Braid digging ??

[Bird]

Since joining BR I've read many threads where members talked about braided line digging into spool.

Since I'm an exclusive braid user I always took note and never dismissed what other experienced fisherman had to say about this.

 

More time passes and more threads regarding digging become mainstream and I'm Left with this....... what's going on ?

 

Why would the baitcasting reels I'm using not experience digging when using thin diameter 20# braid ?

Starting to feel discriminated apon.

 

One of you old cats elaborate why I don't have issues with digging....... what am I doing wrong ? Lol

[the reel ess]

I can't say because I don't go below 30# braid on baitcast reels. It only digs in when I have to yank the hook free from a snag. But I imagine 20# would do worse in the same situation. So maybe that's what people are saying. Maybe you aren't pitching into heavy cover like some of us.

[crypt]

I have found when I use  braid 20 lb. or smaller that when I set the hook hard it digs in. and when I go to make a cast it gets all out of whack. but bigger line say above 30-on up it doesn't happen as much. 

that is why I use smaller braid on spinning gear.

[Trox]

This must be you: https://www.bustle.com/articles/135284-are-some-people-luckier-6-traits-of-lucky-people-according-to-science

[Bird]

15 minutes ago, TroxBox said:

This must be you: https://www.bustle.com/articles/135284-are-some-people-luckier-6-traits-of-lucky-people-according-to-science

I'm thinking you nailed it ?

[dodgeguy]

A) you catch weak fish that don't pull hard.

B)your drag is really loose 

C)you don't have weeds in your lake where you pull up 5 lb bass with 10 pounds of wet weeds.

D)You never set the hook into a stump.  

Either that or you are really lucky. I never use braid under 50 lb test on a baitcaster. It's only 12 lb diameter. It casts just as far as 30 and sometimes further because it digs less.

 

 

[casts_by_fly]

Only time for me where I get a little digging (outside of pulling drag with my hand) are when I am pitching or doing something else where I have a lot of line out and next to no tension on it. Throwing walking baits comes to mind.  Then after a lot of that and loosening up the top layers fighting a fish on a short line then digs the line into the top layer. I just had that on a pike last week.  I was pitching a swim bait for a while and the top layers were loose.  It was a good fish that hit close to the boat and the line dug down two or three layers. Just enough that you couldn’t pitch it without popping it free.  This was 30 lb 832 braid. 
 

rick

[Bird]

1 minute ago, dodgeguy said:

A) you catch weak fish that don't pull hard.

B)your drag is really loose 

C)you don't have weeds in your lake where you pull up 5 lb bass with 10 pounds of wet weeds.

D)You never set the hook into a stump.  

Either that or you are really lucky. I never use braid under 50 lb test on a baitcaster. It's only 12 lb diameter. It casts just as far as 30 and sometimes further because it digs less.

 

 

Non of the above except luck. Lol

[islandbass]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

Since joining BR I've read many threads where members talked about braided line digging into spool.

Since I'm an exclusive braid user I always took note and never dismissed what other experienced fisherman had to say about this.

 

More time passes and more threads regarding digging become mainstream and I'm Left with this....... what's going on ?

 

Why would the baitcasting reels I'm using not experience digging when using thin diameter 20# braid ?

Starting to feel discriminated apon.

 

One of you old cats elaborate why I don't have issues with digging....... what am I doing wrong ? Lol

Not everyone suffers from line dig, even at 20# braid and I’m one of the few like you. 
 

Whatever you are doing, keep it up because you’re avoiding this potentially irksome encounter. 

 

One typical cause is throwing lighter weighted lures or set ups that get snagged on something like the bottom or a trunk. Bottom line, the lure is stuck. Then the angler attempts to free the lure by yanking to free it using their rod and his or her drag is set really tight. This exertion, if the drag is tight enough or if they’re holding the spool down with their thumb, causes the thin line on the upper part of the spool to “dig into” the line beneath it. 
 

Because the lure, whatever it is, tends to be on the light side of the weight spectrum, depending on the force applied on the next cast, it might not have enough speed/Imphal to “free” the line that was dug in. You will typically see a little overrunning or the cast might get cut short. 
 

This is less if ever an issue, the heavier the lure. For example, you will hardly see this happen if you cast a 1/2 oz jig. They are simply “heavy” enough to bust through any line dig. 
 

I’ll just throw it back to you and ask or describe how you fish with 20# braid that doesn’t cause or at least minimizes the potential for line dig. This would certainly help newbies who encounter line dig issues. ?
 

