Monofilament Or Braided Line? - The Tough Decision

[Weld's Largemouth]

Monofilament-

Pros- invisible to fish, clear

Cons- stretches, less feel than braid, heavy lb tests tend to be thick, must be ripped when caught in a snag, not strong enough to break out of a snag

Braid

Pros- no stretch, great feel, thin diameter in heavy lb tests, strong enough to pull out of snags

Cons- not clear, often green or other natural colors, possibly seen by fish easier.

The question-

Do bass see braided line and decide not to strike due to the braided line? Or does the visibility of the line make no difference for the fish.

My opinion-

I prefer braid because of its strength and ability to get out of snags easily. It also has great feel and a lot can fit on the spool. My only issue is the visibility of the line. I fish both clear and murky waters. I know it would make sense to use my braid setup for murky waters and mono setup for clear waters; but, even in clear waters there are snags and i still want my 20lb braid strength rather than 12 or 8 lb mono. 20 lb mono is way too thick and heavy and i would never use that, plus it stretches and lacks feel.

What's your opinion? Looking for input, Thanks!

Also i have considered flurocarbon but its very expensive, so i stick away from that option.

[fishguy613]

my absolute least favorite aspect of braided line is that it tends to bow in the water and wind

[BassinLou]

Not a hard decision once you get a little bit more experience under your belt. IMO, you should go with braid. Less fuss, it will last you a long while and if you need the cushion or advantage of mono, just attach a leader and your set. 

[Weld's Largemouth]

Not a hard decision once you get a little bit more experience under your belt. IMO, you should go with braid. Less fuss, it will last you a long while and if you need the cushion or advantage of mono, just attach a leader and your set.

i hate leaders, especially if i make my own mono leaders since they run out quick from changing lures. Do you think tying direct with braid is visible to fish? i mean i have caught lots of big fish on just tying direct .

[BassinLou]

i hate leaders, especially if i make my own mono leaders since they run out quick from changing lures. Do you think tying direct with braid is visible to fish? i mean i have caught lots of big fish on just tying direct .

Many people on here have a lot of success with straight braid using multiple applications. I use straight braid sometimes and leaders sometimes as well. I found a knot that works great for me, and I have had a lot of success with leaders. I feel that a leader may be advantageous in certain situations where straight braid me spook them. Some will disagree, but i believe and have seen it. 

[Weld's Largemouth]

Many people on here have a lot of success with straight braid using multiple applications. I use straight braid sometimes and leaders sometimes as well. I found a knot that works great for me, and I have had a lot of success with leaders. I feel that a leader may be advantageous in certain situations where straight braid me spook them. Some will disagree, but i believe and have seen it.

what type of leader?

[Tywithay]

I would question some of your pros and cons, because some are completely false. That said, I have fished in certain situations when a bass absolutely would NOT hit a braided line, but were biting my buddie's same exact lure on monofilament. We were fishing in somewhat clear water, visibility was about 5-6 feet, catching smallmouth bass. He caught 16, and I caught 1. I tried both straight braid and braid with a leader, nothing worked. Unfortunately, I only had the one rod with me at the time, but it was clear what the problem was. I've tried braid in a number of different applications and I just can't stand it. The lack of stretch and sensitivity while taut is a plus at times, but the things I dislike far outweigh the good for me. If I need a lack of stretch and extra abrasion resistance, I'll use a high quality fluorocarbon.

 

If 20lb mono is too thick, you're probably using the wrong line. 20lb lines here in the US actually break around 27-30lbs in most cases, so they feel like weed whacker string. If you get a line like Super Natural, Senshi, Defier, Defier Armilo, etc., the line is much thinner at that exact breaking strength. I have 19lb Defier on a spinning reel and it lays just fine, because it's super limp. Try that with 19-20lb Trilene and good luck to ya.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Fluoro stretches as much and sometime more than mono but lacks the elasticity. I've had instances where both people had exact same setups and one would wack them while the other struggled. I'm not convinced that bass see line or care if they do. I fish briad 90% of the time both casting and spinning, occasionally with a leader. At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference.

