First time buying braid…what am I going with?

[bgaviator]

I’ve never used braid before. 
Need advice on what size braid and color to go with?  I’ve seen a ton of praise for Suffix 832 and Berkley X9 braid. I’ve seen 10lb recommended a lot but also 15lb. I’d like to start using braid for my main line paired with a fluorocarbon leader. This will be on a 2500 sized Daiwa BG. I mostly fish a spillway that has lots of rocks. I tend to get hung up on the rocks a lot, especially when using Squarebills. So I’d like something I can easily break off if I need to.  My favorite techniques are Squarebills, lipless cranks, and Texas rigged worms and Ned Rigs.  These are my most consistent producers when using fake stuff.  Live minnows and worms under a bobber always tend to work too in my spillway. 

 

My spillway mostly consists of white bass, catfish, drum, and long nose gar. Also, any preference on color?  I was thinking of high viz yellow or neon green to be able to see the line better. Thanks. 

[Jig Man]

My personal preference is hi vis yellow in 15#.

[Jar11591]

For a spinning reel in the conditions you described, I think 15lb is the way to go. I use Sufix 832 and Power Pro and find both to be sufficient. As for color I go black or moss green. Just a preference thing. I stay away from hi-vis lines but they may be right for others. 

[BigAngus752]

When using braid on a spinning reel I choose 6lb or 4lb and I like yellow if I want high visibility or moss green if I don't.  I do not, however, throw any moving baits on spinning gear so you might prefer heavier line, but you may not like trying to fish a Ned rig on 15lb braid.  

[LCG]

10-15lb 8 strand braid sounds right. Color is dealers choice. If you're using a leader that will be the end that gets abused the most. Be sure to use mono backing on the reel before spooling the braid, helps grab the braid for drag and you don't need 300yds of braid. 

[casts_by_fly]

For what you're describing, I wouldn't go to braid.  Braid is great at a lot of things, but getting in and out of sharp rocks like you'd get on a spillway isn't one of them.  Rocks/mussels/sharp edges are the achilles heel of braid.  If you're going to do it, then I would plan for a 15' hard fluoro or mono leader since you're bank fishing and the angle across the rocks is fairly low.

 

Within what you asked, 832 is a great casting braid and 15# would be what I'd fish in your circumstance.  I fish 10# (832 and 131) on spinning and BFS and 30/50 on baitcasters.  But for you'd I'd bump up to 15# for just a little more forgiveness on abrasion.  Maybe even 20#.  If you were using a 3k sized reel I'd say 20#, but I don't know the capacity of a 2500 BG.

 

I fish yellow 832 in 10# and green in 30/50.  Both are pretty visible if you're a line watcher.  

[F14A-B]

32 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

For what you're describing, I wouldn't go to braid.  Braid is great at a lot of things, but getting in and out of sharp rocks like you'd get on a spillway isn't one of them.  Rocks/mussels/sharp edges are the achilles heel of braid.  If you're going to do it, then I would plan for a 15' hard fluoro or mono leader since you're bank fishing and the angle across the rocks is fairly low.

 

Within what you asked, 832 is a great casting braid and 15# would be what I'd fish in your circumstance.  I fish 10# (832 and 131) on spinning and BFS and 30/50 on baitcasters.  But for you'd I'd bump up to 15# for just a little more forgiveness on abrasion.  Maybe even 20#.  If you were using a 3k sized reel I'd say 20#, but I don't know the capacity of a 2500 BG.

 

I fish yellow 832 in 10# and green in 30/50.  Both are pretty visible if you're a line watcher.  

Right. He might not need to worry about getting crank baits stuck in the rocks because he may end up getting his braid destroyed prior to that. Sorry, I don’t have a recommendation on line because I fish rocks with baitcasting equipment. I would add that he should try what interests him and go from there..

[IYAOYAS]

I've been using a smaller company after the last fishing show I went too. I talked to the owner of K9 fishing line and I really liked the guy and his company. So I have switched over to k9 for all my line. Their superbraid is 9 strands and as tough and castable as any braid I've used before.

[bgaviator]

47 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

For what you're describing, I wouldn't go to braid.  Braid is great at a lot of things, but getting in and out of sharp rocks like you'd get on a spillway isn't one of them.  Rocks/mussels/sharp edges are the achilles heel of braid.  If you're going to do it, then I would plan for a 15' hard fluoro or mono leader since you're bank fishing and the angle across the rocks is fairly low.

 

Within what you asked, 832 is a great casting braid and 15# would be what I'd fish in your circumstance.  I fish 10# (832 and 131) on spinning and BFS and 30/50 on baitcasters.  But for you'd I'd bump up to 15# for just a little more forgiveness on abrasion.  Maybe even 20#.  If you were using a 3k sized reel I'd say 20#, but I don't know the capacity of a 2500 BG.

 

I fish yellow 832 in 10# and green in 30/50.  Both are pretty visible if you're a line watcher.  

