What is the best leader line material for bluefish? My take.

Bluefish are the piranhas of the sea.

They are pretty aggressive hunters and even more aggressive eaters!

Bluefish have a nasty bite and should be handled with care.

Bluefish can often slash right through your leader line if they hook on – whether you were targeting them or not!

When a bluefish strikes your bait and grabs a hold of it, they get into a frenzy and shake their heads side to side like a bulldog shaking a toy.

So you need to make sure your leader material can withstand the bite of a bluefish.

But what is the best leader material for bluefish?

Thicker monofilament, fluorocarbon, or wire leader are durable options against bluefish bites resulting in fewer break-offs caused by sharp teeth. Use leader material with high abrasion resistance if you don’t use wire, such as Seagur flouro leader which also has low visibility.

Choosing the best leader material for bluefish?

Because bluefish have such sharp teeth and aggressive, slashing strikes you want to ensure you use a solid, durable leader line.

I tend to increase the strength, pound-test or change material of my leader line when I am fishing for bluefish exclusively.

Bluefish are prone to chomp, gnash and swallow their bait quite quickly, meaning their bite reaches the leader line quicker than other fish.

Here are the considerations for choosing the right leader line for bluefish:

1. Abrasion resistance: Due to the sharp edges and rough texture of bluefish teeth, it pays to have a leader line that has very high abrasion resistance.
2. Pound-test / strength: I and other seasoned anglers will use 60-100lb mono/fluoro line sometimes to avoid break-offs. This thickness gives security against those razor sharp teeth.
3. Visibility: Some say that bluefish can get ‘leader-shy’ if you’re using wire trace as your leader line. So something like fluorocarbon leader, which is ‘invisible’ in water because of the way it interacts with light underwater, can help to sneak up on those shy blues.
4. Price: Now, we can’t all afford the best high-end leader line on the market can we? So price is of course a consideration, so have a shop around to weigh up the above factors against the price.

Should I use a steel wire leader for bluefish?

You can use steel wire as a leader line for bluefish.

If you are finding your line keeps getting cut by bluefish and you’re not landing anything, then I’d switch to steel wire to see if I can land a bluefish that way.

The steel wire will provide you with much more strength against powerful bluefish bites.

What is the best wire leader?

If I think there will be some gator blues around, the really big ones, then I’ll opt for wire leader while using a much bigger lure, usually a top-water lure.

You can buy multi-packs of wire leader, which are very useful to have on hand when you are fishing for blues.

Something like this multipack is perfect: click here to buy on Amazon.

Or get a roll of wire trace leader like this one: click here to buy on Amazon.

The great thing about wire leader is that you can go pretty thin yet still retain huge strength to the line.

For example, the diameter of the wire trace linked to above – their size 4 is only 0.13 inches thick, yet is 38lbs test in strength.

So you can go pretty low in size while still retaining lots of strength.

Is Mono or Fluoro better for bluefish leader?

Fluorocarbon is a better choice for bluefish leader line for two reasons.

1. It’s more abrasion resistant, meaning it can withstand more abuse from the teeth of a bluefish.
2. It’s less visible to bluefish in the water. You want as much chance as you can to trigger a strike and having an invisible leader can help this.

Monofilament line tends to be cheaper, but you’ll need to increase the pound-test or strength of the line, especially against big gator blues that could easily bite through a 20-30lb leader line.

As you increase in size of mono, the line will also become more visible to the fish which might decrease the chance of a hook-up.

What pound test leader line for bluefish?

If you are using mono, opt for a leader line between the 60-80lb test for larger bluefish. This will help provide enough thickness to withstand their bites.

Bluefish leader line FAQs

Can bluefish bite through braid?

Bluefish teeth can easily bite through braid. Braid has low abrasion resistance and is likely to be easily cut by the fast and hard strike of a bluefish.

Do you need a leader for bluefish?

I would advise against using braid for bluefish, and encourage you to opt for a leader material like a strong monofilament, or fluorocarbon leader to avoid break-offs and lost fish.

What braid for bluefish? The best braided line for bluefish

Use braid only for your mainline, but attach a strong monofilament or fluorocarbon leader to your mainline.

This is a great option for the best bluefish braided line: click here to buy on Amazon

But I would encourage you to also use a leader line to avoid the bluefish cutting your line with it’s sharp and powerful jaws.

I like this option for fluorocarbon leader for bluefish: click here to buy on Amazon.

Do bluefish fight hard?

Bluefish fight very hard. They are particularly feisty fish and you’ll often see bluefish attacking big bait balls of fish in the ocean.

Bluefish are fast swimmers too, so when you combine this with an aggressive, hard strike they make for very fun fishing – even when they are only snapper blues.

Choosing the right rod for catching blues can lead to a very fun fishing experience battling blues.

Are bluefish leader shy?

Bluefish can shy away from a passing lure or piece if bait if the leader material is very visible.

For example, extremely thick monofilament leader, or dark-colored wire leader can put them off too.

If blues seem to be leader shy, I opt for a tough yet invisible fluorocarbon leader, or a darker coloured steel leader which is harder to see compared to a darker coloured steel wire – like this one.