[RoLo]

Fluoro stretches as much and sometime more than mono but lacks the elasticity. I've had instances where both people had exact same setups and one would wack them while the other struggled. I'm not convinced that bass see line or care if they do. I fish briad 90% of the time both casting and spinning, occasionally with a leader. At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference.

 

Very well written, I agree with every sentence.

 

Roger

[FlipnLimits]

Wait just a minute before you discard mono for it's elasticity.  Sometimes that is exactly what you will want.  Setting the hook on crankbaits, I want my line to have some stretch.  It allows me to use a slightly stiffer rod (for sensitivity) and I don't have to sacrifice hook setting power.  With braid, you will either tear the hooks out of the fish or will have to use a very whippy rod to avoid it. 

 

FL

[RoLo]

my absolute least favorite aspect of braided line is that it tends to bow in the water and wind

 

Even though braid has inordinately high tensile strength, it's extremely thin line. 

The line-belly in fishing line underwater (between water surface & lure) is mainly the result of line diameter,

not the result of line buoyancy. Braid slices nicely through water, but fluorocarbon at twice the diameter

generates about twice the water resistance, in turn causes a great deal of 'line-ballooning'.

 

As an example, Ambrose Light in NY Harbor sits in 100 ft of water. Drifting with 20-lb tackle in a moderate breeze

will take about a 4 oz sinker. If you put out 30-lb tackle, you'll have to switch to a 6oz or 8oz sinker

to hold bottom. Trolling with a fat mono line (nylon & fluoro are both mono) generates more water resistance

and more line bow, causing the lure to ride up in the water column. When trolling, braided line will get you down

about 5 ft deeper. 

 

Roger

[RoLo]

Wait just a minute before you discard mono for it's elasticity.  Sometimes that is exactly what you will want.  Setting the hook on crankbaits, I want my line to have some stretch.  It allows me to use a slightly stiffer rod (for sensitivity) and I don't have to sacrifice hook setting power.  With braid, you will either tear the hooks out of the fish or will have to use a very whippy rod to avoid it. 

FL

 

Where treble hooks are involved, you can get the necessary cushion from your line, your rod or your reel drag (any one will do).

We throw cranks with med hvy rods and braided line, but the reel drag is not locked down.

If she's a lunker, I'm not averse to backing-off on the drag as she nears the boat.

Regardless of the line material, big bass are most often lost on a short line during a boatside lunge. 

 

Roger

[FlipnLimits]

Where treble hooks are involved, you can get the necessary cushion from your line, your rod or your reel drag (any one will do).

We throw cranks with med hvy rods and braided line, but the reel drag is not locked down.

If she's a lunker, I'm not averse to backing-off on the drag as she nears the boat.

Regardless of the line material, big bass are most often lost on a short line during a boatside lunge. 

 

Roger

Yes, you can loosen the drag, but why do that when you can hit em hard with mono?  Personal preference, I guess.  For me the correct tool for cranks is a M/MH rod with mono, so I can set the hook hard while the line and rod play the fish and not rely as much on drag to do the work.  I use braid and love it, but not for crankbaits.  Again, personal preference and there is no "right" answer and there's several ways to skin a cat.  I just like those hard hooksets and consider bassfishing a contact sport  

 

And I couldn't agree more, most fish are lost at the boat during that final surge.

[roadwarrior]

 

Regardless of the line material, big bass are most often lost on a short line during a boatside lunge. 

[BassinLou]

what type of leader?

 

I usually tie on 10lb-15lb yozuri leaders, on 30lb PP braid using an alberto knot. 

