefer the spro power swivels.

[bullpine]

Berkley XT Mono or Yozuri copolymers are tough and DO NOT break.   A longer leader will stretch more too.

[Trouty]

Another vote for Seaguar leader material.  You won't have this issue of leaders breaking again.

[burck17]

Fireline direct for the win in my opinion...unless I'm trout fishing I always go with fireline tuff line or something similar

[.45-75WCF]

I can't tell you guys how helpful your comments have been.  I joined Ice Shanty in 2007 and any time I have a question, I always get great feedback, so thanks again.   I'd like to answer some of your questions, so we're all on the same page.  Yes, I use short leader attached to my braided because we're fishing really deep and the braided won't stretch.  The mono we're using is NOT packaged as leader material, but regular 12lb. fishing line.  Yes, now that I think about it, my drag was set pretty tight although we did catch many other fish that day without any problems.  I will try to find some of the Seaguar.  Apparently no retailers here in Montana.  The stage coach only comes out here once a month.   Four of us went up to Flathead Lake with a boat and jigged for Mac's last Thursday.  Three of us decided to tie off directly to the braided and the fourth guy tied his jig to mono.  Guess who caught ALL the fish.  The mono guy.  Thanks again.  Fish On.

[Svengalli]

You can get the leader material in "leader spools" which only have  about 30yrds on them since you don't really need 150 yards.  I would get a few different lb spools.  You can order some online and have it shipped to your door.  IME, good fluoro leader material will out fish mono leader both in terms of performance (abrasion, memory, etc.) and numbers caught especially where you have good visibility in the water column.  Fluoro has so many great properties that make it much better than mono as leader material such as it doesn't absorb water and sinks better than mono.  Not absorbing water means it retains it strength unlike mono which gets weaker as it absorbs water and more so when that absorbed water freezes.  I use braid exclusively as my main line and always tie it to a fluoro leader either uni to uni or with a good quality swivel.  I change up my fluoro leader lengths to match the conditions (species, depth, lure, method, etc.).

[evobassfish]

What kind of reel are you using? For leader material I would definitely use flouro over mono in any situation unless im bass fishing a frog in the summer. 12lb mono is more than sufficient, just shorten it up and keep that drag in check everytime you hit the ice.