Cranking With Braid Hooks?

[Angry John]

I dont think i would throw an 8.0 on 20 unless you want to go swimming!  Most likely you will be using a heavier set up for that!

[smalljaw67]

The thing is, you'll lose a good bit of fish as you'll be pulling the hooks free unless you have a noodle rod. The braid you're getting is Omiflex I take it? If that is the case, it is a little heavier diameter than other braids so now you'll affect the action of the bait as well as risk losing more than the average amount of fish. I guess it seems strange to me since most of my cranks I'm throwing on 10lb to 12lb copolymer line, the exception to that is wake baits and large square bills and they get 15lb. I'm not a person that says something isn't right if I never did it, I use braid for heavy flipping and frogs, that is it but I did try it for most everything with and without leaders, and I used both mono and fluoro, and what I learned was I didn't like the braid for cranking at all, and I was using 30# power pro with a 12lb seaguar invisX leader that was 20" and after losing the first 4 fish I hooked I adjusted and was able to finally land them but the adjustment was going with a 6' leader which made me realize that braid wasn't working for me. You sound as if you want  super strong braid to get your bait free should it snag, well that may be even worse because you may end up not being able to pull the bait free or break the line and being on shore doesn't allow you many options. In the end you do what you feel is right for you but realize we are not trying to be critical, just trying to improve your crankbait fishing as we don't know if you ever used that kind of set up with such heavy line before and we want you to know that there are many downsides to using a line that heavy for cranks, good luck.

[Comfortably Numb]

I use 20# PP braid. If I get snagged, the line will break when I pull before a treble will straighten. 

 

And the whole mono thing with cranks to get some stretch so the fish has time to take it is hooey. Even a person with the fastest reflexes takes at least a second to feel the bite and start pulling. Plenty of time for the fish to get it.

[ww2farmer]

Stock hooks plain out suck IMHO. I crank with braid,and use the Mustad KVD elite, 1x strong,2x short triple grips. On a 5xd I run a #2 on the front, and a #4 on the back. 50lb is overkill, I do all my cranking (deep, shallow,lipless,etc..)with 20. Throw a fluoro leader on if your in abrasive conditions. This nonsense of "you'll lose fish and pull hooks out if you crank with braid" is just that..... Nonsense. There are just some people who don't know what they are doing and blame the braid because they can't adjust... And there are adjustments to be made. And #1 is stouter hooks.

[BasshunterJGH]

Well thanks for the replies guys. Looking back, I wish I would've gone with 20 lb, but I'm just going to get new hooks. I've got plenty of mono and flouro leader in case it doesn't work out!

[fisherrw]

If use 20 for the 5xds but not for the 8.0z

[corn-on-the-rob]

I think the 30lb would have been a great middle ground.  

 

I throw braid on ALL of my rods and use fluorocarbon leaders except for Jig/frog or any scenario where you don't need it. I have 30lb on all of my gear including spinning except for 50lb on my jig rod and chatter-bait/big spinner-bait rod.

 

I switched over from all mono to all braid last year and likely won't even change. I know much of fishing is preference/opinion but it often gets muddied because people take their preference to be fact because it works for them. Same as my opinion right now, it works for me so I believe in it, but at the same time some of the opinions of things are because people never adapted or gave up on things too quickly before learning them.

 

When I fish moving baits with MONO or BRAID nothing changes for me. Just because I have stronger line now doesn't mean I am going to start pulling harder on the fish after I hook them. When I am reeling in a fish on moving baits (unless in heavy cover) I treat my line as if it is 8lb mono that way I never pull too hard against the fish. The only way that changes is if you use braid and start muscling fish in because you know the line is stronger. Treat it like light mono.

 

Now to the hook set: Once again this never changed for me between the two lines. I never set the hook on moving baits until the fish has about halfway loaded the rod on both types of line. Too many times with this method I have bass hit it it, slightly bends the rod for only a fraction of a second, then comes back and hits it multiple times before it commits. If I set the hook that first time when it only swiped, I likely don't hook the fish and likely ruined the chance for the re-hit. A missed swipe has nothing to do with the type of line, just knowing when to set the hook. If you keep trying to slam hook sets when a fish is just swiping the lure it is easy to say you ripped the hooks out because it didn't stay on.

 

Now that I know the bass has actually fully hit my bait (rod is halfway loaded), I do a sweep hook set. As vague as this sounds I don't have a one size fits all hook set. Mostly by feel, I pull with a moderate sweep until I feel a solid connection between me and the fish. Now if I feel a solid connection while setting then I continue to rip through my hook set and start pulling the fish through the water by shear force then you might run into bent hooks or losing fish.

 

If you feel solid resistance against you but you keep powering through the hook set by choice and lose the fish, that is user error not the tool. If the resistance you feel during your hook set would break the mono you would be using, the  you changed the method when you changed lines. Obviously mono stretches but the resistance you would feel after it is stretched nearing its breaking strength is the same.

 

In summary, don't set the hook too soon, pretend any line you are using is 8lb to 10lb breaking strength and treat it that way unless you have to over power a fish quickly out of necessity.Also this is my opinion but I believe there is some merit to it and obviously may not be true in all cases but I do use braid on everything and my hook-up/landing rates have at the least stayed the same if not improved.

 

Rob