[Weld's Largemouth]

I would question some of your pros and cons, because some are completely false. That said, I have fished in certain situations when a bass absolutely would NOT hit a braided line, but were biting my buddie's same exact lure on monofilament. We were fishing in somewhat clear water, visibility was about 5-6 feet, catching smallmouth bass. He caught 16, and I caught 1. I tried both straight braid and braid with a leader, nothing worked. Unfortunately, I only had the one rod with me at the time, but it was clear what the problem was. I've tried braid in a number of different applications and I just can't stand it. The lack of stretch and sensitivity while taut is a plus at times, but the things I dislike far outweigh the good for me. If I need a lack of stretch and extra abrasion resistance, I'll use a high quality fluorocarbon.

 

If 20lb mono is too thick, you're probably using the wrong line. 20lb lines here in the US actually break around 27-30lbs in most cases, so they feel like weed whacker string. If you get a line like Super Natural, Senshi, Defier, Defier Armilo, etc., the line is much thinner at that exact breaking strength. I have 19lb Defier on a spinning reel and it lays just fine, because it's super limp. Try that with 19-20lb Trilene and good luck to ya.

If you compare 20 lb Berkley trilene monofilament to Suffix 832 braided line, you can see that the 20 lb mono has a 0.016 in diameter which is equivalent to 65 lb braided line. 20 lb braided line has a diameter of 0.009 in which is the equivalent to 6 lb test mono. The 20 lb mono obviously fills up the spool fast, where the 20 lb braided line allows more line to be on the spool, at the same strength.

[Scott F]

Wait just a minute before you discard mono for it's elasticity.  Sometimes that is exactly what you will want.  Setting the hook on crankbaits, I want my line to have some stretch.  It allows me to use a slightly stiffer rod (for sensitivity) and I don't have to sacrifice hook setting power.  With braid, you will either tear the hooks out of the fish or will have to use a very whippy rod to avoid it. 

 

FL

 

I disagree with you. If you use braid, you don't use the same hook set you do with mono. If you rip the hooks out or need to use a "whippy" rod you are setting too hard. Ease up. One of the benefits of braid is that you get good hook sets without the huge sweeping motion. That elasticity you like also makes it harder to feel when a fish hits.

[WRB]

There isn't a panacea line available today.

Braid is difficult to cast compared to mono, get a bad backlash and braid is very difficult to pick out.

Braid is lighter weight, smaller diameter and limp, both good and bad characteristics. The good; small diameter and limp without any memory issues and very low stretch. The bad; floats in the air during your cast and can create wind knots. Braid is stronger by equal diameter than mono about a 3X factor. The good; less drag in the water, however higher drag coefficient than the smooth surface mono, both FC and Nylon, in water and going through rod guides. Braid floats because it is very light weight making it buoyant creating a belly in the line until the lure weight or resistance pulls the line tight.

Braid is a solid color, mono,Nylon and FC, are translucent or clear. Bass have excellent vision and see all line types, the question is does that matter? The answer is; it does when it does, otherwise it doesn't.

The strength of braid is both good and bad, cuts through vegetation, get cut by sharp hard edges. Hang up a directly tied lure on braid, you can force the lure out, if not it's difficult to break off.

Combine the two line types creates added knots and failure points.

My take is use whatever line you are confident with.

Tom

[RoLo]

I disagree with you. If you use braid, you don't use the same hook set you do with mono. If you rip the hooks out or need to use a "whippy" rod you are setting too hard. Ease up. One of the benefits of braid is that you get good hook sets without the huge sweeping motion. That elasticity you like also makes it harder to feel when a fish hits.

 

I agree with Scott, and would add one other thing.

 

After using braided line for some time, I spooled a reel completely with Tatsu fluorocarbon.

I was already spoiled by braid and accustomed to short solid hook-sets.

But fishing with 20 yards of tatsu fluoro on the water felt like fishing with a bungee cord.

During a hook-set, I actually found myself taking a step backward to eat up some line-stretch and shorten the backstroke. 

 

With braided line I do just the opposite (braided polyethylene not braided nylon, braided dacron or braided kevlar), 

With braid, I'll intentionally leave a little slop in the line to provide a little explosion point, like cracking a whip.

