[Morgman00]

Hey guys, I'm looking for some advice on braided fishing line. Any help would be great.

I've recently become quite an avid fisherman and am looking to broaden my skills and knowledge this upcoming season. I have 2 quantum fishing combos, 1 a 7ft MH spinning combo and the other a 6ft 6in medium action baitcaster. The major question of this post is a question on braided fishing line. I've heard mixed things on braid. I'm looking for a line that can haul big largemouth out of a lot muck, weeds, and deeper water. The couple that have caught my eye that i can afford and look decent are Stren Sonic Braid, Power Pro, and Spiderwire Stealth. For these I'll probably use the 12lb mono equivalent on my baitcaster. Now the questions about these lol. In general how are these braids? For instance do they fray a lot, are the weak, and how do they cast? Also will the braid cut into the guides on my rod?

Ok, aside from those basic questions i have one more. How exactly do you fish braided line? By this i mean do you tie the line directly to your lure? Or do you have to use a leader of some sort? Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[pondbass9787]

I use 40 lb powerpro with jigs and tie directly to it. I know a lot of guys will use a leader but I don't. It has less stretch which is great for hook setting with a t rig or jig, etc.

 

[Gregg]

Nothing better for dragging hawgs out of the muck, and braid will not cut your guides.

 

[Wild Bill]

I do not use braid anywhere near to the extent that many from this site do, but I will give you my feelings and experiences using the Power Pro braids, as that is the only braid I have tried so far.

Most of my use of braid is in weed fishing situations, with a good percentage of that done while frogging/ratting on top of heavy slop, using 50 or 65 pound test Power Pro. The braid will cut through heavy vegetation, allowing me to pull the fish from those heavily weeded situations, and has the strength to do so in those tests.

I also use the 50 Power Pro to flip and pitch to weedlines with a baitcaster, and again , it shines well for me in these situations, providing me with more than enough line strength to yank fish up and out of those veggies.

I also have one MH spinning rod rigged with 30 test Power Pro that I use in very weedy situations for some finesse plastics.

In both of those circumstances, I am tying my lure directly to the braid.


Braid has NO stretch [or none that I have percieved], so you feel A LOT as you fish. Allso, becaause it has no stretch, ease up a bit on your hooksets considerably.
It is limp, so no coiling whatsoever like some other fishing lines.

It does not have great line abrasion resistance, so if fishing in wood or especially on the bottom in rock, add a flouro LEADER to the end of your braid to tie your lure to.


When loading braid onto a reel, always give it several turns onto the reel of mono [ or copolymer] that you may have already, then tie your braid to that. That prevents line slippage of the braid on the reel.

NEVER grab your braided line and try to pull a snagged lure loose, as it will CUT YOU .

You will need a really good set of line cutters to cut braid smoothly.
I hope others that have more experience with braids will hopefully add to this....

 

[RAYZCT]

I use Stren braid as I have found it to have one of the roundest profiles of the many braids I have tried. Like Gregg said, it will not groove your guides, dirty line, whether mono or braid could. I don't use a leader but most of the time I use braid for fishing in vegetation and tie direct to the lure.

 

[dodgeguy]

powerpro braid is outdated.there are far better braids out there.i would suggest fireline braid in 12/50 (not fused fireline).another braid that is supposed to be good is sufix 832.it sinks where most braids float.it has a heavy fiber in it that makes it sink.the reason i suggest these 2 lines is they are extremely smooth and round which helps eliminate all of braids bad issues.the lines you have mentioned basically suck compared to the new high tech braids out there.diawa samurai is also a good braid but is to soft imo.i never use a leader with braid.withbraid you will get much better hooksets and feel things you have never felt before.i use braid for everything.i've tried mono and flouro but have resigned myslef to braid.

 

[bassfanatic]

Powerpro I also agree is a little out dated. Wayyyyy better braids out there. Thier smaller diameters are easy to handle but when you go above 12lb braid, it gets a little hairy with their stuff.

I really like Sufix braids. They have some series stuff and a few different kinds. I believe they just came out with a new one. Its really smooth and im happy with it. easy to get a local stores also.

If your fishing anything but heavy weeds, cranks, topwater, and frogs, I always use a leader. Especially in clear water. Some people on here will agree to disagree but I would never throw just plain braid on a clear lake w/o a flouro leader, if its not a reaction bait im saying. You will almost instantly get cut off dragging a bait over a rock with straight braid.

The only thing I personally use braid for is frogs and flippin. I have tried braid with cranks and topwater but I dont know, just didnt really like it. I think this year im going to give it one more shot.

This year was my first year using braid/flouro leader combo. I used it on my jig rods and I must say i liked it. Saved some money and didnt really affect anything. Just make sure you put a good amount of leader on there. I would say 20-30ft. That way theres no braid hitting the water. I tried it with my dropshot setups (spinning gear) and maybe I did something wrong but the flouro would always cut into the braid and it would be a big mess. I personally didnt like it but again this year i will give it another shot.

Im sorry for users of Fireline on here, but that stuff is straight garbage. At least in my experiences. I have no idea how those In-Fisherman guys do it. They would do illegal things for a spool of Fireline :laugh: Its the stiffest stuff I have ever thrown. Ugh its horrible. Yes very easy to pick up at your local dicks or sporting goods store, but no thanks. Maybe I have gotten bad batches who knows.

