Braid For Ultra Light Fishing???

[Sherlock 60]

The best known fisherman in my parts uses 2# diameter braid when fishing ultra light tackle for any species. He swears by it and will use nothing else.

 

I have always used 4# mono when going ultra light but am going to try braid this year.

 

What experiences have you had with braid for ultra light? What test/diameter line do you use? Pros and cons?

[thehooligan]

I tried the 4lb nanofil and thought it was amazing until it started breaking apart and was loosing lures. Im pretty sure the berkley fireline in the really small diameters is good stuff. I love fishing ultralight gear with braid, its alot of fun.

[Darren.]

The best known fisherman in my parts uses 2# diameter braid when fishing ultra light tackle for any species. He swears by it and will use nothing else.

 

I have always used 4# mono when going ultra light but am going to try braid this year.

 

What experiences have you had with braid for ultra light? What test/diameter line do you use? Pros and cons?

I'll assume he's using 10lb Power Pro which has 2 lb diameter.

If you want the UL challenge you can use Nanofil as Hooligan suggests, or a smaller diameter braid. Say 5 or 8 lb test.

Fine to use for UL, but I actually use it for bass fishing...

[iabass8]

5/1 pp works great. i've used nanofil for ul trout stream fishing and was 50/50 with it but eventually went back to 4# magnathin but that's just a preference. nanofil would work great for ul fishing.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I use 8# PP A couple isssue that are actually operator error but blamed on the line, I think, are as follow. 

 

1st, filling the spool too far. This along with the light subtle braid will cause twists/knots in the line during cast, the line will catch on itself and pull an amount off with it.

 

2nd, loops over the spool if bail not closed by hand. A little piece of line will not lay on the spool but go over it and on next cast or so the line going out will catch and twist/knot formed in line.

 

So close bail by hand and dont overfill spool.

[Sherlock 60]

I spooled up some 6# (1# diameter) Spiderwire Stealth on my Symetre 1000. I figured the thinner diameter would make it less visible and easier to manage with ultralight jigs, etc.

[War Eagle 44]

I just started using Power Pro Micro Braid 5# test last summer and it's fantastic. I can now cast all my ultra light lures about 20-25% farther. I can't say enough good things about this line, I'm super happy with it. I picked up the white color and I've not had any trouble at all getting bites even in clear water. Bream, Crappie, & Bass all have been more than willing to take my lures with the braid tied straight to the lure.

 

The only real downside IMO is a spool will only fill a 1000 size Shimano once. The upside being braid lasts a really long time. I use a Stradic FI 1000 and the line works great on in.  

[craww]

It's the way to go for an ultralight IMO. The braid gives you just a bit more security than a ultra thin mono, you can lean into 10 or 8lb braid pretty hard if need be. Braid gets a bad rap for abrasion resistance, and around sharper rocks and certain types of plants yeah it cuts pretty quick. But around wood, lily pad stems, docks etc ill take braid vs its equivalent diameter mono EVERYTIME.

[Triton Man]

This is interesting because I just upgraded my ultralight combo this weekend with a good sale and took a long look at a 1000 yard spool of 4 lb test (not line thickness) berkley fireline they had on clearance.  I wasn't sure I would like it enough to need that much of it since I would have no other use for it if I didn't like it.  My concern was how well braid that thin works with bobbers and crimp on weights.  Seemed like mono would do just fine for a rod I wont use very much anyway. 

[PABASS]

This year I am trying Berkeley Nano-fill as recommend by my local tackle shop, I was looking at 6# but that was crazy small, so I went to 10# which is same diameter as 6# FC, we will see how it goes.

[everythingthatswims]

My main problem with braid is that despite the thin diameter, you don't have the same line capacity since braid doesn't "squish" like mono. I like using my UL for bluefish and spanish mackerel when I'm at the beach, but it worries me when I only have about 70-80 yards of 6lb braid on the reel, even though it is 2lb mono diameter. This reel holds 150 yards of 4lb mono

[frogflogger]

My main problem with braid is that despite the thin diameter, you don't have the same line capacity since braid doesn't "squish" like mono. I like using my UL for bluefish and spanish mackerel when I'm at the beach, but it worries me when I only have about 70-80 yards of 6lb braid on the reel, even though it is 2lb mono diameter. This reel holds 150 yards of 4lb mono

? Not sure what you're doing but that hasn't been my experience - mono squishes? do you mean compress?

[Felix77]

I switched an UL setup to braid last year and loved it.  I added a FC leader and the combination was perfect for any UL fishing I did.  I think I used 6lb Fireline with a 6lb FC leader.

[everythingthatswims]

? Not sure what you're doing but that hasn't been my experience - mono squishes? do you mean compress?

 

Yea haha compress is a better word for it. That has actually been my experience with braid on all my spinning rods too (I don't use it on baitcasters), not just UL. A 150 yard spool of 10lb power pro will not completely fit on my sahara 3000, although it gets pretty close. Shimano's website says a 3000 sahara holds 235 yards of 10lb PP...I use backing, but only about 10 yards of 8lb mono

[smr913]

I love some #4 pp on my ultra light

[War Eagle 44]

I just started using Power Pro Micro Braid 5# test last summer and it's fantastic. I can now cast all my ultra light lures about 20-25% farther. I can't say enough good things about this line, I'm super happy with it. I picked up the white color and I've not had any trouble at all getting bites even in clear water. Bream, Crappie, & Bass all have been more than willing to take my lures with the braid tied straight to the lure.

 

The only real downside IMO is a spool will only fill a 1000 size Shimano once. The upside being braid lasts a really long time. I use a Stradic FI 1000 and the line works great on in.  

 

I was mistaken I've been using 4# PP Micro Braid. 5# isn't considered "micro" it's just listed as the lowest pound test of "regular" PP. I was going through my line the other day and found my other spool of 4# white PP that I bought at the same time so I've been incorrectly saying I've been using 5# when in fact it's been 4# the whole time. Either way all the good things I previously stated still apply, this line is great for UL.

 

In my experience reels will hold more braid than mono/fluoro so I'm not sure what's going on with that situation. The only thing I can think of is maybe you need to spool the braid a little tighter, I've found that you really need to spool braid with a far amount of tension in order to get the best results.   

[new2BC4bass]

I purchased 10# 832 (4# mono equivalent) over PowerPro (2# mono equivalent) for the simple fact I have fished 2# mono, and it is a bear for me to use because of its small diameter.  How you guys can see to handle 1# mono equivalent is beyond me.  I'd need a magnifying glass.....a good one!

[Scott F]

I think it's amusing what is considered ultra light. I regularly use 8lb Fireline for about 80% of my smallmouth and largemouth fishing mostly on medium and medium light spinning reels. My 1,500 yard spool is getting low so I just bought a 600yd spool of #10 Suffix 832. If they made it in 8lb, I'd have bought that.

[Team9nine]

Last year I used the 3# yellow PP microline for a majority of my finesse bass/crappie fishing and never had a single issue. It comes in 100, 150, and 300 yd spools. Absolutely loved the stuff, though I also carry outfits and spools with 5# and 8# PP. After you've used line this thin for a while, everything from 10/2 on up seems like anchor rope LOL 

 

-T9