 

 

[Bird]

16 minutes ago, islandbass said:

Not everyone suffers from line dig, even at 20# braid and I’m one of the few like you. 
 

Whatever you are doing, keep it up because you’re avoiding this potentially irksome encounter. 

 

One typical cause is throwing lighter weighted lures or set ups that get snagged on something like the bottom or a trunk. Bottom line, the lure is stuck. Then the angler attempts to free the lure by yanking to free it using their rod and his or her drag is set really tight. This exertion, if the drag is tight enough or if they’re holding the spool down with their thumb, causes the thin line on the upper part of the spool to “dig into” the line beneath it. 
 

Because the lure, whatever it is, tends to be on the light side of the weight spectrum, depending on the force applied on the next cast, it might not have enough speed/Imphal to “free” the line that was dug in. You will typically see a little overrunning or the cast might get cut short. 
 

This is less if ever an issue, the heavier the lure. For example, you will hardly see this happen if you cast a 1/2 oz jig. They are simply “heavy” enough to bust through any line dig. 
 

I’ll just throw it back to you and ask or describe how you fish with 20# braid that doesn’t cause or at least minimizes the potential for line dig. This would certainly help newbies who encounter line dig issues. ?
 

 

 

Mature response.

 

1/4 is the lightest I throw on a baitcaster and 3/8 much more common.

Every bait is a moving bait, Spinnerbaits, swim Jigs, cranks, buzzbaits, ploppers etc.

 

Perhaps the fact that the baits I throw are minimal bottom contact ( swim Jigs ) being the exception, more of a bump.

 

My original post was certainly not to debate or boast ( definitely not me ) but just curiosity.

 

Those who get offended, your mamma is just a call away. Lol

[Scott F]

I only use 20lb braid on my baitcasters and don’t find that the line digs in on reels. I never lock down my drag. Even 25 lb pike don’t pull out drag. I don’t fish for bass in the slop, I don’t see cover like that on lakes I fish. If I get any kind of backlash, I make sure that there isn’t a buried backlash that will stop the cast short. I also don’t use the reel to pull out snags.

[PhishLI]

I have 30lb J8 on 4 reels, and 40lb J8 on 2. I always have at least 2 reels spooled with 30lb with me, and they get a LOT of fishing time. I never ever pull out hard snags using a reel. I haven't had a hard backlash on a cast in a very long time with 30lb. When it did happen I reeled in the bait, then pitched the next cast down to the dig in, then pulled out the dig in. No big deal if it happens again. So dig in can happen in this rare scenario, but knowing what to do afterward will save you from casting off a bait on the very next cast.

 

The lightest bait I throw on any of the 30lb rigs is a 8 gram when rigged Hazedong Shad. Not a resistance bait by any measure, so it isn't tightening the line much at all, and no issues with dig in after plenty of solid fish pulled through junk, pad fields, and with mounds of weeds in tow. Maybe the Daiwa J8 is really good at not digging in? I have no desire to switch.

[dodgeguy]

All braid users should have a 12 x1 inch thick wooden dowel to wrap your line around when pulling snags. It prevents all dig  and keeps you from breaking a rod and or getting braid cuts on your hands.

[OkobojiEagle]

7 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

All braid users should have a 12 x1 inch thick wooden dowel to wrap your line around when pulling snags. It prevents all dig  and keeps you from breaking a rod and or getting braid cuts on your hands.

Wooden sewing thread spool works as well, and hangs nicely on a lanyard.

[Bird]

14 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

All braid users should have a 12 x1 inch thick wooden dowel to wrap your line around when pulling snags. It prevents all dig  and keeps you from breaking a rod and or getting braid cuts on your hands.

Positiively and always tell your fishing partner to brace themselves when attempting a break. Lol

I use my net handle.

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, dodgeguy said:

All braid users should have a 12 x1 inch thick wooden dowel to wrap your line around when pulling snags. It prevents all dig  and keeps you from breaking a rod and or getting braid cuts on your hands.

Good advice. Unfortunately I've broken my line at the dowel more than once losing a ton of line and leaving behind a hazard for birds and props.

 

Don't do this. I'm batty, so I do. While fishing my brother and I wear or always keep gloves with us made for safe handling of expanded metal wire lath, which is very sharp stuff. I can safely grab braided line at anytime during a catch if I need to whether it's a fish wrapped in the pads, baits caught in bushes, to pull knots tightly, etc. For hard snags I make two or three wraps around my mitt and pull in whatever's stuck on the end of the line. It either breaks at the knot or the hooks bend out. The line never breaks at my hand or away from the knot. Even 50lb.

