Love / Hate High Vis Yellow Braid

[Koz]

As an older guy with fading eyes, I like fishing with my Power Pro high vis yellow braid. It makes it much easier to keep track of what the line is doing.

 

However, each time I put it n my reel my catch rate goes down considerably. Clear water, stained water, it doesn't matter. I catch less fish. Then I switch back to the same weight green Power Pro and catch more fish. I've done this experiment three times and the results are the same.

 

Now it very well could be a coincidence, even after three tries. But tonight I stripped off the high vis yellow and went back to green braid.

 

Has anyone else noticed the same thing happening?

[EGbassing]

Never used Hi-vis line, but have you tried a flouro leader with it?

[LionHeart]

I use hi vis yellow braid and a 6-10 foot mono leader and love it.  I seem to catch just as few fish using it as any other line type or color.

 

Give a leader a try.  I am one of those nuts that thinks it makes a difference.

[CroakHunter]

Mitch out a spot in a large brown or black felt pen and color the last few feet of your yellow braid to turn it green. 

[Beetlebz]

I went to lime green or chartruse braid on both spinning reels, I'm using 6lb and 8lb yozuri hybrid as a leader for just that reason. I never had problems with the extra knot.

[soflabasser]

I do not like fishing with yellow braid but my little cousin does and he catches bass that will make most bass fishermen envious. He lives in Central Florida where a bass under 6 is nothing special and he has caught a bunch of trophy bass on yellow braid. I have taken him fishing in clear South Florida lakes for largemouth and peacock bass and he has done well.Other people fish with white braid and say it is the best braid for them. Have caught quality bass on orange braid so I feel that having confidence in the way you fish is far more important than what color line you use.

[Brew City Bass]

Like everyone said, if you're not using a leader you're definitely going to scare away fish from biting. 5-10ft flouro leader works wonders. 

I only go straight braid if I throwing top water or night fishing.

[islandbass]

As already mentioned, add a leader, mono or fluoro. I’d go with mono unless we’re talking ultra crystal clear water. It is more economical and it will mate well with braid.  I’ve heard the “bad” experiences of people here about knot failures, which I’ve not yet experienced, but then again, it’s probably because when I do use a leader, its length is about 3 times my max cast. As a result, the joining knot is never exposed or at risk to break and the chances of the knot getting caught up in the guides is nil until my leader gets too short. That just means it’s time to change the leader. And with mono, my wallet won’t be hurting. Now 3 times a max cast might be too long for you to take advantage of using yellow braid’s visibility for you so you’re going to need to figure out a leader length best suited to your needs. Too long and you lose the advantage of the yellow color. Too short and the joining knot might come into play. 

[Team9nine]

Nope, haven't noticed...tested them all - no difference in catch rate or size. 

12 hours ago, Koz said:

 

Has anyone else noticed the same thing happening?

 

[LionHeart]

2 hours ago, islandbass said:

As already mentioned, add a leader, mono or fluoro. I’d go with mono unless we’re talking ultra crystal clear water. It is more economical and it will mate well with braid.  I’ve heard the “bad” experiences of people here about knot failures, which I’ve not yet experienced, but then again, it’s probably because when I do use a leader, its length is about 3 times my max cast. As a result, the joining knot is never exposed or at risk to break and the chances of the knot getting caught up in the guides is nil until my leader gets too short. That just means it’s time to change the leader. And with mono, my wallet won’t be hurting. Now 3 times a max cast might be too long for you to take advantage of using yellow braid’s visibility for you so you’re going to need to figure out a leader length best suited to your needs. Too long and you lose the advantage of the yellow color. Too short and the joining knot might come into play. 

3 times casting distance? I have questions.  Let's say your max cast is a modest 35 yards.  Your leader is over 100 yards?

 

What do you put on the rest of the spool? And why? 

[looking45]

If you don't want to stay with the bright yellow, try Daiwa J braid x8 multi color. As the name suggests, it has multi colors and is easy to see on the water. 

