Braided Line Keeping Me From Catching Fish?

[nocellcontracts]

I only fish Guntersville and the Coosa River. I recently fished with a buddy on G'ville where we both were fishing a ledge....using the same T-Rig bait. He caught 4 to my 1 ratio. He was throwing fluoro.... I was throwing 30# braid. Did he get lucky..... or is braid keeping me from catching fish?

I have braid on most of my rods (jigs, worms, etc.) - should I switch to fluoro? I'm very leery about using leaders as it adds another "break point" in the setup. Thanks.

[deep]

Line is only one of the many factors, but do humor me and tell us the depth you're fishing?

[d-camarena]

What exactly were you throwing? What size worm and hook? Spinning or casting?

[Catt]

It was not the line!

When fishing structure your cast can be a few feet off & ya aint gonna get bit!

I know you're gonna say we were both casting in the same spot but unless you were next to him on the same deck you were not casting in the same spot!

[jyu87]

Why isn't there a pop corn emoticon?

[rippin-lips]

Sometimes it can be the difference. I've experienced it first hand. However it's hard to say in your situation since you were fishing against someone. Maybe he's just a bit better. I out fish my buddy all the time. Even when he uses the excuse that I'm at the front of the boat. So I let him run the trolling motor and the outcome is the same every time.

[CDMeyer]

When fishing structure it can be so tough to pin point the exact spot. If your off by a foot then your done

[BassinLou]

You should reconsider the leader. Just make sure you are proficient in joining two lines together. A well tied alberto knot can go a long way in situations like these. 

[jbsoonerfan]

He probably had a better (more expensive) rod. Haha haha. Just thought I would add fuel to the fire.

[the reel ess]

Have you had this problem at other times? If anything I'd say it's causing me to catch more fish due an improved hookup rate.

[FryDog62]

Sometimes it can be the difference. I've experienced it first hand. However it's hard to say in your situation since you were fishing against someone. Maybe he's just a bit better. I out fish my buddy all the time. Even when he uses the excuse that I'm at the front of the boat. So I let him run the trolling motor and the outcome is the same every time.

 

I've seen it happen more than a couple times.  You never know always when braid will show up to line-shy fish.  After seeing it happen too often I no longer fish braid without a leader... period.

[Ozark_Basser]

I don't think the visibility of braid matters to SOME fish. I mean, I've used straight braid and caught fish before, but you don't know if a ten pounder came up and sniffed your bait then swam off because he saw the braid. Why risk it? Tie a fluoro leader.

[JGBassinAL]

Just like everyone else has said, it's hard to tell from your situation but I will say that YES, the visibility of braid can cause highly pressured fish (and some not so pressured) to not bite. Guntersville is one of the most pressured lakes in the US too. So, the braid could have been your problem, or you weren't getting your bait in front of the fish.

[SirSnookalot]

I think way too much is made out of line choice, the fish hit the lure.  I use braid because I like the way it manages, a properly tied joining knot should't be an issue.

[einscodek]

Depends on your water clarity, sky conditions, and whether 30# thickness was visible.

I've seen fish VERY line shy in clearwater situations so in my experience line visibility matters

I think in most cases where people dont think it matters, other factors are obsuring the effect

[bigfishbk86]

It wasn't the line....

[nocellcontracts]

Just to answer a few of your questions: We were sitting in 25' throwing up into 15' and simply dragging and tugging texas rigged senkos through eel grass. No hopping, not really "working" the bait at all since it was "sticking" to the grass and we had to just drag it through. So it's not like one of us had a cadence and the other didn't.

I tied on some 20# fluoro leader material last night using a 5 loop uni knot. Here's hoping.

[deep]

All else being equal, I feel more bites and catch more fish on fluoro compared to braid (bottom bumping baits). The difference is especially noticeable in deeper water (anything over 10FOW).

 

P.S. Note that I said *I*. Don't know about others.

[paulrobinson318]

The only rods I own with braid on them are my frogging rod and my punching rod. I throw 8 and 9 inch bull shads as well as huds and bbz-1s on 20lb mono. All my other rods are spooled with either a flouro coated copolymer or 100% flouro. I just do not have confidence in braid at all.