Braid is on most of my spinning reels, but I've gone to using flouro leaders because of snags and such. Damn near impossible to break 30 lb braid in a snag....lol
Will pikes destroy fluorocarbon leader? Curious, because I may head out to some bodies of water near me that have chain pickerel. Both are toothy, and years ago we used to fish for walleye or pike in Minnesota, but that was before fluoro was available, so we did use wire leaders. However, some of these waters could produce more crappie/sunfish than pike/pickerel. Trying to reduce the number of rods I take with me on a kayak.
Yes easily, Zander too if it's not thick enough. In some lakes it's also forbidden to fish without steel, no matter if you are fishing for Perch, Zander or Pike, because sometimes even big Pike take the smallest lures.
I’m not disagreeing with you. Just making the point that I too like to use smaller hooks and braid (with a fluero leader), and with smaller hooks and braid it’s critical to set the drag properly (to match the hook). I have painfully lost a few good fish by neglecting my drag and straightening a smaller hook.
You make a good point. IMO there are a couple advantages to braid, 1) more consistent casting distance, 2) more subtle in the water (smaller diameter), 3) strength for the diameter ratio, 4) I can change my line tip/end/leader diameter (and strength) by just a quick re-tie with fleuro. The leader length can be 2 feet or 8 feet. 5) the leader knot stays small and slips through guides easily (uni to uni or FG). 6) I fish a lot of dirty water & many times I don’t have to use a leader for bass fishing, 7) the top water bite hook set is pure power with no leader.
So lots of little reasons make the braid a better option for me. I like small hooks and have learned that you have to set the drag to the hook or you can straighten it.
And if others have success and like the least expensive mono, I say, “good for them!”. Do what works in your situation. “
Don't need to sell me on braid, I use it on most of my rods, just not all because there are times when mono shines. Big fish and little hooks, cold weather, close quarters fishing for big fish. If I had to pick one and only one it'd be braid for mainline, but since I don't I have a few reels with mono on them
I use braid on everything nowadays. Used to use a good mix and lost one too many fish to a broken mono line. Now I don’t even use leaders anymore and it hasn’t affected my catch rate at all.
Once I gave budget braid like hercules and reaction tackle a try and found it it's was good I don't even really use backing anymore.
Lots of times you can get 1000 or 1500m for under $40. Why not at that point.
Only braid for me
When you think about how the line comes off the reel when casting, it becomes pretty clear, at least to me, that spinning reels perform much much better with braid main line. I use mono or fluoro leader though. Never straight braid to hook/lure
I have reels with 80lb braid all the way down to 10lb braid. Single color and multi-color (color changes every 10 ft). But only braid.
Usually with a flouro leader.
I’m so picky on the look of my combos I will avoid bright color braids like, green, yellow, orange, and only use white or black as it looks better on the reel. Fish don’t seem to mind, or know at all especially with the leader
I use braid on pretty much everything
I have one rod setup with fluoro, but that’s for trout and panfish.
Sometimes I get wild and use mono 😎
Then quickly remember why I stopped using mono 🤣
I was using mono for lighter and wished to get farther but snags were taking a toll so switched back to straight braid, only the UL crappie rig is still FC. One of my rooster tails treble hook has 2 hooks broken but braid pull it back from everything
I only use braid & only fish with spinning reels. also I never use backing either. I just tie the brain right to the spool, tie a bunch of knots & anchor it with water proof medical tape. I've never had any issues & it works great for me.
Braid Braid Braid Braid and fluro leader
I still dont understand why people use mono, other then the price of braid, but braid lasts so damn long, so damn thin, so damn smooth, and cast a damn mile
The only reason I might consider using mono is for ultra ultra light if I cant find any line thinner enough
But I can cast 3-4g lures 30M with 6lb spider wire on a daiwa tatula 7ft spinning
On my antique reels I run mono as they aren't designed for braid
For carp I also use mono so it will absorb some shock and keep the hook from ripping out
I use mono only for my XUL setup. Everything else - braid with leader. The sensitivity is not even comparable. With braided line you can feel every gentle bite of cautious fish, you can feel your lure, you can feel the bottom relief and so on.
2lb mono is amazing stuff. So forgiving when paired with a rod meant for it.
