Challenges Using Braid Below #10 lb. Test ?

[ChrisD46]

I have a light action rod with a 1500 series Shimano spinning reel  and a ultralight rod with a 1000 series Shimano spinning reel that I want to try under #10 lb. test braids with . Power Pro , Gliss , Seaguar and a couple of others make :  #8 lb. , #6 lb. ,  #5 lb. and even down to #3 lb. test  braid lines !  Friends of mine suggest just using #10 lb. braid with the above outfits for :  Small bass , bluegills and crappie with  casting jigs and beetle spins in the 1/32nd oz. to 1/16th oz.size  range.   Yet  , the curiosity of trying these lighter that #10 lb. braids remains . For those who have used under #10 lb. braid - what are the disadvantages and advantages of using such a light braid ? Off the top of my head , my first concern would be shock strength then wind knots followed by dificulty tying knots (with leaders or with straight braid ) . Thanks in advance for sharing your experience , tips and recommendations for using very light braids under #10 lb. test !

[Big Bait Fishing]

i use 10 lb. Sunline SX1 on a Pflueger Patriarch 9525 (1000 size) and this line is very thin and strong , i see no reason to go lighter ....

[Team9nine]

I use 3# and 5# on most of my spinning outfits, with my heaviest outfit spooled with 8#. The advantages are just like any other line - the smaller the diameter, the better the bait fishes and the better your line control, assuming you simply aren't overpowering the line with a big bait. So for Ned, dropshots, jigworms, inline spinners, weightless trick worms, wacky, shakyhead, and anything crappie, etc., this is all I use. Allows me to fish something as light as a 1/16th oz. bait into 20' of water comfortably and with good feel and control. I can bump up to a 3/32-oz and go to 30.' Almost no (depth) limit to what I can do with a 1/8-oz or heavier.

-T9 

[Scott F]

For several years, I only used 8lb Fireline on all my spinning rods. I never panfish, and smallmouth fish most of the time so 8lb was as light as I was comfortable with. The only issues I had with the thinner line was that when fishing single hook baits, sometimes the knot would slip out of the hook eye if there was any kind of gap. I experienced no more wind knots with lighter line than with any other line. As far as shock absorption, your ultra-light rod's soft action will take care of that. Lighter, thinner lines cast farther and lets baits run deeper. The only reason I'm using heavier 10lb line these days is Suffix 832 doesn't come in 8lb test

[fishnkamp]

Years ago my wife and I purchased two Diawa line counter reels and spooled them up half way with mono and then the rest with Suffix 832 6 pound test braid. That line is amazing. We used it to fish for white perch, walleye, and big bluegill. We tied that to a inline weightl and a double worm rig with the beads and a spinner blade like this one in the picture.  We trolled this rig along with the trolling motor.  I never cast that rig just dropped it back but we caught some nice big perch and walleye with that setup.

[ClackerBuzz]

I have my 6'8" light action trout rod spooled w/ 5lb braid.  the rod was out of commission for awhile b/c of a guide repair so I used the reel on my ML bass drop shot rod.

a few observations:

5lb braid casts far but it gets wind knots if you don't have a heavy enough lure on the end.  Or if ur leader is too long or heavy compared to the braid.

i use 6lb copoly or mono for a leader.   these work great for ML+ rods. i went down to 4lb fluro leader but it breaks easily and knots are unforgiving.  i broke off far too many big fish on braid to 6lb fluoro b/c my drag was too tight (ultimately my hooks were too stout for the application.  smaller/light wire hooks immediately fixed the issue. this was on a ML bass rod, not a L trout rod).

if you have a L or UL rod using braid in the system provides great hook sets.

5lb braid is not exactly abrasion resistant so it wears thin and gets weak spots.  this did not end well on my ML bass drop shot rod.  drop shot gets hung up often and the 5lb braid would break while trying to pull free.  i'd lose my rig plus 20ft of 6lb copoly.  I'd thought for sure the copoly or my connection knot would break first but that was rarely the case.

I'd keep it simple and use 5 and 10lb braid.  and 4 or 6lb mono/copoly. the species you listed don't necessitate light fluoro leaders or the trouble that comes with them.

