Why do YOU fish for bass with 65+pound braid?

[jimanchower]

I think braid makes a lot of sense for a lot of presentations. I use 30# as my go-to on baitcasters but I use 50# in some applications. If you use something with a 65# test of heavier, what's your #1 reason for doing so over, say, 40# or 50#?

 

edit to clarify: I'm asking why you'd use braid with a diameter corresponding to 65+ pound test over braid with a smaller diameter

[Captain Phil]

50# is as heavy as I ever use and that's for flipping and frog fishing in heavy cover.

[FrnkNsteen]

Ability to cut through the weeds. We don't have heavy vegetarion around here in Indiana, so I have 30lb on most things, but I do have a few setups with 50+ on them... mainly my from rods.

 

We used to fish smallies on big sandy flats full of cabbage. If you didn't have heavy braid on, the big smallies would make a run through the cabbage and tie you up. With heavy braid it just cuts right through it.

Most of my braid rigs have 30lb that is,.... Rest are straight mono or flouro

[jimanchower]

@FrnkNsteen I would think 30# braid would cut through vegetation better than 65# braid, right? It certainly cuts into my hands better.

[Zcoker]

I fish the everglades, mainly at night. I would not consider using anything less than 50lb strait braid. For one, the thick cover that I'm always fishing around demands it. No way to pull out a 8-9lb fish from the thick stuff without some heavy line to do it with. Same goes for top water, they hit and head for the weeds. The bass that hit at night are usually tanks and I need to set the hook--hard! Strait 50-65 helps with that immensely. When I get a snag, a hard pull always brings the lure home. I can't remember loosing a lure out there....except maybe from an alligator lol  Any lighter of line would just be laughed at. Another reason is confidence, no break-offs or sudden snaps. I see absolutely no difference day or night using heavy braid where I fish--they hit with a vengeance! 

[Darth-Baiter]

me.  punching only.  i do think it casts better since it doesnt seem to bite into the spool as easily.   but i dont have much time on the system. 

 

i do have to hand pull out tight spots on my reel with 30 or 40 braid.  i forget what it is.  i think 40.  

[MN Fisher]

I don't - 50# is what I have on my pitch/punch rig...that's as heavy as I need.

[Mike L]

I use 65# and 80# original Power Pro on both punch rigs and glad I do

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[Bankc]

I don't.  My reel's drag will slip, even locked down, long before even 30# braid will be tested.  My rods will break too.  

 

Though, on the next cast after pulling a bass out of some nasty salad, I often do wish I had used 65# braid.  The bird's nest created from the line digging into my spool by cranking on that thin 30# diameter line can take a lot of fun out of your day.

[jimanchower]

17 minutes ago, Mike L said:

I use 65# and 80# original Power Pro on both punch rigs and glad I do

 

Why do you use 80 over 65, or 65 over 50?

[LrgmouthShad]

65 over 50 for punching for me because I am sometimes punching next to, into, or past wood. Hydrilla and standing timber coexist in a lot of places on Stillhouse. My braid can get cut by the timber, and I want extra resistance to that. Otherwise, as far as purely punching goes, I’m not concerned with casting distance and I appreciate the way 65lb comes off the spool as opposed to 50lb. So in your poll, #2 and #4

[Mike L]

I use 50# almost exclusively for frogs as it casts easier when I’m trying to make a long cast to the back of a pad or topped out surface vegetation. 
 

#65 for punching through topped out moderate to heavy of whatever but mostly hydrilla. 
 

#80 is for the thickest of areas of topped out to submerged hydrilla but mostly for hyacinth. 
 

I started using 80# during my first season as a B.A.S.S. Marshall when 2 of my pro’s were using it and been hooked since. 

I use it in the heaviest and thickest of cover. 
It gives the most penetration to get her head up and out quicker with less stress for her and me. 
It have better abrasion resistance as it takes longer to wear and fray. 
Another plus it’s harder to backlash when I screw up trying to make an excessive pitch. 
 

80# is the equivalent to around 20# mono with 65# about 15 so using a specific reel isn’t that critical.
The only caveat I have is my reel for the 80# (not so much for the #65) is deeper than it’s really needed since most presentations are flipping up close and personal as I lose a lot of line capacity compared to everything else.