To use the standard analogy: it's easier to drive a nail by backing the hammer off the nail, rather than pushing the hammer against the nail

In any case, we don't have this luxury with monofilament line, because if we don't lower the rod to the water and crank out 

every millimeter of slack line, the backstroke will probably end-up well behind the head. 

 

Roger

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

One aspect not mentioned is the extra feel of the fight you get with braid. If youre not one to horse your fish in under 1 1/2 seconds you get much better feel of what the fish does during the fight using braid. You feel more of the twisting and directional changes of the fish. The pulling shaking is amplified more. Just seems to be more enjoyment to the fight with braid.

[Tywithay]

If you compare 20 lb Berkley trilene monofilament to Suffix 832 braided line, you can see that the 20 lb mono has a 0.016 in diameter which is equivalent to 65 lb braided line. 20 lb braided line has a diameter of 0.009 in which is the equivalent to 6 lb test mono. The 20 lb mono obviously fills up the spool fast, where the 20 lb braided line allows more line to be on the spool, at the same strength.

What's the point of having 250 yards of line on a spool though? Even using a 15' surf rod you likely won't cast 100 yards. .016 diameter is 25lb for most Japanese lines, so a 20lb line in those brands is still quite a bit thinner as well.

[Weld's Largemouth]

What's the point of having 250 yards of line on a spool though? Even using a 15' surf rod you likely won't cast 100 yards. .016 diameter is 25lb for most Japanese lines, so a 20lb line in those brands is still quite a bit thinner as well.

Casting with 20 lb mono is also a big pain, its heavy and thick. Also with braid, you can feel everything.. unlike monofilament

[FlipnLimits]

I disagree with you. If you use braid, you don't use the same hook set you do with mono. If you rip the hooks out or need to use a "whippy" rod you are setting too hard. Ease up. One of the benefits of braid is that you get good hook sets without the huge sweeping motion. That elasticity you like also makes it harder to feel when a fish hits.

LOL, yes that is true, too hard of a hookset.  Old habits die hard and I'll stick to the hard hookset with mono.  I may be wrong but by watching your rod tip, you can usually see the bite before you feel it, with mono, and not many bites go undetected.  Sure there will be some, but that goes for any kind of line.  A bass can hit a crank and be gone before anyone detects it with any line type.  I'm sure you are aware of that already, so nothing new really.  FC is a good choice for deeper water but under 10', mono works fine for me. 

 

Don't you feel that as a fish inhales a crank, mono stretches and allows the fish to get it?  I've read this argument before and most people didn't like braid because it doesn't allow a fish to inhale the bait.  What has changed since I read this? 

[Tywithay]

Casting with 20 lb mono is also a big pain, its heavy and thick. Also with braid, you can feel everything.. unlike monofilament

That's why I typically use fluorocarbon for "feel" techniques. 20lb mono isn't thick at all, if you're using a quality mono. My 19lb Defier is the same diameter as 14lb Berkley, plus it's more limp and has better abrasion resistance. When using fluoro, if I want no stretch I'll use Shooter, which is about as stiff as it comes. With that line you get sensitivity when the line is slack or tight, unlike braid which is only useful when the line is tight. Plus, you get the invisibility of a clear line and it's quieter through the guides, which makes it feel better to me. If you're using a rod that's already sensitive, like an NRX, GLX, etc.; you can feel the braid rubbing the guides and it makes it harder to concentrate on light bites, in my experience.

[Scott F]

Do you really think that a bass inhaling a bait uses so much force that it will stretch the line? I don't know that a shop vac could do that. A bass hitting a moving crankbait does not inhale it, he swims up to it and takes it in his mouth. 

Many years ago a book was written by a guy who tested lures to find out exactly how deep they ran. The only line available at the time was mono. They pulled baits and ran a boat with a depth finder over the bait to see how deep they ran. When they were testing 10 and 14 pound lines, they could see fish hit the lures on the graph but the guy holding the rod never felt a thing. With heavier lines that did not stretch as easily, the guy holding the rod felt the hit almost every time.