[Dirtyeggroll]

Never had a problem with yellow braid. Catch rates are the same for me on several lakes, I have tried it several times fishing next to someone using a leader or green braid and we have always caught very similar numbers and quality of fish.

[Koz]

I've done the black marker trick and that didn't help. I've used a fluoro leader when drop shotting, but not with other baits. Maybe I'll give that a try sometime.

 

It very well could be a coincidence. Summer fishing here is brutal with the heat and humidity and with that the fishing is always hit and miss. I'll have to compare again in the spring when the fishing here is at its best.

[LCG]

15 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

Mitch out a spot in a large brown or black felt pen and color the last few feet of your yellow braid to turn it green. 

X2

 

I love hi viz yellow braid, so I either color the line with a sharpie or use a leader. 

[MickD]

If the leader length is  such that it comes close to the reel but doesn't enter the reel the knot should flow well if the guides are not too small.  That should be plenty long, usually about 7 feet.

[islandbass]

7 hours ago, LionHeart said:

3 times casting distance? I have questions.  Let's say your max cast is a modest 35 yards.  Your leader is over 100 yards?

 

What do you put on the rest of the spool? And why? 

That is a great question and one thing about this that I probably should have clarified, I was describing a unique situation and therefore everyone will need to take into account their personal situations.

 

For what I described, it was my drop shot situation in which I fish rip rap. I can get hung up 3 times in 10 minutes and have to break off so shorter leaders would suck.

In this scenario, my max cast  is maybe 40’ so 3 times is about 120’.  I am also using fluoro. I am also a bank angler so I don’t have the luxury of having a boat to make shorter casts, so hence the longer than usual leader again to continue to fish longer expecting to break off frequently. 

 

I realized that when I used full fc line, the back half of the spool never got used or even saw the light of day. That meant I was wasting money. 

To address this, I filled most of the spool with mono and the top half with fc. 

 

The pros:

* more of your line gets utilized instead of sitting on the spool doing nothing

* your spool is closer to optimum capacity and you therefore take advantage of your reel’s intended functionality with regard to casting performance and line recovery specs. A reel with a line recovery of say 30” will not perform that way when the spool is not optimally filled.

* the joining knot does not come into player until the leader is severely shortened next that translates more fishing time vs. time spent retying. 

 

So everyone’s situation will be different.

 

I might need to think it through more thoroughly, but for Koz’s case, the purpose for the braid for him is for visibility so his leader can’t be too long or else he’ll only see the leader going into water. 

 

For the sake of argument let’s say Koz’s reel 150 yards of 12# test. 

 

I’d probably filled it with 75 yds of mono and full the rest with braid and top it off with a much shorter leader. I would have to experiment through trial and error to determine what would be a good length. 

 

So to answer your question about leader length it’s a maybe for 3 times the max cast, but twice the max cast is probably more practical, especially if break offs aren’t going to be frequent.

 

To answer your question on filling the spool, I’d use a mono backing for the reasons I mentioned above. 

 

 

 

 

[LionHeart]

Island, thanks for the thorough explanation.  I now understand.  ?

[Choporoz]

Some famous pro (I forget who) years ago said something about being fine with bass seeing his line, because he felt some (many?) would follow the line to his lure.   I'm usually not too concerned.  I do use yellow line, and I do use leaders.  My primary reasons are to facilitate break-offs, and to conserve braid.

  The visibility, to me, could be overrated, anyway.   I made a cast yesterday and got distracted with something...until my line came cruising back all the way past me...the little guy probably traveled 30 feet with my worm before I noticed and tried to set the hook.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

 

[CrankFate]

I use all colors of braid. Depending on which type of fish fish, which rod and how deep. I use anywhere from a 6” leader to a 20’ leader of Fluoro or mono. I don’t know if braid color reduces fish caught. I still catch with orange braid and very short leaders. But I could be missing fish, too.

[smithy97]

Love my 30lb high vis braid to 12lb copoly leader. Great for jerkbaits and wacky worms. I only use 2-4 ft length for leaders and fish fairly clear water, and don't feel the more visible line has cost me fish.