Switch to braid? No or Yes?

[Bassassasin12]

I know I know there are a bunch of braid threads going right now and I hate to make another one but I didnt want to hijack anyone elses post. Alright so for the next season I am considering making the switch to braid. I want to know why I should buy something that wraps up on your rod tip, digs into your spool, and is immposible to cut, all for pulling out a 1-5 pound fish. I want to stick to mono for certain applications like cranking and jerkbaits, but I think switching to braid for my topwater frogs and other plugs and also for flipping, pitching t rigged plastics or standup jigs. I can see how this would be an advantage because it provides more power and sensitivity, but is it worth it?

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I LOVE braid, but no way would I put it on all my reels.  I have it on one set up.  I use that for C-rigging, topwater frogs, fishing in the THICK THICK THICK stuff, and bed fishing.  I don't have the confidence to fish it exclusively.

Notice these are just my opinions.  Other people swear by braid and use it for everything.  They have confidence in it for everything ..... I don't.  Confidence in your presentation means a lot.

[dodgeguy]

first of all buy sufix braid in at least 50 lb test.this will keep digging in a non existant event.it will only dig if you force your thumb on the spool and pull against a locked drag.get a wood dowel for when you get stuck and wrap the line around it and pull.most of the time you will get your lure back.secondly it's not like mono has no issues either.third tip wrap is the worst issue but you will learn to keep that to a minimum.here's the good news.you will feel things you have never felt before.you will catch fish you have never caught before because you never knew they were biting your lure.you will feel a fish inhale a crankbait and shut his mouth on it.you will feel a double willow spinnerbait blade turn every turn at even the longest casts.you will feel the fish inhale the spinnerbait and his mouth shut then you hammer him.you will feel the slightest take on a jig or a worm.backlashes are less frequent and easier to remove from braid.you can loosen up your brake settings and thus cast furthur than with mono or flouro.you can color the line any color you want with a permanent marker.you could buy hi vis yellow and color it green,black or red if you want.i am going with red next season.drag settings with treble hooks should be looser so the fish can pull drag instead of ripping hooks out.you will be able to set a hook at any distance with just a flick of your wrist due to the lack of stretch in braid.braid takes some getting used to but to me it's the best.

[kfx400rob]

dodgeguy pretty much said it all

i have braid and do not have any problems with tip wrap if you think thats a big issue.

[RoLo]

I want to know why I should buy something that wraps up on your rod tip, digs into your spool, and is immposible to cut, all for pulling out a 1-5 pound fish.

Tip-wrap is a minor occasional occurence, in fact, I wasn't aware of tip-wrap until someone else mentioned it.

The first time I noticed it I was casting in a headwind. Small potatoes.

Digging into the spool. Here again, I wasn't aware of line-burrowing until I tried to lift a stump off the bottom of the lake.

Then my next cast was shortened by buried line. If anyone is thrown off balance by line-burrowing after a heavy hangup,

it's only a matter of seconds to strip a few yards off the spool after you've been hung-up and before the next cast.

The pike in my avatar was caught on 50 lb PowerPro braid and there was zero line-burrowing (I can't remember any that week).

Impossible to cut? Well, no, it's very easy to cut, but sometimes it's almost impossible to break. But isn't that a good thing?

Here's what I would suggest.

Start out as I did and spool-up one outfit with braided line. In short order, you'll find out for yourself, the pros and cons.

I've now got powerpro braid on every outfit with the exception of my ultra-light spinning tackle.

I have a feeling that won't last forever :

Roger

[Fish Chris]

first, if you haven't already, read Rolos post. No since in me saying the same stuff.

Second, I hear a lot of good things about suffix.... and I'm sure it kicks the carp out of any mono on the market, but it is more expensive than TUF-Line XP, which I absolutely love.

.....and yes, I'm one of those braid only guys. Been using nothing but braid, for everything from Bluegills, to Sturgeon, for going on 14 years now.

Personally speaking, switching to braid was the single, largest, most positive experience I have ever had in my nearly 40 years of fishing.

Peace,

Fish

PS, Switching to braid from mono, is quite a shock for some guys, who just never seem to get used to it. I wouldn't say it was exactly "easy" for me either, but I'm sure glad I used it long enough to get over the hump !

[Bassassasin12]

RoLo I see what your saying. If I am going to use a braid I don't think it will be sufix, I would most likely go with power pro (sorry dodge guy). I think it is the easiest to transition into out of all the braids.  I know it will be a shock but I realized it might actually be necessary for some applications such as scum frogging or pitching and flipping in heavy cover. I most certainly will never be able to have braid on every reel unless I become a "braid guy" which won't happen because I prefer mono for cranking and weightless soft plastics. For next season I think it is worth a shot to give braid i try. I think I will go with 30 lb. power pro and will use it only on my flipping rig to start out with. Some people think it is ridiculous that I am flipping with 15 pound Yo-Zuri on my reel but some people prefer that.

P.S. Fish Chris I remember you saying you were a spinning reel only guy. I have heard that spinning reels and braid just do not mix. Is this just a myth?

[Pa Angler]

I use it in heavy cover only otherwise I use Mccoy's flo blue Co-ploymer just my 02.

