Mono for Crankbaits?

[JWOA]

8 hours ago, PourMyOwn said:

I've been using mono or copoly on crankbaits since the 1980s, I'm guessing a lot of us "old timers" just never saw the need to change. 

 guess im ignorant...part of being young i guess lol 

[volzfan59]

No florocarbon for me. For crankbaits, I use graphite composite rods and mono at all times.

[Bankbeater]

I use 10# big game for crankbaits around 1/4 oz., and 15# big game for crankbaits around 1/2 oz.

[PourMyOwn]

12 hours ago, JWOA said:

 guess im ignorant...part of being young i guess lol 

I probably have bulk spools of Silver Thread older than you!

 

[BBuck]

I like mono for most of my CB fishing, but I'm fishing pretty shallow most of the time (5 ft or less).

[galyonj]

Fluorocarbon's great line for other people to use. I'll stick to cheap copoly.

[gunsinger]

Doesn't FC sink, which would help get the CB down?

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, PourMyOwn said:

I probably have bulk spools of Silver Thread older than you!

 

I can relate to that ~ 

On topic -

While mono was all I used for a long time

(mostly because, that's all there was)

I use FC for most all my cranking needs now.

Is it 'needed' ?

Does it help me catch more or bigger bass ?

Honestly, I can not say for sure,

but what I do know for certain is

that it lasts a heck of a lot LONGER on the spool.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

[Deephaven]

First year using flouro again after being disgusted with it in the past.  Not sure I'll continue next though.  We will see.

 

Amusingly lots of responses in here are talking about less stretch with the flouro, but every test will show that it stretches more.  Not sure where this misconception comes from.

On 6/20/2021 at 6:33 PM, jimmyjoe said:

   I would wager that the difference that you saw between fluoro and mono was very logical. 1) Nylon line absorbs vibration more than fluoro, so fluoro would be more sensitive.

Fish biting is not a vibration so even if there is more critical damping of some frequencies in the line it has zero effect on sensitivity.  

On 6/20/2021 at 6:33 PM, jimmyjoe said:

   2) Fluoro has less INITIAL stretch to it.         

First post I've seen stating the difference between initial and long term.  Has someone tested this in some way?  You are boldly stating initial which means you know that it stretches more than mono, but I've not personally done a true A/B test nor have I seen one.  

[Fishes in trees]

Most of the square bills that I throw are in the half ounce range, more or less.   I throw these on 17 or 20 lb mono, mostly for purposes of abrasion resistance.  I don't throw deep divers very often, the one rig that I keep in the boat most of the time is a 7' med action All Star Cranking Rod and I use it to throw a Timber Tiger DC 16 & because I'm generally bouncing this bait off of deeper trees, I throw 15 lb Abrazx.  This gets me enough distance, and I'm not really concerned about extreme distance.  My guess is that this set up gets the DC 16 down to maybe 10 feet and this suite my purposes most of the time.

 Last year I decided I wanted a rig to throw smaller, lighter square bills and if I wanted to get a little bit deeper, a wiggle wart.   I got a slightly lighter medium action rod, filled a Curado 200 with 10 lb line and got all the distance I wanted.   I experimented with 10 lb Abrazx and 10 lb Trilene Armor Coated mono and couldn't see any appreciable difference between fluorocarbon and mono, at least comparing those 2 lines.    From pst experiences, my guess is that if I need more depth or distance that I get with the lighter action crank rod and the Curado 200 - I'll go to spinning gear & 20 lb braid.

 

I'd do that now, however I'm trying to keep the rod count on the deck to less than 20, even a dedicated junk fisherman like myself can only have so many rods on deck.

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, Deephaven said:

Fish biting is not a vibration so even if there is more critical damping of some frequencies in the line it has zero effect on sensitivity.

 

   A fisherman feels fish biting, and then reacts. The "feel" is part and parcel of the line's ability to transmit vibration. Dead line doesn't let you feel as well (nor as early), and dead line is line that absorbs vibration.

 

1 hour ago, Deephaven said:

First post I've seen stating the difference between initial and long term.  Has someone tested this in some way?  You are boldly stating initial which means you know that it stretches more than mono, but I've not personally done a true A/B test nor have I seen one.  

 

    All I did was some backyard comparisons after I read disagreements about fluoro a few years ago. You can do the same thing I did; it's easy. Tie same pound test lines, one fluoro and one mono, to a crossbar. Load them each with empty gallon jugs. Pour 1/2 cup water (4 oz.) into each at the same time. At first, there will be little or no noticeable stretch to either. As you load the lines more and more, you'll notice one will stretch more .... early on. Then, as you continue loading the jugs, you'll notice the other line catching up and stretching at a higher rate than it did initially.

