I haven't tried the 5 cut method, although it seems like a lot of people have. My issue with it is that I can filet a pike in under 30 seconds, wash the filets inside, put them in the fridge for a bit to stiffen up (which helps debone them) and debone them at the kitchen table where there are no mosquitos and I can take my time. I also think you lose more meat with the 5 cut method.

As for the line getting cut, it's funny but I run 20# Suffix 832 braid (often without a leader) and I can't remember the last time I got bit off by a pike. I used to use Trilene 8# XL all the time and even then it wasn't too often. If I do run a leader it's one of the titanium ones though.

SS

"To be glad of life because it gives you a chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars. To be satisfied with your possessions but not content with yourself until you have made the best of them."
-Henry Van Dyke