Tony L.

Update:
Based on everyone's feedback, I felt comfortable in tying on soft plastic as opposed to relying solely on something noisy/flashy. The bass were still very shallow and were readily inhaling a dark, purple-ish blue, T-rigged lizard with green glitter. For extra confidence, I added a glass bead to give my rig a bit more sparkle and an audible 'click'. Worked like a charm, and I boated several beautiful bass and the biggest crappie I have ever caught. Since we released all the bass and the crappie didn't have any more company after a couple hours, it got to swim free as well. Thanks to everyone that replied!
Certainly got a ton of comments, so I appreciate everyone's time in setting things straight in my mind. You all definitely made this a successful trip for me. Since fish were caught, the gear is now broken down and packed away, and I am headed home in a few hours, I am currently considering this one solved. Thanks again to everyone. Your collective knowledge is staggering.

Power Pro is excellent. I like the Suffix 832 as well. Absolutelty no complaints on it.
To comment on a few of the other things you said... Braid is incredibly strong and really doesn't break very easily at all UNLESS it rubs up against something abrasive like a rock. If it frays,it is gone. That is part of the reason that people use fluoro leaders- to protect the last little bit of line from fraying and breaking (also because fluoro is invisible and braid is not).
A big reason to fish heavier braid is because it is so incredibly thin. Lines that are too thin will dig into themselves on the spools of larger reels. Going up to 30lb braid (though I use 10lb on my spinning reels) will give you the diameter of almost a regular line with a lot of added strength to horse your fish out of the heavy stuff.
As far as backing goes, that is just filling your spool about halfway up with mono and then finishing the rest of the way with braid. It serves a few purposes. First, braid is really $$$, and it would take a lot of the stuff to fill your spool because it is so dang thin. That could be overly expensive, especially when that back half of the line does nothing but sit there anyways. It never leaves the spool, so why waste money? The other reason to consider using backing is to keep the braid from digging into itself deep in your spool, again because it is so thin.
Try it, you will not be disappointed