At a loss…knot breakage

[lynxcat]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Describe your hook set technique.

Tom

 Typically 45 degree angle over my right shoulder or a 'sweeping' horizontal hook set if I'm casting more parallel to the bank.  

[Kenny Yi]

I once used spiderwire stealth braid; would snap line on the cast and the hookset.  I now use PowerPro above 40lbs and have never looked back.  Could it be a brand thing?

[huZZah]

I love power pro 20lb braid. 30 and 65 I use the Berkeley big game braid. Yes, I think it’s totally a brand thing. 

[WRB]

48 minutes ago, lynxcat said:

 Typically 45 degree angle over my right shoulder or a 'sweeping' horizontal hook set if I'm casting more parallel to the bank.  

If you reel and sweep set you will not break the line you are using.

If you snap or whip set into slack line you will break something usually the line knot.

Tom

[MickD]

20 hours ago, lynxcat said:

felt like it happened on the actual braid itself which is shocking for 30lb braid.

It should be obvious where the break happened.  It happened at the end of what you have left.

[lynxcat]

57 minutes ago, MickD said:

It should be obvious where the break happened.  It happened at the end of what you have left.

The break typically happens in three places when using the leader. 
 

1. Right at the bait leaving the leader behind in tact. That’s the easiest one to identify. 
2. Breaks at the FC to Braid connection. Leader will be gone but sometimes that braid knot is still left so you can identify it. 
3. The main line further up the line breaks (prior to FC connection knot). This will just look like frayed braid but it’s difficult to know how far up or down the line the break occurred. 
 

Caught one small one prior to rain rolling in...no breakoff  Confidence being rebuilt!

[MickD]

10 hours ago, lynxcat said:

The main line further up the line breaks (prior to FC connection knot).

I very seldom have had braid break in the middle of its length.  Sometimes if this is happening, especially if you're seeing frayed braid, it could be that a tiptop or guide ring is cracked, damaging the line.  Use a Q-tip to check-rotate it against the ring and if it's cracked, it will grab the Q-tip fuzz.

10 hours ago, lynxcat said:

Breaks at the FC to Braid connection. Leader will be gone but sometimes that braid knot is still left so you can identify it. 

This may indicate a deficiency in the leader material being used, if it seems to be happening often or at too low of load/tension.  You might want to try FC designed for leaders, or FC fly tippet material.  Some argue it's too expensive, but one doesn't use that much of it , and I believe it's tougher than FC designed to be main line.

[Tim Kelly]

Assuming there aren't any cracks in your guides or levelwind you couldn't detect when you checked them, and you're not fishing somewhere with a load of zebra mussels, or something equally sharp, then I think the braid is probably faulty. I bought a spool of the original 8 strand power pro and thought it was very poor. Haven't investigated the V2 version, so can't comment. I always try to buy braid based on the Japanese thickness rating (PE) as that seems to be more reliable than buying on a quoted strength. Some manufacturers "30lb" braid is significantly thinner than others so more vulnerable to any minor nicks or even damage from backlashing.  A PE2.5 or PE3 line is probably going to give you a more reliable baseline for the techniques you described using. 

[Bankbeater]

If you are using a BC reel, check your level wind for sharp corners or nicks.  Also pull some line off and check it before you go fishing, could be the braid has small frays in it.

[Bankc]

Pull a bit of line off, tie it to a tree, wrap the line around something, and give it a hard yank.  See if you can snap the line.  

 

I've had bad line and line go bad, where it just snaps with a fraction of it's stated rating, even when the line is fresh off the spool.  I haven't had it happen with braid, but I don't see why it couldn't happen.  

 

Otherwise, you've probably got something wearing the line down or maybe toothy fish.  There's a pond near me with a good spot to fish from the bank, but there's some metal cable submerged about 15ft from the bank.  It ate a lot of my lures before I eventually got out there on my kayak and found it on my sonar.  Now I avoid that spot unless I'm throwing topwaters.

[txchaser]

On 6/4/2021 at 9:45 PM, lynxcat said:

Superslick

The 8-carrier braid has been pretty finicky for me on most knots. For the direct tie the double palomar is definitely better than the single. But IMO a 12-turn uni (through the eye twice) has never slipped on me, and that's full body hip-twist hooksets on straight braid. And on braid to leader, at least on the FG, same issue, different solution - you have to pop the knot a little at the beginning vs a steady pull to get it to start to bite in to the flouro. 

Knots work on friction. Superslick is... super slick? 

 

Also you mentioned something about inspecting the guides. You can't always see the damage (it happened to me on a tip-top) so fluffing up a q-tip and working the guides top and bottom you might find something. 

[Bluebasser86]

It's the Super Slick. I tried it once for pitching grass, my usual 50lb test. I've never broke braid on the hookset so many times in my life as I did with that line. I'd check the knot to make sure it was good, no zebs to cut my line, no rocks, just water willows on muck bottoms. I pitch in, get bit, and whip, nothing was there anymore, just braid flapping in the breeze. Tore it off the reel and never had the issue before or since. 

[Lead Head]

That stuff is indeed slick, and could very easily be "slipping" and not breaking. I would give the uni knot recommend above a shot. It works very well for me.