Worst Thing Your Tackle Can Do !!!

[Fish Chris]

{besides just flat out break, and lose the fish for you, of course.... which actually, this problem could lead to that too !}

So I was watching an episode of "Hooked" on the Nat Geo channel a little while ago, and this older guy hooks a monster Halibut ! So, he's leaning back and applying all the torque his tackle, and himself could generate, when suddenly > ZZZRRRPP ! His rod rips straight up from like the 7 o'clock position, to the 11 o'clock position, in 1/20 of a second, then jolts to an instant stop ! It was such a hard, unexpected surge, the poor old guy just about lost his balance !

Now, you know what happened there..... right ??? Hey SirSnook, I'm sure you can back me up on this one... Remember back in the old days when we used that lame arse monofilament ?

Well, because of all of the stretch, you have this tremendous build up of energy, then, when the drag finally breaks free, it shoots out in a micro-second, then sticks again, and the energy build up starts again !

I'm telling you, this is just the ugliest, funkiest, lamest thing your setup can do ! And it's 98% because of lame monofilament line !

Even a not so great drag system will surge far less, when used with non-stretch braided line.

Man, I had almost forgot about this happening to me all those years ago, when I used to use mono.... But after watching this guys rod surging so bad, it was almost whacking him in the forehead, I was thinking, "Thank God I use nothing but braid now days".

Just another great thing about braid, which is not often brought up....

Peace,

Fish

[Getfished]

I realize what you are referring to. Where I live I mostly only fish for bass. they rarely engage my drag, but yes....... thank goodness for braid and carbontex fiber washers.

[Bluebasser86]

I had that happen once when I hooked a 40+lb flathead on 10lb mono fishing for hybrids. I thought I broke off for a split second before my rod stopped and I felt the fish again. I was very lucky I had it hooked in the corner of the mouth because if the hook would have been in the hard part of the mouth by the fishes teeth I'm sure that slack line would have let the bucktail fall out.

[SirSnookalot]

As far as I'm concerned mono is only good for tieing up my tomato & bugenvilla plants, I think 30# braid is even better for that.

My only negative to braid is offshore trolling with spoons, the line twist created will not troll out like with mono. The few times a year I go on a drift boat I use mono ( Shakespere supreme, $4.00 for 300 yds)as many tangles with other lines occur and we are always cutting line. I also do not take my best equipment with me either.

I'm not fussy about the braid brand, it's all pretty much the same for me, I'm using, many years old, 30# Gorilla braid on my shark spinning outfit.

[J Francho]

I hate the hook set into nothing with braid because the zebra/quagga mussels sliced you off.

Someday I'm going to make a million dollars off of scissors made out of those little suckers.

[WRB]

The drag surge maybe a result of a poorly maintained drag. I have fished the Pacific side of Baja for tuna and marlin 40 years using mono line without any issues with the line related drag surge. The smaller diameter super braids are used mostly for extra line capacity and reduced line drag in the water with big high speed fish and that is big advantage with braid. Must anglers fishing off shore use braid as a backing with mono or FC top shot of 100'.

Bass anglers rarely have a 100' of line out in the water and bass are not fast swimmers or hard fighters for long time periods.

Braid has it's advantages and disadvantages; select the right line for the type of fishing you do; braid, FC and mono all work under the right conditions and keep your tackle tuned up.

Tom

[Fish Chris]

Thanks guys.

A few things I should add...

For one, the guy fighting that huge Halibut, with the lame drag system, did actually land the fish, and it was some sort of record (maybe for Dutch Harbor ? BTW, does that place ring a bell ? Deadliest Catch I'd love to fish out of there, and meet those guys in person, but anyway)

JF, not to side track my own thread, but since you guys already have quagga / zebra mussels, do they hassle the living $#%% out of you with inspections / fees, at every boat ramp, on every place you try to fish ?

They do here, and it's just getting ridiculous ! Sometimes I wish the darn things would just hurry up and invade everywhere, so they would leave us fishermen the heck alone !

WRB, absolutely the importance of a good smooth drag (read: carbontex ) cannot be overlooked. I'm just saying that whether you have a lame drag, or a nice smooth one, either way, braid will make that system perform just that much smoother.

