Why color your braid?

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

Back in the day the theory was to use a Magic Marker (no Sharpies then) to draw a couple of inch to inch and a half “bars” across the spooled line to break up the appearance of a solid line. As mentioned above, the idea was to not present a solid-appearing line to the lure, sort of like camouflage on hunting clothes. To be honest, most of us did it and it helped psychologically if not practically.  Seemed like a good idea at the time. Heck, I have a nice fat black Sharpie that I’ll probably use if I fish with straight braid.

[mhilgtx]

The only time I have heard of this in a reliableish setting was Hackney and Van Dam talking about doing it under very limited circumstances that had two similarities. Grass/vegitation/colored water and limited time the bait was in front of the bass.

 

Hackney seems to not be a believer in line spooking bass but I have seen him talk about coloring his line when faded at his win on Texoma.  Watching him on the final day of his texohma win i remember him doing it. Also on a win up north in clear water flipping into grass he talked about how he thinks in a reaction strike like he won with where the lure passes infront of the fish first the line you have on is almost irrelevant.  He made the statement that if 60 ft of line would go past the fish then the bait it might be an issue.

 

KVD during or maybe in one of those instructional shows after MLF talked about coloring in braid on a swim jig.  Can't remember whether he said due to fading or not.  That was a southern lake with dingy tannic water and trees maybe some grass.

[the reel ess]

I know why they do it, but I stopped. I just use a leader if I think it matters. Most times I don't think it matters. I heard G-Man say this about tag end of your knot. "Forget the tag end. If he ain't bothered by the 50' of line going to the bait, he won't care about the tag end." Well, I think the same about A-rigs, spinnerbait wires, weed guards, hooks, swivels, etc. They can see those things, but it won't stop their instinctive bite unless they're already very skittish.

 

Disclaimer: I never fish really clear water.

[gnappi]

I think sharpie is just OK, but I use Feibings black leather dye to color my Dacron. I wet a Q-tip (cotton balls use too much dye) with it, and with finger cots on my thumb and index finger just draw the braid through the cotton. I make 20 or 30 feet of line, let it dry and cut to leader lengths.

 

It will not make dacron funky it likely acts as a preservative, think shoes. Just remember the finger cots or (even better) surgical gloves.. the dye is for leather, it has to wear off of fingers ?

 

 

[GReb]

If the line is freshly dark green I leave it be. But if the line is starting to fade a bit and has a white hue then I will sharpie it. But the waters I frequent are stained fairly dark and heavily vegetated. I have no clue how much of a difference it makes but it doesn’t seem to hurt