I mostly wanted braid as I heard it casts better and has better sensitivity. Plus don’t have to worry about line memory like I would with straight mono. Even though I did just buy some KVD line conditioner spray to try on my ultralight spinning reel and baitcaster. I’d also like to try using fluorocarbon but I heard using straight floro can be a pain so that’s why I wanted to try using it as a leader with braid 

[FishTank]

I would definitely not use straight braid for the situations described especially around rocks or for crankbaits.  Braid to leader,  that would be a different story.  

 

To me braid has the worst abrasion resistant especially 8 strand but with a 3-6 ' fluorocabon leader material, it would be fine. I have been using YGK Upgrade #0.8 and #1.0 with a 10lb leader for about 2 years now and no issues.  I also use Sunline Almight #1.0 and #1.2 with but on BFS gear.  I really like this line as it sinks. 

[bgaviator]

23 minutes ago, FishTank said:

I would definitely not use straight braid for the situations described especially around rocks or for crankbaits.  Braid to leader,  that would be a different story.  

 

To me braid has the worst abrasion resistant especially 8 strand but with a 3-6 ' fluorocabon leader material, it would be fine. I have been using YGK Upgrade #0.8 and #1.0 with a 10lb leader for about 2 years now and no issues.  I also use Sunline Almight #1.0 and #1.2 with but on BFS gear.  I really like this line as it sinks. 

Yes I was wanting to try braid to leader. I’ve never done that technique before and it’s something I’d like to learn how to do. Been watching videos on how to tie FG knots 

[casts_by_fly]

41 minutes ago, bgaviator said:

I mostly wanted braid as I heard it casts better and has better sensitivity. Plus don’t have to worry about line memory like I would with straight mono. Even though I did just buy some KVD line conditioner spray to try on my ultralight spinning reel and baitcaster. I’d also like to try using fluorocarbon but I heard using straight floro can be a pain so that’s why I wanted to try using it as a leader with braid 

 

That's a fair point, but you need to consider the limitations also.  Braid is great around vegetation and open water.  It doesn't like being drug across sharp stuff and it will dig into wood at times.  I don't think I'd ever use it for chunking live bait, especially for bottom fishing live bait.  If you're snagging up a lot as it is now, you may want to consider slightly lighter lures or ones that don't run quite so deep.

[FellowAnglers1]

I use 8 , 10, and 15 pound berkley X9 for three different set up and recommend it.  I do braid to leader for all three. It also one of the smallest diameters braid I see on the market at the moment.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

I tog fish jettys with 10lb braid.  As long as youre careful you should be fine using braid to leader.  I think x9 is a superior casting/handling PE compared to 832, but 832 is better with abrasion.  In your situation I would go with 10lb 832.  Theres a noticeable difference in casting distance when you go up to #15 and if you nick up either 10 or 15 you should retie. 

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

I tog fish jettys with 10lb braid.  As long as youre careful you should be fine using braid to leader.  I think x9 is a superior casting/handling PE compared to 832, but 832 is better with abrasion.  In your situation I would go with 10lb 832.  Theres a noticeable difference in casting distance when you go up to #15 and if you nick up either 10 or 15 you should retie. 

Jetties from shore ?

[little giant]

I use Seagaur Abrazx fluorocarbon for my leader both fresh and salt, strong stuff. Nothing against the FGbut try the Alberto knot braid to leader.

[Metallion]

I have used a lot of suffix 832 and Diawa J braid grand, both in 20lb. I use the crazy Alberto knot for leaders and haven't had any issues. I have tried to tie the FG many times and it's just more of a pain than it's worth.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

5 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

Jetties from shore ?

Yeah, tog fishing a jetty from a boat isn't a good idea.  People do it, but IMO its not worth it.  Those fish are in the rocks tight so you have to stay on the motor the whole time while keeping an eye on the sets of waves, things can go wrong rally fast.  You're better off fishing a wreck or bridge pilings.

[Brian11719]

Based on what you described I'd actually be looking at 30lb sufix 832 to a 10lb yo-zuri hybrid leader. If you want to spend more on the leader material you could look at something like 12lb sunline fc leader.

 

Would go with the improved alberto knot that was suggested to me a while back on this forum to tie the two together:

 

I go down to 20lb sufix with an 8lb yo-zuri hybrid leader sometimes in similar circumstances but if it were me I'd probably start with 30lb braid...but if you wanted something that breaks off a little easier the 20lb setup might also be a good option.

 

FWIW sufix 832 diameter:

20lb => .009

30lb => .011

 

and yo-zuri hybrid diameter:

8lb => .011

10lb => .012

 

^ so even then the braid is higher but these two line up / tie together pretty well...I used to break off a lot on my alberto knots until I tried the 'improved' bit...since then this has been a pretty good setup.

 

The advantage that with going to a more expensive leader line is you get more lb test for less diameter so as an example that 12lb sunline fc leader is also .011 but notice you get an extra 2lbs of test and if you happen to be fishing something you want to get down deeper like a deep crank or targeting giant fish the fluorocarbon would help otherwise if you are fishing topwater or don't care (which I probably wouldn't in that spillway) a copoly line should be fine.