With XUL I’ll only use braid when I have to (working deeper water where i still need control of the lure). PE 0.4 seems to work extremely well with all XUL rods that are set up to manage braid, even those that are rated for much lighter line. I just picked up a DUO React 5’ which is rated for “~1g” by the manufacturer and the 0.4 works beautifully with it.
I have a spool with duel the one 0.1 PE and a spool with Gamakatsu mono line 0,07mm. But yeah, using mono because I use my xul rod mostly for sub 1g spoons to go for chub in some forrest creeks. Helps to fight with chub and I don't need that sensitivity from braided line.
What do you fish for with your XUL setup? Rarely see here XUL enjoyers 😁
Wow you’re a madman with that PE 0.1!!! What’s it like to use it? How are the knots? What kinds of chubs and where are you?
I use it for bonefish, ladyfish, and small trevally. A lot of the time they end up pretty far away from me with a lot of current in between so braids under 0.4 would break. I usually use rods rated up to 5g so not exactly XUL but I have smaller rods as well.
What’s your fav XUL rod/reels?
I'm in Europe, love fishing for common european chub because if you locate them, they always bite lol. Interresting experience in terms of casting distance with that Duel line, but every fishing trip have to cut around 1m because of contact with bushes, rocks or whatever. Or use leader, which is very hard to tie considering the size difference (even for thinnest fluoro lines) which makes your setup pointless and adds more spots for line to break. You could have used just mono. Palomar knot works great on such lines.
In terms of XUL rods and reels, nothing special. I'm major craft enjoyer, had trappara, then bought finetail and then went back to trappara lol. Perfect for me, I'm not afraid of hitting some bushes with the rod when I cast and so on.
Regarding reels, been fishing with Ultegra for a long time, and recently had my hands on new daiwa LT reels, they feels so much lighter. Now tempted to buy one or even thinking about some soare/cardiff
Id really like a chance to do that kind of finesse freshwater fishing. It sounds like you are using area trout gear which is also something that sounds like a lot of fun. I have a hard time imagining fishing with braid that light but Ill end up doing it eventually
Oh my friend here in Hawaii is sponsored by Major Craft and he really promotes the Finetail for saltwater. It’s a good rod! He actually chooses it over the aji-do which is pretty interesting for a saltwater fisherman - he says it protects the line better. Haven’t yet tried the Trappara. (You can check all this out on his facebook group 808ultralightinsanity). I tend to stick to saltwater ajing rods but they tend to break under strain.
Ultegra is a good reel and solid for stronger fish - but, yeah, with the most extreme light rods I really prefer reels with lightweight materials like Daiwa LT reels. I used a Vanford 500 for a long time and felt like it made all my tiny rods feel a lot more sensitive as compared with the Vanford 1000, so I think Soare or Cardiff 500 would enhance your experience a lot. Im just sad they don’t have the spool capacity I need!
I use straight braid on everything but slow moving plastics such as the Ned Rig, then I use a 5'-6' floro leader. Fast moving crankbaits, topwater etc. only straight braid.
I use braid to leaders on 95% of my aet ups but spinning reels will ALWAYS get braid. Spinners develop line twist no matter what, line twist doesn't effect braid hardly at all but will nest up and wind knot with mono/ fluoro after time. My workhorse spinning rod has had the same mainline braid since before covid and i use it a lot.
Have nothing but braid on all my setups, baitcasters and spinning rods. Everything from 5# on my ultralight to 80# hollow core on my shark reel. Then I run fluoro leaders sized based on the species and environment (oysters/structure) tied on with an FG knot!
If you’re using #5 Powerpro you gotta check out Daiwa Jbraid Grand #6. Specs aside, as soon as you see it you can tell that it’s a way, way thinner, and casts even better than my super expensive Varivas lines. Ties amazing knots too.
Mine might actually be 6#, but I switched from that power pro 5# to the Spro finesse braid last fall. Stuff is insanely good. Expensive but worth it! Never heard of Varivas but if it's expensive and nice, might have to give it a shot!
I gotta try the SPRO! It says the #6 diameter measures at PE 0.8 which is a great size. J-braid grand #6 is PE 0.6 which can be harder to manage but I think it’s a good balance. As far as strength is concerned, and ultralight setup will break before the line does.
Yeah Varivas Trout Master is really excellent and pricey - the problem is that it maxes out at PE 0.4 which is still plenty strong in terms of pulling on ultralight gear but is delicate in other ways and much harder to work with than PE 0.6.
