Using Braid in clear water?

[Tokyo Tony]

Red fades just as much if not more than the green.  I use yellow 90% of the time now, and if it does fade, I haven't noticed it.  I used one spool all winter and it looks as good as new.

[RoLo]

To me it's one of the mysteries of bass fishing

One chooses braided line because of it's the strongest type of fishing line in relation to its diameter, almost zero stretch & highly resistant to abrasion. Then one chooses to attach the same monofilament they were trying to get away from in the beginning.

Tom raises an interesting question, and I think the answer stems from a common misconception among anglers.

Years back, my wife & I vacationed at Dale Hollow Reservoir to wrestle with smallmouth bass.

Billy Westmoreland, who was still alive then, was the local expert who started a cult-like following for the use of 4-lb line.

Ask anyone why you need to use 4-lb line and nearly every reply will be the same.

They will explain to you that bass can see 8-lb and even 6-lb line in that gin clear water.

Well, mom & I used fine diameter line too, but that wasn't the reason why.

In my view anyway, bass don't even care about our line, they've got more important things on their mind

like lure action, lure size and lure speed. Crystal clear water makes it very easy for bass to detect unnatural action.

The difference may be subtle to us landlubbers, but to a bass it may be the difference between a living creature and debris.

Line Drag

Try to imagine the cumulative area of all your fishing line in the water, by visualizing a perfect square with the exact same area.

As an arbitrary example, let's suppose you end-up with a 1-inch square (close enough).

Although fishing line is measured in thousandths of an inch, that 1" square acts like a planing board,

and encumbers the action of the lure. When we reduce the line diameter from 0.013" to 0.008",

we reduce the 1.000" planing board to a 0.615" square. Any fly-fisherman will tell you about the critical importance of line-drag.

Downsizing to lighter line reduces line drag and enhances lure action, but "line invisibility" will usually get the credit.

Roger

[Cory20]

I'm gonna add a question here...

I have some yellow PowerPro and have noticed the red PP for sale at BPS. Do these color braids fade as well??

I bought the yellow by accident and have it on a spinning reel that I haven't used yet. What do you folks think??

Tin...

I know you are only 19 years old and don't know anything about anything, but you can weigh in on this if you care to!!

ajr

My black sharpie thinks it would be fine  

[0119]

Field and Stream had an article about a young guy in Penn. who was an expert on smallies.  He snorkeled while his partners fished with various lures and line.  He concluded that smallies could detect and avoided all superlines.  But he also said they avoided mono over 8lb test too.  And he never fished unless he wore camo when on shore or some kind of blue white camo when on the boat.  Im glad the bass and snook arent that sensitive where I live!

[Tin]

Field and Stream had an article about a young guy in Penn. who was an expert on smallies. He snorkeled while his partners fished with various lures and line. He concluded that smallies could detect and avoided all superlines. But he also said they avoided mono over 8lb test too. And he never fished unless he wore camo when on shore or some kind of blue white camo when on the boat. Im glad the bass and snook arent that sensitive where I live!

Any idea where this article could be found. :-? ;D

[Bassnajr]

That camo stuff sounds like Doug Hannon. Isn't he a proponent of mute colors and camoed boats??

ajr

[Wayne P.]

That young guy from Penn really knows some stuff. I guess those pros that catch 20#+ limits of smallmouth bass while wearing their bright red-blue-white-yellow- green- purple- shirts in boats with corresponding colors and 20# line don't know what they are doing. They don't fish from shore, so that may make a difference.

[Bassnajr]

I swam with the largemouth once.....

I got my mask and snorkel, dove under.....but then I got scared!!! They are much bigger under water!!!!!

Plus they ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich!!!!

ajr >

[0119]

Tin,  I wish I did.  It was in print about 3 years ago.  Ive looked on their website to see if any archived articles were available, but nope.  I dont recall his name either.  It stayed on my maind because I was very much the finesse fisherman.  But I have found more success power fishing the last 2 years or so.  There is something to be said about camo when fishing from shore though, its worked for me while inshore flats fishing.

[telecaster]

Rolo was making some good points.I dont use braid,but was thinking about spooling up a heavy cover rod this season with it.I'm thinking now I may try it in other situations.

[island bassin]

I know the red fades, I have never used the yellow before though. :-/

yellow fades as well

[kms399]

I had an instance where i was fishing in a boat with a guy in very clear water, we were both using a black and blue 3/8 ounce jig in very clear water. I was using 20# power pro and he was using like 14# flouro or something like that he caught all the fish. I switched after about 30 minutes of this to my rod spooled with 12# gamma clear and bam! I started catching fish we ended up just about even as far as numbers go but he beat me by catching 3 snapping turtles.