Using red braid as leader for chunking???

[hedjug]

Any of you pro's heard of this?? A few people I know are using 100# red braid (PP or spectra...) for leader material when tuna chunking. They are claiming the red line is invisible underwater. I have seen the T.V. ads for Cajun Red line & I am skeptical on the entire subject. I mean, why use red lures then?

I can understand the added strength/durability of a stout braid leader vs. a Floro setup, but I don’t want to waste precious tuna time to test this theory.

Are any of the charters messing with this stuff?

[shoefish]

I think there have been many discussions and articles around the red thing. Because red is the first color to disappear underwater, theoretically it will disappear faster in shallower water. When the line or item (think red hooks) is opaque, it will appear black underwater (after it sinks down a bit).

I have thought about trying the braid thing out for chunking- not so much for the color thing, but I just think that the braid with smaller diameter will allow the chunk to undulate and fall more naturally- my only concern is that if you go straight to the hook you will have no forgiveness in the line, and a light drag and forgiving rod will need to be used so you don't pull a ton of hooks.

We've tried it on stripers and it hasn't worked, though this is higher in the water column and probably more visible.

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say about this subject.

[hedjug]

shoe... your comment about the water column pretty much answered my question... I didn't even think about it.

When free spooling the chunks, we are lucky to hit 40+ feet deep, so 90% of the time, the braid would be running shallow on those rods & probably visible to Mr Tuna.

The only question is the deep lines.

[Capt.Joe Monticolo]

I would think you would end up chafing off alot of fish.

[sling]

As many have said before, red isn't invisible under water. It will appear black at depth. I would be weary of using it chunking, although I used to use Quatro Camo leader for chunking with good results and it has a lot of red in it.

[TommyTuna]

some FL sword guys swear by red leader for them, say the fluoro reflects in the glow lights - they dove down to check it out - who knows