[ChrisD46]

Great replies - Thanks ! I forgot I also have a 7' ML spinning rod with a 2500 President reel I plan to use for the Ned Rig with 1/16th oz. mushroom heads , so here I'm thinking #8 lb. or even perhaps #5 lb. braid would work ?. I fish fairly shallow so lighter weights (i.e. nothing more than 1/8th ~ 3/16th oz. shaky head) . * * One question I forgot to ask (Team9nine , others ?) is whether # 10 lb. braid is sufficient for throwing 5" weightless Senkos (either T-Rigged on 3/0 EWG hook  or whacky rigged on a #1/0 Octopus hook ) ? Thanks in advance !

[Bluebasser86]

24lb Gliss has smaller diameter than 5lb mono fwiw. I had a hard time with the 4lb/1lb diameter PP. About every half hour it would blow up into a wind knot that had to be cut and retied. 

[fishwizzard]

I use 6lb braid on my UL perch/panfish rod.  I usually tie on a 6-8lb YZH leader and have not had any issues with knot strength.  The only issue I have with it is remembering to not under any circumstances grab the mainline when a fish is on.  Even an 7-8" perch can cause the line to cut you.   

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

You're on the right track. Light braid is fine in a appropriate application. 

[IndianaFinesse]

3 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

Great replies - Thanks ! I forgot I also have a 7' ML spinning rod with a 2500 President reel I plan to use for the Ned Rig with 1/16th oz. mushroom heads , so here I'm thinking #8 lb. or even perhaps #5 lb. braid would work ?. I fish fairly shallow so lighter weights (i.e. nothing more than 1/8th ~ 3/16th oz. shaky head) . * * One question I forgot to ask (Team9nine , others ?) is whether # 10 lb. braid is sufficient for throwing 5" weightless Senkos (either T-Rigged on 3/0 EWG hook  or whacky rigged on a #1/0 Octopus hook ) ? Thanks in advance !

Either eight or five pound braid will work great for ned rigs.  I slightly prefer five or six pound braid over eight, but eight pound is much easier to find.

Yep, I use 10 pound braid with both wacky and texas rigged senkos without any problems.

[Big Bait Fishing]

5 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

Great replies - Thanks ! I forgot I also have a 7' ML spinning rod with a 2500 President reel I plan to use for the Ned Rig with 1/16th oz. mushroom heads , so here I'm thinking #8 lb. or even perhaps #5 lb. braid would work ?. I fish fairly shallow so lighter weights (i.e. nothing more than 1/8th ~ 3/16th oz. shaky head) . * * One question I forgot to ask (Team9nine , others ?) is whether # 10 lb. braid is sufficient for throwing 5" weightless Senkos (either T-Rigged on 3/0 EWG hook  or whacky rigged on a #1/0 Octopus hook ) ? Thanks in advance !

i use 10 lb, Sunline SX1 on a Phenix M1 7'8'' MXF (spinning rod) custom with 3.5 mm micro guides and tie on a 15 ft. leader of 6 lb. Sunline Sniper . i use it for throwing a shakey head (Owner Ultra Shakey head 3/32 oz.) , 5'' stick bait w/Owner Wacky hook 1/0 , i also drop shot with it . the 10 lb. braid is plenty strong as i've caught 7 lb. catfish on it ( hit the shakey head rig ) and bass up to 6 lbs. without any problems , just don't see a need for a braid any smaller that would be suceptable to break offs ...

[Fisher-O-men]

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 I had a hard time with the 4lb/1lb diameter PP. About every half hour it would blow up into a wind knot that had to be cut and retied. 

This, right here!  Not sure they are "wind Knots" though.  Seems to me they are caused by loose loops that develop on the spool due to the lack of stretch of the braid. I call them snarls.  What ever the cause, they are a pain and not totally avoidable.

[ChrisD46]

OP here - for those that run <#10 lb. braid , are you using a leader to assist in abrasion resistance or as a shock leader of sorts ? It would seem that once you start getting below .007" diameter visibility of the braid would be a non - factor thus you could just tie straight to the lure with a palomar knot ?

[Big Bait Fishing]

4 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

OP here - for those that run <#10 lb. braid , are you using a leader to assist in abrasion resistance or as a shock leader of sorts ? It would seem that once you start getting below .007" diameter visibility of the braid would be a non - factor thus you could just tie straight to the lure with a palomar knot ?

i use flourocarbon that sinks as to not hinder the action of the bait (wacky rigged stick bait) as it falls and will not leave a bow in the line as much as straight braid , as i'm not worried about line visibility ...

the straighter the connection between your rod and the bait , sensitivity goes up !