bgathletics6 Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 Will using mono for all my reels hurt my performance? I understand that braid and fluoro both have their benefits for specific styles of fishing, but don't think I can maximize their effectiveness. I fish in ponds, lake and river shores. I rarely fish from a boat and therefore do not get to difficult/ thick cover. I fish topwater cranks, shallow spinning baits, and texas/ wacky rigged plastics. Some ponds I fish have sparse grass, cat tails, and lily pads. Thanks to the recent BPS sales I got a cheap 1500yd spool of mono. I don't believe I will reap the benefits of fluoro and braid, but I am just waiting for someone to convince me otherwise. 1 Quote
Super User new2BC4bass Posted March 2, 2016 Super User Posted March 2, 2016 Welcome to the forum. Vast majority of my reels are spooled with a mono or co-polymer. You should be fine. 1 Quote
bgathletics6 Posted March 2, 2016 Author Posted March 2, 2016 Appreciate the advice. Tons of helpful members on here! Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted March 2, 2016 Super User Posted March 2, 2016 You are good to go. Quote
0119 Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 Ive been using mono for everything for 40+ years. I keep trying braid on a spinner here and there but only to avoid line twist issues. Avoid worm hooks that are thick gauge or are marked superline hooks. Thin hooks penetrate easier and will compensate some for the stretch of the mono. 13 Quote
Super User scaleface Posted March 2, 2016 Super User Posted March 2, 2016 Mono is all I use . 1 Quote
Super User Deleted account Posted March 3, 2016 Super User Posted March 3, 2016 Big Game for everything except frogs, and some specific structure fishing where I want my lures back, and sometimesdeep jigging. Somehow I luck into a few fish despite mono's inadequacies. 4 Quote
Super User Raul Posted March 3, 2016 Super User Posted March 3, 2016 In practical terms I use nylon for almost everything, been doing it for 4 decades. 2 Quote
Super User Spankey Posted March 3, 2016 Super User Posted March 3, 2016 Like the others I use quality mono and some fluorocarbon. Have been doing so for 40+ years. I've been kicking around the idea for a few seasons of trying some braid but haven't pulled the trigger. Are you using the BPS Excel mono? I still use some of it but the quality of this line has dropped off over the years. This was great stuff at one time. I change my line very often. Don't experience much in the way of line issues. Quote
Super User Raul Posted March 3, 2016 Super User Posted March 3, 2016 22 minutes ago, Spankey said: Like the others I use quality mono and some fluorocarbon. Have been doing so for 40+ years. I've been kicking around the idea for a few seasons of trying some braid but haven't pulled the trigger. Are you using the BPS Excel mono? I still use some of it but the quality of this line has dropped off over the years. This was great stuff at one time. I change my line very often. Don't experience much in the way of line issues. Nope, no Excel, Berkley Trilene Big Game for anything over 10 lbs test and Berkley Trilene XT for anything under 8 lbs test are my go to nylon lines. 1 Quote
Super User Catt Posted March 3, 2016 Super User Posted March 3, 2016 Berkley Big Game for everything but punching! 1 Quote
blckshirt98 Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 Braid/fluoro wasn't around or popular until fairly recent. Millions of fish have been caught, and still get caught, on good ol' mono. You should be fine if that's what you choose! 1 Quote
Josh Smith Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 Hello, I started fishing in 1979 or so, when I was two or three. I know we hadn't moved from the country house yet, and we moved when I was three. From that point I used mono. In 1996 I graduated high school. I worked for two years to save for college, and during that time my friends and I would go fishing -- bass fishing, catfishing, etc. We heard about this new braided stuff, but it cost $50 and our mono worked well. 1998 I went to college. I left my fishing stuff with Dad. I probably should have brought it, but I was really quite busy. It was spooled with mono when I left. When I came back to my home town, life got busy and I only fished occasionally, and didn't keep up with the industry at all. I had an ultralight and a MH/F Daiwa rod with Dad's old Ambassadeur 5000 on it. It worked. In 2013 I got married. We moved to the country, close to Salamonie, and I got involved in bassin' again. (My wife was pregnant and hard to live with...) I used mono. When I ran out of properly-stored mono, I went to buy new stuff. Turns out the price had dropped lots on braid, so I bought some to try. I really liked it... not the first stuff, which was white, but I found some camouflage stuff which made sense to me given the vegetable soup in which I'd been fishing. I really, really liked the increased sensitivity! Is running mono on everything a bad idea? No. I did it for over 30 years. You have your different colors, you have your XL and XT stuff, and all you have to do to make the stuff untwist after a day of fishing is run the spool under hot water; this makes it take the memory of the spool. I do think it's harder to keep the line tight on mono, and I think the coils that it can produce hurts, especially when fishing light. I like the zero stretch of braid. Still, sometimes stretch is necessary, depending on technique and preference. When you boil it all down, though, are you hurting yourself? I doubt it. Josh 1 Quote
tholmes Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 5 hours ago, reason said: Big Game for everything except frogs, and some specific structure fishing where I want my lures back, and sometimesdeep jigging. Somehow I luck into a few fish despite mono's inadequacies. Same here. I do have braid on my flathead rig, and occasionally use it for flippin' but it's Big Game for all my other baitcasters and Cabela's house brand mono or Yo-Zuri co-polymer on my spinning rigs. Tom Quote