 

[Bluebasser86]

I use 20lb braid on a couple baitcasters. Those rigs are for fishing treble hooked topwaters where I'm not doing big hooksets and the drag is set fairly loose. I've never had an issue with dig in on them. 

[Hammer 4]

Several years ago, I spooled my Shimano Curado 301 E7 with Diawa Samurai 30# braid. The reels was mounted on a Dobyns 8' Champion swimbait rod. Maybe not so unusual, but I was throwing 6 and 8 hudds with it. The reason for the 30# braid was when I was shore fishing I needed to make super long cast's. Not once did I have any line digging in.

Caught more than a few 6 and 7 lb bass. The best test was when I was fishing in Newport Harbor in my float tube with it, and hooked a nice 8 lb white sea bass, which put up a very hard fight, landed the fish without issue.  

[Lead Head]

My best guess...

You do a good job keeping line tight on your spool (I see you're using mostly moving baits), you have your drag set properly, and you don't use the reel to pull free snags. These things will eliminate most line digging problems. 

 

Most people who use 65# braid in slop aren't using line that heavy to prevent breakoffs. The majority of bass rods will fail long before 65# braid. I would guess thumbing the spool and attempting to fail 65# braid would damage many reels.

 

Many people who report unmanageable line digging problems are either new to braid, new to baitcasters, or both. 

[Catt]

9 hours ago, Scott F said:

I make sure that there isn’t a buried backlash that will stop the cast short.

 

One solution right there

 

I've also noticed when spooling braid most anglers don't put enough tension on the line. I spool all lines as tight as i can.

 

After a few cast you line will get "loose", this is an opportunity for braid to dig in on hookset. I'll make a really long cast, strip a couple arms lengths, pinch the line between my thumb/index finger & reel it back up as tight as possible. 

 

That's a dumb Cajun's opinion!

[cyclops2]

I do it Catts way due to fuzzy end of Braided knot And the loss of line from deep water snags. The shorter top layer exposes the splice knot more & more. So I carefully put the knot at the edge of the spool back lip.  Then that gets too exposed.

 

Big spender does a respooling of the 4# or 6# line on top.

[Tatulatard]

19 hours ago, Bird said:

Since joining BR I've read many threads where members talked about braided line digging into spool.

Since I'm an exclusive braid user I always took note and never dismissed what other experienced fisherman had to say about this.

 

More time passes and more threads regarding digging become mainstream and I'm Left with this....... what's going on ?

 

Why would the baitcasting reels I'm using not experience digging when using thin diameter 20# braid ?

Starting to feel discriminated apon.

 

One of you old cats elaborate why I don't have issues with digging....... what am I doing wrong ? Lol

You're not boat flipping, you're not pulling out snags with the reel, you're not running high drag pressures you're not using super deep spools with a pile of line wound on under no tension.  These all contribute to line dig in with thiner braids.  

[the reel ess]

8 hours ago, Lead Head said:

My best guess...

You do a good job keeping line tight on your spool (I see you're using mostly moving baits), you have your drag set properly, and you don't use the reel to pull free snags. These things will eliminate most line digging problems. 

 

Most people who use 65# braid in slop aren't using line that heavy to prevent breakoffs. The majority of bass rods will fail long before 65# braid. I would guess thumbing the spool and attempting to fail 65# braid would damage many reels.

 

Many people who report unmanageable line digging problems are either new to braid, new to baitcasters, or both. 

I had a T rig hopelessly hung up fishing with a guide. His combo. He had 65# on it and told me to break it off. I handed it to him and told him I wasn't going to destroy his Curado.

[waymont]

I regularly fish 20lb braid on jig/t rig/flukes and don't have an issue with digging. After a hard hook set and catch of a bigger fish, my next cast will have a little "sticky" spot on the line where I had the hook set. However it's not stuck, or even a little annoyance. 

I never understood why people complain about it so much.

I load my reels with 1.5 times of my longest cast, and use mono backing. Maybe that's the answer, but I have no idea.

 

19 hours ago, Bird said:

braided line digging into spool.

 

[dodgeguy]

26 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

I had a T rig hopelessly hung up fishing with a guide. His combo. He had 65# on it and told me to break it off. I handed it to him and told him I wasn't going to destroy his Curado.

That's why I use a wood dowel.