Question About Fishing Line.

[AustrianAmrein]

Hello everyone, I'm excited to be a member and learn. I have a few questions

I'm getting into kayak fishing for bass. I live in Oklahoma and head out to lake Texhoma often.

For my rod I went with a "H2O Etho Express Medium-Heavy 6'6 Casting"

For my reel, I went with a "Lews Speed Spool Baitcaster 6:4:1"

For my line, I went with Trilene XT Clear Mono#12

I am really liking the rod and reel. But is #12 mono good enough for large and small mouths?

Will be throwing a koppers frog out. Suggestions on a Worm Rig Setup for my area "Oklahoma-Tx" that would be great. What hook,size weight,worm to get?

Not looking to catch the biggest bass just pan size.

Thank you

[CJV]

I would strongly suggest you don't fish a frog with mono. Get some braid

[lilsweepr]

I use Trilene #10 for all my bass fishing needs. Fishing out of a kayak I imagine that amount of rods you are able to carry would be a concern as I myself fish out of a two man boat. I limit myself to 3 rods in it(my son is usually with me, 4 if I am alone) and one of those is usually a crappie rig(6 pound test line). I fish grass beds and riprap with no problems. As I heard Hank Parker say once "re-tie often". I check my line several times a day, especially around grass, if I find a nick I do not hesitate to re-tie.

I also fish topwaters with it, usually a zara puppy. I don't set the hook till I actually feel the fish. I have fished a frog or two in grass and weeds without problems also. Just have to be prepared to "go in after them" if they do get themselves buried. Sometimes havce to just go get my bait back if it gets hung up.

And yes, I have had my line break at times when I did not think it was a hard hook set. That's just the chance I am willing to take. 

 

As far as your worm rig, I usually fish with a hook size no bigger than a #2 worm hook and a worm around the 6-7" size. During my use of the worm and it's "wearing out" I can pinch off a little of the head and end up with a smaller size. Color would be dictated by clarity of water. Lighter colors for clearer water, darker for the more cloudy it is. For us right now we seem to be doing well with a 6" Zoom watermelon/pumpkin seed worm. I use the smallest weight I can get away with for the conditions I am fishing. The wind usually dictates what weight I use and also the type of rod and reel I use(normally a baitcaster). 

[ABW]

For me, I've tried using the same mono and it feels like I'm fishing with rubber bands. If you want to throw frogs and the occasional worm then I would use 50 lb braid with a 14 lb leader. If you are frogging in sparse cover then 40 lb braid

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

 

Anymore, these days, I just use braid on everything. 

 

I change the leaders as the need arises.  I usually use fluorocarbon leaders, but sometimes use regular mono as well. 

 

Mono stretches, and it has that added benefit of shock absorption.  I finally managed to lose a bass because I didn't have enough stretch.  I was using a medium-heavy rod, set the hook fast, pulled the lure out of its mouth.  Until this happened, I thought others were a bit nutty for suggesting this, but sure enough...

 

That shock absorption of the mono is as critical as the increased sensitivity and strength of the braid.

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[kikstand454]

#12 is fine- until it isn't.

Only you can make that decision.

PERSONALLY- if I were going to use #12 for the things you described, I'd be using a copoly like yozuri hybrid instead of mono. Its has a much higher tensile strength and less stretch.

Fish what you have until you decide its not working FOR YOU. Then make a switch.

Good luck!

[gulfcaptain]

Hello,

 

Anymore, these days, I just use braid on everything. 

 

I change the leaders as the need arises.  I usually use fluorocarbon leaders, but sometimes use regular mono as well. 

 

Mono stretches, and it has that added benefit of shock absorption.  

I agree with with most of this as I do fish all braid with topshots of either mono or FC depending on my needs.  But in order to get the shock absorption from the mono, you're gonna have to fish a longer topshot (20-30ft).  The amount of stretch in a 3-6ft mono topshot isn't enough to absorb and stretch.  A lighter drag setting will help with the lack of stretch.

[Josh Smith]

Captain,

 

I don't know.  It seems to work for me.  Just a little bit of stretch -- I saw a difference in the holes of the fishes' lips, too. 

 

The mono I use on the baitcasters is cheap stuff.  It has a lot of stretch and a lot of memory.  The memory isn't an issue and the stretch is why I bought it.  I sort of counted on it, it being cheap and all.

 

The fluoro I use gets used mostly on the ultralight spinning setup.  Being an ultralight, the give is in the pole itself.  In this instance the low stretch of the short fluoro leader and the no-stretch of the braid has helped me get hook sets I previously thought were not possible with ultralight tackle.  At least, when running UL mono, I never got consistent hook sets with some of this sort of fishing I've been doing.