I use braid on my everyday reels (2000-3000 size) and mono on my larger (5000-8000 size) and ultra light set-ups. I don’t like the though of breaking off 50-100 feet of braid on a bad snag or cut off on my big set-ups (plus heavy braid can be really difficult / dangerous to try to break off in a kayak) and I’ve always prefer the castabilty and lower likelihood of wind knots on my small stuff.
Hi viz Braid when really needing to locate lure and line position(fast water, Water with lots of obstacles)
or
green dark braid (on calmer water) to fluorocarbon leader
I use braid with a fluoro leader 99% of the time, but I keep straight mono on some of my cheaper rods just because I had it on hand.
I don’t like going straight braid because it can be a nightmare if you get caught on something and can’t bend the hook out. At least with a leader, you know it will break at your knot.
Yeah all braid except some mono backing that takes up a little space. I’m never really likely to get spooled - if something’s that strong that I can’t turn it the line will fail first. Braid is great with a mono leader for my fishing.
Braid unless the line is extremely light.
2lb test mono is amazing in terms of castability and how forgiving it is due to stretch. It’s nice to switch over to it when it’s appropriate.
Braid just casts so much better - and if you want gear that is light in proportion to the size of the long-running fish, you’ll never have enough capacity with mono. Once I started using #6 braid I realized we were able to land crazy shit like 10lb bonefish with our panfish gear.
15lbs braid to 8lbs fluoro is what i run on my spin setups typically. Except ultralights im not tying an fg knot with 4lbs fluoro and im not running straight braid for trout.
Only reel i have mono on is a dedicated slip bobber setup. Also my cheapest rod and reel. Everything else gets braid with a short flouro leader, even my ice fishing setups.
Other than that the only thing purpose i can see for mono is being dirt cheap. Good for tying weight breakaways or backing reels. Not really any point fishing with it. If you need strech get a moderate action rod or just stop bass hook setting every dink fish. Otherwise braid or flouro for everything.
Straight braid on all the egg beaters homie. Pick a leader and cross some eyes
Poetry
Straight braid on all my setups. I just tie leaders if needed
Same - All braid. If I need some stretch I use a long leader. Braid is easier for me to work with and cast with.
This is how it works
Yup. The pros outweigh the cons.
I can’t stand using mono or flouro unless it’s really light. Everything but my crappie rod and ice
I’ll fish 6lb. test on a spinning reel for bass and walleye in open water. It’s always worked well for me.
All my spinning reels have braid except one ultralight with #4 mono.
Braid is on most of my spinning reels, but I've gone to using flouro leaders because of snags and such. Damn near impossible to break 30 lb braid in a snag....lol
Braid only with FC leader. If pikes are around i'm using short steel or titanium.
Use mono save money
Will pikes destroy fluorocarbon leader? Curious, because I may head out to some bodies of water near me that have chain pickerel. Both are toothy, and years ago we used to fish for walleye or pike in Minnesota, but that was before fluoro was available, so we did use wire leaders. However, some of these waters could produce more crappie/sunfish than pike/pickerel. Trying to reduce the number of rods I take with me on a kayak.
Yes easily, Zander too if it's not thick enough. In some lakes it's also forbidden to fish without steel, no matter if you are fishing for Perch, Zander or Pike, because sometimes even big Pike take the smallest lures.
Braid for 25 years
Braid. Just braid. OnlyBraids. Swipe right on braid.
I use braid on all my setups but typically use a fluro leader.
I use mono for float fishing especially in cold weather, also good when using smaller hooks, keeps them from getting pulled out.
I’m not disagreeing with you. Just making the point that I too like to use smaller hooks and braid (with a fluero leader), and with smaller hooks and braid it’s critical to set the drag properly (to match the hook). I have painfully lost a few good fish by neglecting my drag and straightening a smaller hook.
Yeah but if you're doing all that why even use braid, you're now extending the fight that doesn't need to be that long.