 

Most guys on here will shake thier head and say using 80# or some even will say 65# is overkill.

 In most situations in other parts of the country it is, but given the ideal conditions in my home water, especially this time of the year It’s always proven to be the right choice. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

1 hour ago, jimanchower said:

 

Why do you use 80 over 65, or 65 over 50?

 

[Columbia Craw]

I’ve never found a sea gull I couldn’t winch in with 50lb or lighter.

[rudderless]

We have many underwater hazards here on the Mohawk river,upstate NY.  Model T autos from many years ago, washers, tv's, bicycles, shopping carts, riprap near the locks and other..

 

We had a hurricane back in 2011 that added more to the hazards.  Trees, cement tubes..6ft dia x 10ft long that were washed into the river when the flood water bypassed the locks on the sides.

 

...hence the needed "rope" to fetch our expensive lures..hopefully just needing hooks..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A-Jay]

I just have no choice Man !

A-Jay

[ike8120]

I use 65# on my froggin setup, need the extra strength to get out of the lily pads if snagged.

[WRB]

Back around 1990 I had 2 of my International 30W 2 sped off shore reels spooled with Fins original 65# PRC braid and topped off with 100’ of 50 lb Soft Steel Mono. This gave me 600 yards of line for big marlin and tuna on the smaller reels.

I had a partial spool left over and used it for fishing the Delta and Clear Lake frog fishing and punching heavy cover. 65# braid was .012D and easy to hold with my fingers without braid cuts. I still some of the 90’s Fins braid, never faded very quite braid.

Can’t needing 65# braid for bass fishing for it’s strength but the .012D makes easy to handle.

Tom

[Catt]

Currently using 50# because they were out of 65#!

 

[tunaman]

Because… Delta. Punching, flipping, froggin’ - when I lived there most of the reels were spooled with 65#.

[Mike L]

We can hook and land a 10# bass in open water with a 6ft lightweight spinning rod with 6# line casting an unweighted trick worm, and never think twice about it. 
 

Punching through 2 ft of matted hyacinth floating over a foot of submerged hydrilla, flipping a 2oz weight, attached to the right equipment is the same principle, just on the opposite end of the spectrum. 
 

 

 

 

Mike
 

 

[Captain Phil]

16 hours ago, Zcoker said:

I fish the everglades, mainly at night. I would not consider using anything less than 50lb strait braid. For one, the thick cover that I'm always fishing around demands it. No way to pull out a 8-9lb fish from the thick stuff without some heavy line to do it with. Same goes for top water, they hit and head for the weeds. The bass that hit at night are usually tanks and I need to set the hook--hard! Strait 50-65 helps with that immensely. When I get a snag, a hard pull always brings the lure home. I can't remember loosing a lure out there....except maybe from an alligator lol  Any lighter of line would just be laughed at. Another reason is confidence, no break-offs or sudden snaps. I see absolutely no difference day or night using heavy braid where I fish--they hit with a vengeance! 

I fished the Everglades for over 40 years.  You could use dock line for fishing line and it wouldn't matter.  ?

[Tennessee Boy]

In heavy grass you need heavy line.  50# is enough but none of the advantages of using lighter line apply.  I’m not worried about fish seeing the line.  I’m using heavy lures so casting distance is not an issue.  65# works great so why go any lighter.   
 

I started with Spider Wire in the mid 90s.  It was the first product manufactured by BBS Tech in Kentucky when they were founded in 1994.  They later introduced their own FINS brand which is my go to braid today.

[J Francho]

I haven't used 65 lb. braid in years. 50 lb. Gets the job done for me. 

[PhishLI]

I've never bothered with 65lb braid because I've never been broken off using straight 50lb Daiwa J8, and my local waters are super choked out with lily pads, heavy milfoil, and water chestnut. Haven't been broken off using 40lb either and only a few times with 30lb so I'm more judicious around the worst of it even though it's a rarity. Only when they've done a full wrap around a pad stalk early in the season is there danger of guillotining the knot using 30lb, but I can count the times on one hand where this has happened, so I use this lb rating the most without worry.

[Big Swimbait]

65# braid to a 30# leader for all of my swimbaits over 3 ounces. On the other end of the spectrum, I have been killing them on 20# Power Pro Camo braid with NO leader on a Med spinning rod.