Chow

[RoLo]

BassAssasin12, I'd be interested in knowing what you think of braided line,

so keep us abreast. Everyone learns from everyone else.

Maybe Fish Chris is a spinning-only guy too, I sure didn't know that.

But I've gone on record saying that I do all my casting with spinning tackle.

I use conventional gear only for saltwater fishing, pike & shiner fishing for bass.

I can tell you, spinning tackle and braided spectra go together like a Center-Console and Evinrude E-Tec.

Roger

[Fish Chris]

Yes, out of the 18 or 20 reels sitting behind me here, all but two are spinning reels. Nothing against baitcasters.... in fact, they are admittedly better than spinning reels in some respects like the non-twisting aspect...... But I am just flat out lousy with a baitcaster, that's all.

So yes, I use braid on all of my spinning gear, and it works just absolutely great !

BTW, I know some guys use braid for certain techniques, and mono for others, but personally speaking, that would just mess me all up. The thing about doing that is, when I set a hook, or fight a fish, etc, I don't have to stop and think, "Now wait a minute.... am I using braid right now ?  ....or mono" ? Because to be quite honest with you, setting a hook and fighting a fish, is something that comes 100% naturally to me. I don't have to contemplate "how" to do this. It's just a purely automatic reaction. On the other hand, if I were switching back and forth between braid and mono, I would always have to stop myself for however many fractions of a second, to ask myself, "Am using braid ? .... Because I don't want to swing too hard"..... or, "Am I'm using a monofilament rubberband.... Because then I need to swing like a maniac" !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The only two things I have ever found a monofilament line to be better for are, 1) Nightfishing with a fluorescent line under a blacklight, and 2) Crappie fishing with 2 lb test fluorocarbon (and yes, fluorocarbon is a "mono" or single filament line).

Peace,

Fish

[Catt]

My oldest brother fell off a ladder a couple years back shattering the bones in his left arm, even after rehabilitation he couldn't set hook with a bait caster with out major pain. He switched to a spin cast with braided line so he could set hook right handed and still fishes from shallow to deep, finesse to bubba baits with absolutely no problems.

[Fish Chris]

Sorry to hear about your brothers accident, but glad to hear that he hasn't let it stop him ! Gotta' do what ya' gotta' do !

Speaking of which, the reason I am so lousy with a baitcaster.... and could never play any kind of ball sports worth a $#%^, is that I was born left handed, and forced to be right handed, by old school parents who thought life would be easier for a right hander....... Not realizing the fact that you are born, with your brain wired to your body in a particular way. So now, every physical thing I do is somewhat like a left hander trying to use his right hand, or visa-versa. You should see my hand writing ! Doh !

I've never really complained about this though. You can only go forward in life. No way to go back. This is why I don't push people towards spinning gear. I mean, yes, it works great for me, but I understand that exceedingly few people are in the same boat as I am, when it comes to hand-eye coordination.

Peace,

Fish

[RoLo]

Yes, out of the 18 or 20 reels sitting behind me here, all but two are spinning reels.

Well I'll be darned, and I thought LBH and I were the only heterodox on the forum ;D

I actually started with baitcasting gear, but as Fish Chris admitted, I too stink at casting with conventional gear, but unlike Fish Chris,

I have no excuse. As a kid, I've never even seen a spinning outfit, but after I got my first Mitchell-300 cap & blue Conolon rod,

I was hooked for life.

Much like Fish Chris, moving from mono over to braid was almost as monumental for me, as moving from casting over to spinning.

Crappie with 2-lb test fluorocarbon...Hmmmmmmm

Roger

[0119]

Hey Fish Chris,  interesting what you said about being left handed in a right handed world.   I write with my left hand but do everything else with my right hand.   I can't use a spinning reel for the life of me.   Every cast goes 30 yards strait up and ends up landing 10 yards in front of me.   25 years of trying and I still cannot use a spinning reel well.  You say you have used braided line for 14 years, I cant even remember braided line being out back then.  What brands did you use back then, and have you seen a noticible difference in the 'modern' super lines compared to them?  I have despised superline for so long but repeatedly try to use it successfully.   It ends up in the trash after nearly each trip, with me unsatisfied.

[Fish Chris]

Hello 0119. I know that braided Spectra has been out for at least 15 years, but maybe longer. Interestingly, braided dacron and polyester lines have been out for like many decades !

The first stuff I used was called Gorilla braid, and being braided Spectra, it was really thin, really strong, and non-stretch...... But, it screwed up a lot. I then went to Fenwick Iron thread for a while. Less problems, but pretty expensive, and rough through the guides (although it never caused any guide damage). Then Spiderwire for quite a while. Good stuff, but too expensive. After that, I went on this search for the ultimate braid. I actually had like 4 different companies send me sample spools. I ended up settling on TUF-Line about 4 years ago, and now that's all I use.

Yes, I think braid (or the braiding processes) have gotten somewhat better over the years...... But I also just wish I would have found TUF-Line about 10 years (or however many years they have been making) earlier ! :-)

Peace,

Fish

[Mikey]

there a lot of guys here who are GREAT bass fisherman who love it, but I don't see the advantage when mono has made so many advances in recent years. the only knot that is totally secure is the "quick-knot" with braid and its very pricey, but I would check it out in your case just to see if its for you.