Peace,

Fish

[J Francho]

Chris, there are some lakes that don't have them, and there are a few places that have started inspections, but not many. Other than being sharp as knives, so far they have only improved fishing, IMO. Yeah, they're invasive non native critters, but like the goby and the alewife have positively impacted the fishery....so far. Time will only tell.

[RoLo]

Back in the day, my bluewater stomping grounds was the New York Bight

(BA Buoy - Mudhole - Monster Ledge - False Canyon ~ ~).

During that era, braided Nylon and braided Dacron were readily available,

but braided Polyethylene was not (No super lines back then).

Save the leader, all my tuna & shark fishing was done with Ande clear nylon mono.

As mentioned above, a smooooth drag is a must when battling powerful fish on stretchy nylon.

In addition, I normally wore a gimbal belt and shoulder harness when standup fishing,

so drag surge was never overwhelming.

That said, if I were bluewater fishing today, I'd opt for braided polyethylene (same as freshwater).

Conventional wisdom is to remove ALL slack line before setting the hook.

However this advice has its roots in rubbery nylon mono, where you can't afford

any loss in hook-set stroke, but really doesn't apply to braid. .

Roger

[.ghoti.]

As far as I'm concerned mono is only good for tieing up my tomato & bugenvilla plants, I think 30# braid is even better for that.

Sir Snook, you've managed to do something nobody else has. You've convinced me to try some braid again. I'm getting ready to put out my garden, and I need something to tie up my tomato and pepper plants. A spool of #50 Power Pro sounds like just the thing.

[FD.]

Sir Snook, you've managed to do something nobody else has. You've convinced me to try some braid again. I'm getting ready to put out my garden, and I need something to tie up my tomato and pepper plants. A spool of #50 Power Pro sounds like just the thing.

Wow, you are stuborn.. I would have thought snapping off on all those fish in Harris a few years back would have done the trick.

[Fish Chris]

Ya' know ghoti, I can totally understand / relate to anybody who has tried braid, and just couldn't get used to it.

Even after all the years I've used braid now (more than 15 ?) I can still remember how it felt SOOO darn different than any mono I had ever used, that it was almost like learning how to fish all over again. I still remember how it completely threw me off, for months.... if not a year or two.

I'm just glad I stuck with it. As looking back at it now, no other change in my fishing, has made such a huge, positive difference in my success !

Fish

[.ghoti.]

I was the first person I know to jump on the braid bandwagon. I bought a fill of Fenwick Iron Thread back in the early days when you could not buy a spool of braid. I had to find a tackle shop that had it, and let them fill up the reel. It was expensive.

I discovered early (first trip out) that the line would slip on the spool, and corrected that. I thought all was right with the world, and had all the rest of my reels filled with IT.

I fished nothing but braid for the next four years, trying Spiderwire, every version Berkley came out with; every other brand I could find for that matter.

I discovered all the problems:

line slipping on the spool, fixed that

poor knots, fixed that with better knots

digging in the spool, fixed that by going to heavier line.

wrapping around everything, I just learned to deal with that

broke two rods on the hookset because the line was wrapped around the tip, sort of fixed that by watching more carefully.

Cut my hands, a lot. fixed that

etc,etc,etc;

You know the litany.

The final straw was getting outfished in three successive tournaments by the guy I was fishing with, throwing the same baits in the same places. I was using braid, he was using mono. When he pointed this out to me, I told him he was full of beans. He then offered me his rod. I picked up his rod, loaded with mono, and started catching fish. Went back to mine, with braid, and stopped catching fish. Point taken.

Went home, bought some mono, stripped off all the braid, re-spooled with mono, and have never, I mean never, looked back. With mono, there is NOTHING that needs to be fixed.

For all of you who use braid and are happy with it, I say more power to you. They're your rods, your reels, and it's your game. Play it how you want to, it'sa none of my business. My experience with braid was not a happy one.

I have no intention of ever buying another spool of braided line.

Except maybe for the tomato and pepper plants that is.

Well, maybe for one application. If I fished in the salt a lot, I would put up with braid for the strength and line capacity. That would be a good trade off. But there's not much saltwater here in the middle of Illinois.

