Best braids for baitcasters

[Dens228]

Well if I have it's been a long, long time.  When I make a bad cast it's a birds nest to end all birds nests!  When I get hung up bad I pull from the line, not the rod.  Minor hang ups are fine.  Being in a kayak a lot of my hang ups I can paddle to the other side or just above it and a few shakes and it's free. 

I can say I have caught big bass, with big hooks, and a big hook set and the next cast was just fine. Not this, 

"A nice hard hook set on a big fish with braid and you will have dig in and it will stop in the spool at the point where you set the hook on the next cast"

•  

 

Full discolosure..I have a deal with every single company that produces braid, and for every spool of braid under 50 lbs they sell I get 5 cents.. Haha  Jk

[Ogandrews]

Get power pro maxcuatro. There is no better braid on the market in my opinion and I have tried countless different lines. It is thinner for the diameter of the line, very supple, and coarse which sounds like a bad thing but it makes it super easy to control and makes it cut through weeds super well. For frogs go to 65lbs, it’s the same size as normal 50lbs braid and will cast better than normal 50lbs. I use it on every single setup except for spinning rods because it doesn’t come under 20lbs, for those I will use 10 or 8lbs suffix 832 which is my #2 best line, another awesome braid and much less money than maxcuatro.

[Zachary M]

On 4/25/2020 at 9:13 PM, LionHeart said:

I honestly do not experience what you are describing unless it is during the cast following a hard hook set.  You mean this happens on a regular basis for no apparent reason?

No not necessarily for no reason. Usually if I’m fishing jigs and I am dragging bottom, every time I drag bottom, I feel like the Braid is digging in. When I go to recast, whenever my line reaches that particular area on the spool where I was dragging my jig over rocks, it catches and ruins the cast.

[OilfieldCowboy]

7 hours ago, Zachary M said:

No not necessarily for no reason. Usually if I’m fishing jigs and I am dragging bottom, every time I drag bottom, I feel like the Braid is digging in. When I go to recast, whenever my line reaches that particular area on the spool where I was dragging my jig over rocks, it catches and ruins the cast.

Sounds like you need to respool that line with a lot more tension on it.

 

Just go somewhere you have enough room to run all that line back off your reel; street in front of your house, park, local pond, whatever. Tie that line to an immovable object, I usually just tie it to a bench or fence post so I don't damage any trees. Walk all that line off the spool down to your arbor knot, crank the drag down as hard as you like, and reel yourself back in while keeping some good tension on the rod. 

 

Have been doing that for at least 10 years now and in that time have had very few instances of digging in unless it is just the top layers that have been cast out and reeled back in without any tension other than the lure.

 

I now have a setup where I can put up to 10lb straight line tension on whatever I'm spooling, and let me tell you how tight that will pack it on your reel. It is rather amazing.

[Dens228]

9 hours ago, Zachary M said:

No not necessarily for no reason. Usually if I’m fishing jigs and I am dragging bottom, every time I drag bottom, I feel like the Braid is digging in. When I go to recast, whenever my line reaches that particular area on the spool where I was dragging my jig over rocks, it catches and ruins the cast.

Sometimes a backlash goes deeper than you think too.  If you've backlashed that reel at some point.  I've dug out some nasty ones and for the life of me couldn't figure out how it got that deep into the spool.  LOL

[redux]

I use 4-strand 40# and 65# Power Pro on my bait casters. The 40# is for normal fishing and the 65# is for heavy cover. When I find it I always go with the Max Quatro because it is thinner and I can get more on the spool.

 

For my spinning setups I like 20# 4-strand Power Pro.

[LionHeart]

10 hours ago, Zachary M said:

No not necessarily for no reason. Usually if I’m fishing jigs and I am dragging bottom, every time I drag bottom, I feel like the Braid is digging in. When I go to recast, whenever my line reaches that particular area on the spool where I was dragging my jig over rocks, it catches and ruins the cast.

That's a weird one.  30 lb is not ideal but should not dig in like that from just dragging a jig. Assuming your reel is working correctly (levelwind), I guess the only thing to do is spool up with different braid.  40 lb Power Pro should reduce your problem significantly.  It is what I use on my jig and worm rods and I seldom get line dig.  When I do, it is pretty minor.

[dodgeguy]

Original powerpro is one of the worst lines today for digging in. Modern 8 strand braids such as Sufix 832 are better.ive used j braid and feel it's to soft and digs in also.Find a good 8 strand braid you like and use at least 50 lb. I'm not saying it will never sign but it should be less.

.