The Truth About Braid - Sink Or Float?

[FryDog62]

Braid weighs a smidgeon less than water, while fluorocarbon weighs a smidgeon more than water.

 

A few years back I ran my own buoyancy test using a short trace of braid versus a trace of fluorocarbon.

The braid trace floated uncomfortably, often with one or both ends under the water.

The fluoro trace would hesitate on the surface (apparently due to surface tension) then sink slowly.

If one teensy sand granule was clinging to the braid trace, it would sink slowly like fluorocarbon.

If one teensy air-bubble was clinging to the fluoro, it would remain on the surface like braid.

 

Roger

So, a hybrid braid like Hevicore - what do you think Roger, float like mono or sink like Fluoro? Has similar properties to both. I ordered some up in hopes that it sinks with a more direct angle to the bait... We'll see --

[RoLo]

So, a hybrid braid like Hevicore - what do you think Roger, float like mono or sink like Fluoro? Has similar properties to both. I ordered some up in hopes that it sinks with a more direct angle to the bait... We'll see --

 

I'm not familiar with Hevicore, but since flouro and braid are closely sandwiched around neutral buoyancy,

I wouldn't expect a noteworthy difference. But of course that's speculation.

 

Sounds like you're looking to minimize line-belly, which is always a good idea.

With a stationary line in the water, braid will have noticeably more inverted line-belly than fluorocarbon

(bowed upward not downward). Oddly enough though, when the lure is moving on a tight line

(cranked, drifted or trolled), fluorocarbon will have more line-belly than braid, due to the water-resistance

of its double-wide diameter.  For this reason, anglers who troll will often use braid to attain greater depth

with the same weight. If you have a micrometer, mike the diameter of your Hevicore

and you'll have much better insight to its water resistance on a tight line.

 

Roger

[Logan S]

I think the floating/sinking qualities of a line are sometimes over-emphasized, EXCEPT for topwater applications.  

 

It makes sense that a floating line will create more of a bow or slack between the rod and the bait...But really, that's only if the bait is sitting on the bottom and the rod isn't moving.  If you look at the real world scenario, where you remove most of the slack/bow every time you move the bait it doesn't seem as important.  I doubt any line floats/sinks fast enough to move any great distance in the time between bait movements for normal bass fishing.  Just my take on it...I don't really think sinking braid is a game changer, although I will probably try it out for certain things eventually.  

 

If you want sensitivity on a semi-slack line, braid probably isn't the best choice...whether it floats or sinks.  That's one of the areas where flouro has an advantage.  

[J Francho]

I watched a guy doing a lecture at bass pro get bit like 30 times by a steelhead in the tank on his braid w/leader DS rig. He had no idea, and the braid had a crazy bow in it, even with the leader. Just an interesting observation. Was pretty funny, since many asked him if he felt the 30" trout take his bait. He had no idea it was happening.

[MickD]

  I did some recent research on materials and the normal braid materials dyeema and spectra had .97 specific gravity, which is only .03 off water (less than fresh water at some constant test temp).  That is very close to neutral buoyancy.  Flourocarbon fibers have about 1.3 specific gravity, more than fresh water. Therefore flouro should sink.  It is heavier than fresh water.

 

Suffix is now making a braid line that has 50% Gore fibers, which I think are PTFE, a form of flourocarbon with density of about 1.5.  Whether it retains braid's lack of stretch, I don't know, but it should sink pretty well.  The reason Suffix is putting those fibers in is to increase sink rate over their 832 which has only one Gore fiber.  Its overall density will be less than the 1.5 since the denser material makes up only about half of the line.

 

Hevi core has a core of PTFE with the objective of faster sink rate than braid.   How it compares with pure flouro at a density of 1.3, I don't know.  Like the 50/50 Suffix, the Hevi core line's overall specific gravity will be less than 1.5.

 

In salt water, which is heavier than fresh, all the varieties of lines should "less sinking" than in fresh.