 

[Eric-Maine]

Since someone posted a video of the albright knot on NYBASS I have switched to suffix 20lb braid for all of my spinning setups using 2 rod lengths of floro leader. This in just 3 months saved me 2 spools of Seagar.

 

[Release]

Some knots will slip when tied with braid, (clinch knots are especially bad), so make sure you learn a knot which won't slip.

I know that you plan on using it on your baitcaster, but just so you're aware; a bonus of braid that's not often mentioned is that line twist doesn't seem to have an effect on it, so it's great for light jerkbait spinning outfits, which is my main use for braid. Keep an eye out for wind knots and prevent them from developing by using good technique, (flip the bail by hand, don't reel against a loose line, etc).

Next season I plan on using it as backing material on my spinning dropshot rod, so when the line twist in the (flourocarbon) working part gets bad I can just let out the backing and hopefully cure the line twist on-the-water.

Joe

 

[Tim Kelly]

I use a lot of braid. There's a period of adaptation when you try it for the first time, and you need to take the time to acclimatize or you will give up with it. Best advice for spinning outfits is to have a few turns of mono on the spool, then tie the braid to that. This stops the braid slipping on the spool. Load the braid on tightly, some people recommend loading the braid on wet, so the spool in a bucket of water, to get good tension. Finally, make sure you don't fill the spool as much as you would with mono. Try 1/8" below the lip and see how you get on. Line management is important as has been said. Flip the bail manually, feather the cast down and try to avoid winding against too much slack line. Keep an eye on your reel as well as you can often see if there's a loop of line in the wrong place and get there ahead of a problem.

Baitcasters, much the same, but I wouldn't recommend using braid of less than 12-15lb mono equivalent thickness as it might bed in to the spool if you are pulling a fish out of weed or pulling off a snag.


While this all sounds a bit off putting and not worth the effort, the benefits are enormous! The feel you get from braid is hundreds of times better than mono, it cuts through weed much better, your hooks will always be set etc.

 

[dodgeguy]

Powerpro I also agree is a little out dated. Wayyyyy better braids out there. Thier smaller diameters are easy to handle but when you go above 12lb braid, it gets a little hairy with their stuff.

I really like Sufix braids. They have some series stuff and a few different kinds. I believe they just came out with a new one. Its really smooth and im happy with it. easy to get a local stores also.

If your fishing anything but heavy weeds, cranks, topwater, and frogs, I always use a leader. Especially in clear water. Some people on here will agree to disagree but I would never throw just plain braid on a clear lake w/o a flouro leader, if its not a reaction bait im saying. You will almost instantly get cut off dragging a bait over a rock with straight braid.

The only thing I personally use braid for is frogs and flippin. I have tried braid with cranks and topwater but I dont know, just didnt really like it. I think this year im going to give it one more shot.

This year was my first year using braid/flouro leader combo. I used it on my jig rods and I must say i liked it. Saved some money and didnt really affect anything. Just make sure you put a good amount of leader on there. I would say 20-30ft. That way theres no braid hitting the water. I tried it with my dropshot setups (spinning gear) and maybe I did something wrong but the flouro would always cut into the braid and it would be a big mess. I personally didnt like it but again this year i will give it another shot.

Im sorry for users of Fireline on here, but that stuff is straight garbage. At least in my experiences. I have no idea how those In-Fisherman guys do it. They would do illegal things for a spool of Fireline :laugh: Its the stiffest stuff I have ever thrown. Ugh its horrible. Yes very easy to pick up at your local dicks or sporting goods store, but no thanks. Maybe I have gotten bad batches who knows.

you're refering to fused fireline.fireline braid is a true braid and fused fireline is not.fireline braid handles totally different than fused fireline.

 

[Iceman]

you got alot of great info here morgman. I'd get a spool or 20# braid for the spinner, 30# braid for the baitcaster. I'd skip leaders for now, just tie it directly to your lure or snap. keep a black sharpie in the boat to color the last few feet of line as it will fade. I've used power pro all along. good price, available everywhere. never had any sort of problem. Also a pair of braid scissors are handy. If your spinning reel has a spare spool, good to keep extra mono on there just in case!
I've been looking at the Berkley "shock" rods... supposed to be designed for braided line. good price too.
braid isn't for everyday, I used it for heavy cover, thick weeds, muddy water.

 

[FerstlerSlim]

Ice, i have two of the berkley shock rods. Both are the 7'6" spinning versions and i use them chucking small crankbait, with braid.

Dave

 

[Morgman00]

All this has been very helpful Thank you guys. Just real quick, will the braided line make a crankbait not run as true or decrease bite activity due to visibility? Thanks again everyone

Oh and one of my friends has a Berkley shock rod. He says he prefers the original berkley lightning rod when it comes to sensitivity and strength.

 

[JustinB]

iv been using powerpro braid for several years and it works well for me

 

[Tim Kelly]

I can't see that braid would effect a crankbait's action, but it might well run deeper than it would on mono if you use a thinner diameter braid than the mono. I don't think visibility makes much difference, on a moving bait especially. If their attention isn't on the bait, you're probably not going to catch them whatever line you use!