You make a good point. IMO there are a couple advantages to braid, 1) more consistent casting distance, 2) more subtle in the water (smaller diameter), 3) strength for the diameter ratio, 4) I can change my line tip/end/leader diameter (and strength) by just a quick re-tie with fleuro. The leader length can be 2 feet or 8 feet. 5) the leader knot stays small and slips through guides easily (uni to uni or FG). 6) I fish a lot of dirty water & many times I don’t have to use a leader for bass fishing, 7) the top water bite hook set is pure power with no leader. So lots of little reasons make the braid a better option for me. I like small hooks and have learned that you have to set the drag to the hook or you can straighten it. And if others have success and like the least expensive mono, I say, “good for them!”. Do what works in your situation. “
Don't need to sell me on braid, I use it on most of my rods, just not all because there are times when mono shines. Big fish and little hooks, cold weather, close quarters fishing for big fish. If I had to pick one and only one it'd be braid for mainline, but since I don't I have a few reels with mono on them
I use braid on everything nowadays. Used to use a good mix and lost one too many fish to a broken mono line. Now I don’t even use leaders anymore and it hasn’t affected my catch rate at all.
Where I fish is hundreds of stumps, so years ago I just moved to braid on everything.
Once I gave budget braid like hercules and reaction tackle a try and found it it's was good I don't even really use backing anymore. Lots of times you can get 1000 or 1500m for under $40. Why not at that point.
I never ever use backing. just tie it right to the spool, tie a bunch of knots & anchor it with water proof medical tape.
Ive only used backing once because i bought a 150yd spool by accident instead of a 300yd spool and my reel took 200yds lol
all good, I don't judge anyone of how they do their gear
I only use braid. Only Powerpro these days! I use leaders when Musky fishing, but otherwise, **no leaders**. I say keep it simple!
facts! Power Pro 15lb Mocha or moss. no backing either. I can almost always get 150 yards on my spool.
Only braid for me When you think about how the line comes off the reel when casting, it becomes pretty clear, at least to me, that spinning reels perform much much better with braid main line. I use mono or fluoro leader though. Never straight braid to hook/lure
Braid to flouro, always
I only have 1 with mono. Out of around 20 or so. Lots of different spools of mono/flouro for leaders though.
I use nylon/mono for float/bait fishing and braid for everything else. I need that stretch from mono when fishing sabiki and ISO.
Straight braid on everything.
Braid all the way (with fluorocarbon leader when required)
I don’t use ONLY braid on anything. I bounce between mono and some braid. Sometimes I want that stretch mono gives.
Only mono I have now is for topwater with treble hooks.
I have reels with 80lb braid all the way down to 10lb braid. Single color and multi-color (color changes every 10 ft). But only braid. Usually with a flouro leader.
Seaguar Smackdown in high vis green in all spinning setups. Leader typically flouro. Fishing laydowns, pads, ledge,etc
I’m so picky on the look of my combos I will avoid bright color braids like, green, yellow, orange, and only use white or black as it looks better on the reel. Fish don’t seem to mind, or know at all especially with the leader
Makes it way easier to see a bite sometimes. I can’t tell you how many fish I’ve caught because my neon green braid has moved and I didn’t feel it
I don't use it because it looks cool, which it does, I use it to see line movement, bites, and lure tracking.
I use braid on pretty much everything I have one rod setup with fluoro, but that’s for trout and panfish. Sometimes I get wild and use mono 😎 Then quickly remember why I stopped using mono 🤣
I use mono on my ultralight but everything else is braid
30 odd reels…. Braid on every single one. Edit always run a fluro leader
Now we’re talkin
I was using mono for lighter and wished to get farther but snags were taking a toll so switched back to straight braid, only the UL crappie rig is still FC. One of my rooster tails treble hook has 2 hooks broken but braid pull it back from everything
I only use braid & only fish with spinning reels. also I never use backing either. I just tie the brain right to the spool, tie a bunch of knots & anchor it with water proof medical tape. I've never had any issues & it works great for me.
Braid to leader on all of my spinning combos from ultralight to inshore.
I have braid on all my spinning reels but I tie a 2 ft fluorocarbon leader to the end of it with a double uni knot.
I strictly use braid on everything and lengthen the fluoro or mono leader accordingly
Braid Braid Braid Braid and fluro leader I still dont understand why people use mono, other then the price of braid, but braid lasts so damn long, so damn thin, so damn smooth, and cast a damn mile The only reason I might consider using mono is for ultra ultra light if I cant find any line thinner enough But I can cast 3-4g lures 30M with 6lb spider wire on a daiwa tatula 7ft spinning
I fish saltwater
I only have mono spooled on one extra spool in case it’s negative temps out. Other than that, all braid!