   If you choose higher test lines, do the test with sand rather than water; you'll need more weight.

   When you change tests or brands of lines, do the test again. There are a lot more differences and inconsistencies between lines than you might think!

 

   One caveat: I did this in summer when the temp was over 90 degrees. Some of my buddies said that this was an important factor in my results, and that I should re-do the test at 55-70 degrees. I really don't feel like it. The test is definitely not laboratory grade, but it does take some time, and I'm not a patient person. I lost interest.

   If you're more meticulous and scientific than I am ( I can be a little sloppy), try the test for yourself and post results. They would be interesting.       jj

 

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Fishes in trees said:

 and couldn't see any appreciable difference between fluorocarbon and mono

The main difference I always notice is the 300% price increase 

[dodgeguy]

On 6/23/2021 at 7:59 AM, ChrisD46 said:

It might have been David Fritts who surmised that FC line will stretch to a point with repeated casts with "chunk & wind" lures  and then become brittle and break . You have to strip off about 8 to 10 feet of FC line after fishing a crank bait all day to overcome this FC line phenomena  with chunk and wind lures using FC line . Of course , this adds up having to cut off 8 to 10 feet of FC line off after all day of crank bait fishing thus why he has switched to co-poly line and enjoy the line cost savings .

last i heard on his video he now cranks with braid.

[WRB]

4 hours ago, gunsinger said:

Doesn't FC sink, which would help get the CB down?

FC is slightly heavier then water and will eventually sink very slowly, has little if any affect on a diving crank baits running depth. FC does have less coefficient of drag going through water creating less bow in the line. If you want to eliminate bow in the line use smaller diameter line.

Braid for example is 1/2 the diameter per lb test then either mono/Copolymer/FC. The problem with Braid very little line bow and the bass tends to tear out the treble hooks on the initial strike and limited how small diameter you can go with a baitcasting reel, need to use a spinning outfit.

I troll crank baits to determine exactly how deep each lure can dive, no noticeable difference with line types, each lure can dive only so deep, line diameter makes the difference.

Tom

[Hook2Jaw]

I use fluorocarbon for cranking, after bouncing to Berkley Big Game for a short time.  I noticed a terrible loss of sensitivity upon switching and I'm a contact cracker, though only with two seasons under my belt.  I enjoy knowing exactly what my crankbait is doing, even to the point I've started feeling the rush of a fish behind the bait.

 

To offset the cost of fluorocarbon, I use Yo-Zuri Top Knot Mainline Fluorocarbon on my cranking rigs.  I get it for under ten dollars a spool, considerably cheaper than a lot of monofilaments some of you guys use.  I also fill half my spool with cheap Kastking braid to lighten the spool and therefore, speed it up.  That increased the distance of my casts and I'm only using 70 yards of fluorocarbon at a time.

 

As far as the Topknot Mainline goes -- it's strong, I straightened a 2/0 Gamakatsu round bend worm hook with it the last time out with 10 pound test.  It doesn't have as much memory as the Berkley Vanish and Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon that I used to throw.  It's also much thinner than those lines in comparable pound tests.  It isn't as abrasion resistant as Berkley Big Game was, but I was retying that often enough already.  I'm running 14# Topknot on my deep cranking and squarebill setup and 12# on another setup for lighter cover.

 

I landed a 25"(7 pound 10 ounce), 22"(I didn't weigh her), and a 21" largemouth last week while using the aforementioned line.  It works for me and works very well.

 

Count me in the camp that doesn't like monofilament for fishing my crankbaits.

[Fishingmickey]

2 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

last i heard on his video he now cranks with braid.

bout time he started fishing like me.

FM

[scaleface]

12 lb Big Game for all my crankbait needs .

[huZZah]

^^^^^

[dodgeguy]

3 hours ago, Fishingmickey said:

bout time he started fishing like me.

FM

I've been doing it for years. 30 to be exact. Just use a softer rod.

[Deephaven]

12 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   A fisherman feels fish biting, and then reacts. The "feel" is part and parcel of the line's ability to transmit vibration. Dead line doesn't let you feel as well (nor as early), and dead line is line that absorbs vibration.

 

A fish biting has zero vibration.  The feel part has nothing to do with transmitting vibrations.  Transmitting force yes, but not vibration.

 

Thanks for the explanation on the lines.  Curious to see as they flouro tests I've seen have all had more stretch than mono.

[papajoe222]

On 6/24/2021 at 7:47 AM, gunsinger said:

Doesn't FC sink, which would help get the CB down?

Yes it does, bu not enough to get your crank deeper. What it eliminates is the bow in your line that mono has which prevents your crank from reaching its potential maximum depth. Many translate that as fluoro getting your bait deeper.