 

Back when I was learning to fish, from early childhood (2? 3?  I can't remember my first fishing trip where I held a rod) to right before I left for college at 20 (took a couple years off to save more money), everyone was using baitcasters and MH or H rods in either fiberglass or, later, graphite... and what a joyous time that was when those graphite rods became affordable to the average bass angler!

 

I was pretty out of the loop for the next 15 years.  Oh, that's not to say I didn't go fishing occasionally, but I didn't really invest the time in learning anything new.

 

I opened a business and as the business has grown, I've had to make myself get away, else I would be working constantly.  Around the house was no good as the computer was always in range.

 

Fishing seemed natural.

 

When I left the active learning phase in 1998, Spiderwire was something like $50 per spool.  It wasn't anything a teenager could easily afford.

 

I did buy a Daiwa spinnerbait rod "by Bill Dance", and it remains my favorite.  It's a pistol grip, and why these types fell out of favor sometime in the interim is a mystery to me.  I can cast it just as far as my 6'6 and 7' rods, and it's a lot handier, sort of like a long rifle vs a carbine.

 

Short poles work like a catapult while the long ones, from the method I've seen and subsequently used to cast them, work like a trebuchet.

 

Better or not, overall, I can't say.  For me, I prefer the under 6' rods more.  I can't figure out the fatigue thing.

 

In all fairness, I remember my tendons aching in my casting arm when I was a teenager getting used to the baitcaster after a day on the lake with Dad.  It could be that my arm is just used to that type of rod now.  I don't know.

 

What's all this got to do with anything?

 

When I ran out of good mono, the rest either used or having weakened, I went to buy more.  I noticed the price of braid had come down to 1/5 of what it was when I got distracted from fishing, and so I bought some to try it.

 

That's when I found these boards.  I was on about every gun board known to man, and I figured there had to be fishing boards out there.  The first one I found was Fish Sniffer.  I've not been there for quite a while, but I went there specifically looking for ways to fish this braided stuff.

 

You see, braid had every quality I've ever wanted in fishing line, except for visibility.  The stuff is just too easy to see!

 

I learned knots for splicing line.  I'd never had use for those before.  I tried the blood knot but it didn't run through the guides as well as I wanted, what with the line and leader being slightly offset from each other.  I learned the Albright knot and the Seagur knot.  The Albright is prettier and works well, but the tag end facing the leads is the mono, and it snags the guides just a little.  It's irritating.

 

The Seagur knot is easier to tie, is more compact, and the loud mono tag end faces backwards.  It works well for me.

 

Now, for shock absorption, I use one of a couple methods:  Dad's old tournament-grade rod (Lew's Speed Stick, Made in Japan) from the '70s, is an excellent fiberglass rod.  I'm playing with it as a crankbait rod, and it seems to work well.  I can run straight braid or a short mono leader on it and still be pretty certain of not ripping the hook out on a hook set.

 

When I run a leader on the baitcasting setups, and depending on the intended purpose of the leader, I make it either as long as the rod, or twice as long.  This gives the shock absorption of which I'm speaking.

 

If I'm just trying not to spook fish, the leader is only two or three feet long.  There is little shock absorption there, I agree, and probably little reason to have it.  I'm usually cutting grass and weeds and don't want stretch when I'm fishing like this.

 

Josh

[AustrianAmrein]

Would it be okay to have #50 Braid as my main, and 12# Mono for my leader and backing?

 

Thanks

[NJBasstard]

Yes. I try matching the line diameter of the braid & leader as close as possible because I feel I get better knots that way. So if I'm using 12lb leader I wouldn't go lower than 40lb braid. I fished with one rod for a year & was set up the same way. Used a leader for my slower presentations and often tied direct to moving baits. Tie with an uni uni knot and your good to go.

[K_Mac]

I would recommend reading a few of the many threads on site regarding line. As you can see there are many opinions.

I think XT is a decent mono and have it on a couple of my combos. While mono does have some limitations, we caught fish on it for a lot of years before all of the new and improved lines were available. I would agree that a good copoly would be a better choice for one all purpose combo for the reasons mentioned above. I am not a fan of braid, but many use the braid and leader approach with very good success. I would use what you have and see how it works. If you have problems then you can try something else. Enjoy the process. It won't be long and you can argue the benefits of fluorocarbon versus copoly versus mono with the rest of us. Enjoy!