Mono Fluoro Braid - Pros/cons

[dam0007]

As the title says. Lol even tho this topic has probally been discussed here 10,000x over.

I've been seeing a lot of the guys up here use really strong Braid and Fluoro. Not too many using mono. I used braid for saltwater for about 6 years and last year just switched back to mono (17 & 20# from shore). I've never used more than 6# mono for freshwater. But since I've been in the market for my first baitcasting setup I figured some discussion on the pros and cons with these lines on baitcasting reels might be useful.

My spinning set ups are as follows:

Trout 6# Spider ultimate mono (almost zero stretch, works great on my ultra light rig)

Bass & Walleye 4-6# Trilene XT (decent stretch limit and durable when dealing with rocky and brush areas)

I just can't see using 65# Braid for a 4# fish its cheating any way you look at it. Lmao

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

IMO:

The main advantage to braid as far as bass fishing goes is sensitivity due to the lack of stretch. It also saws through grass and is good in heavy cover situations. The con is poor abbrasion resistance. That's when you would use a leader. Fluoro has good abbrasion resitance.

Fluoro has low visibility and good abrassion resistance. Some find it to have less stretch than mono but tests don't really prove that out to a large degree. Fluoro is stiff making some like it for slack line presentations. The con here is knot strength. Poorly tied knots or kinks from backlashes can weaken the line. The stiffness makes it harder to handle as well. The importance of line visibility for bass fishing is debatable. Personally I believe line diameter it more important but will use fluoro in super clear open water for spooky fish.

Mono is inexpensive and works fine if the right weight is used. The stretch of mono can be a con where sensitivity is concerned and the strength to line diameter is obviously way below braid.

Co-poly lines blend the characteristics of mono and fluoro with varying degrees of success. I'm looking into trying few of these.

I run braid on almost all of my setups with a leader where necessary. The exception is dedicated cranking reels which have 10# smoke color mono.

[MCS]

I have always and still do use mono 95% of the time, 4-10# depending on all my freshwater setups. No complaints here, feel my soft plastic bits just fine, like it for throwing poppers. Don't fish areas with too many rocks or tree limbs mostly grass. I use 20# braid for salt/heavy cover fresh water(also have a 14# mono setup for salt only). I dislike how it casts, feel the distance isn't there, is a pain with tangles, braid hates anything with trebles or o rings, and I personally am not a fan of the no stretch just haven't used it enough to become adept with hooksets with it. Braid just is too difficult and time consuming with what you can or need to do with it. tying backing on, tying leaders, tangles and digging in on spinning gear. At least with my crappy mono I can do anything I want and not really have to worry about this that or the other. Spool it up set my drag right and I can land just about any bass.I use mono because I like it, am used to it, it is cheap and like you said 65# isn't very sporting.

So dam007 why did you switch back to mono for your saltwater setups?

[OkobojiEagle]

Fluorocarbon fishing lines are monofilament lines, as are nylon fishing lines and copolymer fishing lines.

oe

[dam0007]

@Delaware good points! I could see using strong braid to rip through cover buy if u end up with a 2lb fish on the end its like what's the point.

@MCS I stopped using braid for multiple reasons. I do tons of surf/jetty/dock fishing. With that being said a handful of spots if you get stuck chances are ur on mussle bed and boom, you got 30+ yards of frayed line or lose 30+ yards of line. Mussles were never common up here till recently, like this anyways and in these specific areas. I love the zero stretch of braid but since switching to circle hooks I don't need to set the hook any more. Also if your in a area with current and its you and a couple buddies and you happen to get tangled braid sucks to get undone. Here in CT I fish in the Housatonic river a lot. We'll usually cast chuncks with a 2-3oz weight but the current usually brings us all together after a few minutes. Huge cluster 5/-! Of braid is a nightmare, add in nighttime and its a wrap.

My 3 go to rigs once again I'm talking salt here I'm using 17# trilene xt tough red, the other I have 2 spools 20 and 25# trilene big game, 3rd I'm trying out Stren for the firts time 20# yellow hivis. Which I gotta say I really like it!!! 1 bad birds nest doing prelimnary casts with a 2oz weight on a swivel. After that NOOOO problems at all and got 8 Blues all over 10#s on the same polymer knot to a steel leader.

Idk braid just really seems like cheating as well. But I do have braid on my bunker snagging rig. But that's about saving money from buying bait so Win/Win for me! Lol

[Darren.]

Won't answer the whole question, but for me, it is braid for mainline on my spinning gear - 100%. After that I'll tie on FC or copoly (most of time) for a leader.

On spinning gear, braid is virtually flawless. You won't have looping issues as braid has little to no memory. You're choice of leader depending on what you are gunning for means you can buy a spool of FC, a spool of copoly, or even mono and have them last for a long time.

On baitcasting gear, I'll go either/or. Braid is great here as well, but a nasty braid birds nest can be costly. So can a nasty FC birds nest.

I agree with your 65# comment. I don't use anything higher than 40#, and that on a bait caster. My spinning gear is all 10# PowerPro with up to 15 lb leader and I've caught some hefty ladies on them.

[SirSnookalot]

I agree with the above comments about using 65# braid. I use nothing but 10-15 and 20# braid on spinning gear for my everyday bass and inshore saltwater fishing, some exceptions for offshore in the ocean. I may get the inconvenience of wind knot once in awhile, but have no major issues with braid, I love it. I may have to agree, the purist may feel braid with it's exceptional strength gives an advantage to the angler, but so do modern reels, rods, electronics and the list goes on..............as I say just have fun.