90% of my fishing is done in very clear water. I've found that I catch a lot more fish with light, clear line. I've trimmed my baitcasting collection down to a dozen combos. One is filled with #8, one with #14, and the rest split between #10 and #12. My lighter spinning combo has #6 with #4 on the spare spool. My heavier spinning combo has #8 and #6.

For the record I use Trilene XL for everything.

I hope I didn't offend anybody. This is the type of conversation I've told myself over and over to stay out of. ( see how well that worked?)One of those Daiwa vs Shimano vs Quantum vs Pfleuger discussions, if you know what I mean.

[Fish Chris]

Hey ghoti, absolutely, whatever works for you !

Interestingly (to me anyway) for the first 3 or 4 years I used braid, I used to tie my braid straight to my lure or hook. I caught plenty of fish, but always in the back of my mind, was the thought > but how do I know I might not be catching more fish, if I were using mono, or at least a mono leader ?

So I started using a regular mono, and then later, a fluorocarbon leader. Even used quite long ones sometimes > but I saw absolutely no difference in my number of bites ! In fact, after much testing, I ended up staying with a mono or fluoro leader, but only because it gives me better abrasion resistence around rocks, or over the teeth of a big bass + it gives me just a few feet of a shock absorber. {if a 3ft mono leader stretches 6", that's all the stretch I need }

IMPO, anglers put too much emphasis on fish seeing the line. I mean, sure, they see it.... (braid, or mono) but often, they are still dumb enough to eat whatever is attached to it

And on the other hand, I think anglers put too little emphasis on how a big, floating, foreign object (like a BOAT !) will turn fish off, and give them lock jaw.

{hey BTW, the most sure fire way to make your boat go from a "threat" to just another lump of harmless shore matter, is to beach it, and cast out to the fish. ....but how many guys in glitter rockets will do this ? LOL}

Peace,

Fish

[RoLo]

There's really no limit to the scope of fishing experiences that we angling incorrigibles might amass.

In the real-world, no one opinion can be berated, and no one opinion is carved in stone. In keeping

with my motto since 2005: WHO is right is not important...WHAT is right is all that matters.

In the clinical world of facts, braided polyethylene (super line) is the thinnest fishing line available.

“Line-watchers” commonly badmouth braided line for the dubious reason that it's difficult to see.

Hmmm, do fish see braided line better than fishermen?

Paradoxically, when sunlight strikes fluorocarbon line on a hostile angle,

to me at least, it resembles a glowing icicle! Does it look the same to fish?

During every microsecond of our angling experience, uncountable variables are in play

that affect our catch-rate. We can strain our brain, but we'd be lucky to identify 30%

of all possible variables. Humorously, while the angler may be paying attention

to line visibility, bass must accept the sight of snap-swivels, rattleboxes, weedguards

and free-swinging treble hooks. This behooves the question, if bass are willing

to accept the sight of all these obtrusive offenders, why should the sight

of a thin filament sound the death knell?

I look at it this way, in every comparison, something 'has to' win.

For example, a long-term, in-depth study may fail to pinpoint any strong

correlation with success, 'except one'. Let's suppose the only strong correlation found

was that 80% of bass were caught by anglers wearing a "beige" shirt.

Based on solid statistical evidence, would this justify a box of "beige" shirts via express delivery?

You bet it would ...

Roger

[Nosoup4u]

I am just getting started this year on using baitcaster (Abu Revo). I'm getting decent but still have the training wheels on (piece of tape across spool about two casts in). Right now I'm using 8# Suffix. Would a braid be better, worse or the same for a beginner baitcast operator?

[grimlin]

I am just getting started this year on using baitcaster (Abu Revo). I'm getting decent but still have the training wheels on (piece of tape across spool about two casts in). Right now I'm using 8# Suffix. Would a braid be better, worse or the same for a beginner baitcast operator?

Give it another year,braid is a pain in the "a" when you backlash. Give yourself some more experience on the baitcaster.One you start getting low on what you are using right now buy yourself some braid and tie on to the remaining mono.Braid is expensive and this will save you money.It will also eliminate the braid slipping on the spool as well when you are using mono backing.

For me there is a time and place to use braid.Like ghoti pointed out.I've gone back to braid for top water frogging(previously used 17 XT trilene). Going to also try some for jigs just to see how it works.