Turtle135 Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 Trilene XT mono in various pound tests for 98% of my bass fishing. 3 Quote
Super User Catt Posted March 3, 2016 Super User Posted March 3, 2016 2 hours ago, blckshirt98 said: Braid/fluoro wasn't around or popular until fairly recent. Millions of fish have been caught, and still get caught, on good ol' mono. You should be fine if that's what you choose! Braid was here before mono! 2 Quote
Super User Ratherbfishing Posted March 3, 2016 Super User Posted March 3, 2016 8 minutes ago, Catt said: Braid was here before mono! True enough. Quote
Florida Cracker2 Posted March 4, 2016 Posted March 4, 2016 I have braid on one of my baitcasters, big game on my light to heavy spinners, and spiderwire on my ultralight spinners. I remember dacron and had it on my penn deepsea reals. I like both braid and mono. Many people don't like the stretch...but I do, especially when I get hung on the bottom. Braid is not as forgiving when trying to free a snagged lure. I also like being able to bite off mono with my teeth. (the 2 I have left) 2 Quote
Lawsonfishing1 Posted March 4, 2016 Posted March 4, 2016 like alot of the others I use big game on a lot of my reels for alot of situations. I fish high school tourniments an don't have alot of money an I'm fairly picky about how often I change my line so anything other than mono realy hurts my pockets. an i do recommend big game it is the best mono I have used it proved it self to me at Kentucky lake for nationals when you had to turn the trolling motor on high an it would about pull the rod out of your hands befor you could get 14 pound mono to break. 2 Quote
0119 Posted March 4, 2016 Posted March 4, 2016 6 hours ago, Lawsonfishing1 said: I'm fairly picky about how often I change my line so anything other than mono realy hurts my pockets. That's a good thing to be and that will serve you well not only in competition but when that bass of a lifetime comes along. Braid users could learn something from that too. Being that it isn't abrasion resistant one iota, they mistake lack of stretch for strength unwittingly using line full of frayed microfibers ready to let them down. Quote
no39 Posted March 4, 2016 Posted March 4, 2016 On March 2, 2016 at 3:17 PM, bgathletics6 said: Will using mono for all my reels hurt my performance? I understand that braid and fluoro both have their benefits for specific styles of fishing, but don't think I can maximize their effectiveness. I fish in ponds, lake and river shores. I rarely fish from a boat and therefore do not get to difficult/ thick cover. I fish topwater cranks, shallow spinning baits, and texas/ wacky rigged plastics. Some ponds I fish have sparse grass, cat tails, and lily pads. Thanks to the recent BPS sales I got a cheap 1500yd spool of mono. I don't believe I will reap the benefits of fluoro and braid, but I am just waiting for someone to convince me otherwise. I believe you may be right. The only instances I can say where mono will hurt your performance is dropping shotting on using tubes in depths greater than 25 feet. As you stated, is something you typically don't do. Given your situation, I would make the same decision. No need to waste money if what you have works perfectly fine. 1 Quote
bgathletics6 Posted March 4, 2016 Author Posted March 4, 2016 23 hours ago, Spankey said: Like the others I use quality mono and some fluorocarbon. Have been doing so for 40+ years. I've been kicking around the idea for a few seasons of trying some braid but haven't pulled the trigger. Are you using the BPS Excel mono? I still use some of it but the quality of this line has dropped off over the years. This was great stuff at one time. I change my line very often. Don't experience much in the way of line issues. Currently my spinning reels and my one bait cast reel have Trilene XT. In this last Fishing Classic, I purchased a big spool of the BPS Excel. 1200 yds of 17lb for $8. If it lacks in quality then I won't mind to keep it on the shelf. I have read reviews about it's quality dropping over the years, but I went ahead and got it because of the price. I have used Trilene forever, but never tried Big Game. I think I'll stick with Trilene because I haven't had any issues with it yet. My spinning reels haven't been re-spooled for at least a year, and they're still casting and reeling in fish just fine. If I switch lines at all, I will likely go with fluorocarbon. I like that it still has a stretch factor while allowing lures like worms to sink naturally without the line floating. Quote
Josh Smith Posted March 4, 2016 Posted March 4, 2016 @0119 , I'm not sure how true that is. Speaking for myself, I change braid fairly often. I spool it, use it, and watch for damage. I then reverse it, and change it when that end is worn out. I don't consider it "super" - anything, but rather a line with strengths I like and weaknesses I can live with. Regards, Josh Quote
Super User Spankey Posted March 4, 2016 Super User Posted March 4, 2016 It was like trilene xl back at one time. Word on the street was Berkley was making it. I fish two set ups using the Excel in 6# clear and green, on sale the price is right and the deal is real. I don't keep that line on a spool for more than 2 or 3 outings at most. Go through a lot of line in a years time. This is not a complaint I just change out my line often. I don't think its a weak line just not what it was. Not the same line it was 10 years ago. Trilene is what it was ten years ago. Believe me I'm not starting a line war, like many things they are not made the way they use to be made. Quote
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