Scott, regarding leaders, I’m almost embarrassed to say, as I suspect I’m in the minority these days. I know a lot of well-respected guys like to use a 6 or 7’ straight piece of 20 lb mono for their bass leaders and for good reasons: you eliminate knots, which decreases the potential number of points-of-failure, and topwater bass are not leader shy. And I’ve seen some of these guys catch some amazing bass that way.
I admit I have yet to try such a leader and have continued (thus far) to use an 8.5’ – 9.0’ leader that is tapered from .023 at the butt to .011 or .010 at the tippet. I like the way it fishes, I haven't had any knot failures thus far, and I do believe bass can be line (as opposed to leader) shy, so I like the little bit of extra length. Nevertheless, I’ll get around to trying a straight piece of mono one of these days. . . it would certainly eliminate time spent futzing with leader construction and tippet-tying when on the water.
-- Mike
Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life.
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