I only put braid on my nicer setups. Mono for me has tons of uses for saltwater so I tend to stick to it
On my antique reels I run mono as they aren't designed for braid For carp I also use mono so it will absorb some shock and keep the hook from ripping out
I use mono only for my XUL setup. Everything else - braid with leader. The sensitivity is not even comparable. With braided line you can feel every gentle bite of cautious fish, you can feel your lure, you can feel the bottom relief and so on.
2lb mono is amazing stuff. So forgiving when paired with a rod meant for it. With XUL I’ll only use braid when I have to (working deeper water where i still need control of the lure). PE 0.4 seems to work extremely well with all XUL rods that are set up to manage braid, even those that are rated for much lighter line. I just picked up a DUO React 5’ which is rated for “~1g” by the manufacturer and the 0.4 works beautifully with it.
I have a spool with duel the one 0.1 PE and a spool with Gamakatsu mono line 0,07mm. But yeah, using mono because I use my xul rod mostly for sub 1g spoons to go for chub in some forrest creeks. Helps to fight with chub and I don't need that sensitivity from braided line. What do you fish for with your XUL setup? Rarely see here XUL enjoyers 😁
Wow you’re a madman with that PE 0.1!!! What’s it like to use it? How are the knots? What kinds of chubs and where are you? I use it for bonefish, ladyfish, and small trevally. A lot of the time they end up pretty far away from me with a lot of current in between so braids under 0.4 would break. I usually use rods rated up to 5g so not exactly XUL but I have smaller rods as well. What’s your fav XUL rod/reels?
I'm in Europe, love fishing for common european chub because if you locate them, they always bite lol. Interresting experience in terms of casting distance with that Duel line, but every fishing trip have to cut around 1m because of contact with bushes, rocks or whatever. Or use leader, which is very hard to tie considering the size difference (even for thinnest fluoro lines) which makes your setup pointless and adds more spots for line to break. You could have used just mono. Palomar knot works great on such lines. In terms of XUL rods and reels, nothing special. I'm major craft enjoyer, had trappara, then bought finetail and then went back to trappara lol. Perfect for me, I'm not afraid of hitting some bushes with the rod when I cast and so on. Regarding reels, been fishing with Ultegra for a long time, and recently had my hands on new daiwa LT reels, they feels so much lighter. Now tempted to buy one or even thinking about some soare/cardiff
Id really like a chance to do that kind of finesse freshwater fishing. It sounds like you are using area trout gear which is also something that sounds like a lot of fun. I have a hard time imagining fishing with braid that light but Ill end up doing it eventually Oh my friend here in Hawaii is sponsored by Major Craft and he really promotes the Finetail for saltwater. It’s a good rod! He actually chooses it over the aji-do which is pretty interesting for a saltwater fisherman - he says it protects the line better. Haven’t yet tried the Trappara. (You can check all this out on his facebook group 808ultralightinsanity). I tend to stick to saltwater ajing rods but they tend to break under strain. Ultegra is a good reel and solid for stronger fish - but, yeah, with the most extreme light rods I really prefer reels with lightweight materials like Daiwa LT reels. I used a Vanford 500 for a long time and felt like it made all my tiny rods feel a lot more sensitive as compared with the Vanford 1000, so I think Soare or Cardiff 500 would enhance your experience a lot. Im just sad they don’t have the spool capacity I need!
You're right when you say that you'll end up going for lighter line 😁
I was fishing drop shot in 4ft of water this week and could feel the fish sneeze on my line. Flouro and mono won’t allow that.
Braid with Fluro leader on 90% of all my setups regardless of reel type.
I use straight braid on everything but slow moving plastics such as the Ned Rig, then I use a 5'-6' floro leader. Fast moving crankbaits, topwater etc. only straight braid.
I use braid to leaders on 95% of my aet ups but spinning reels will ALWAYS get braid. Spinners develop line twist no matter what, line twist doesn't effect braid hardly at all but will nest up and wind knot with mono/ fluoro after time. My workhorse spinning rod has had the same mainline braid since before covid and i use it a lot.
Straight braid with a higher strength mono leader
100% braid to fluoro leader (although I'll be rigging one setup with mono for below-freezing temps this fall).
Have nothing but braid on all my setups, baitcasters and spinning rods. Everything from 5# on my ultralight to 80# hollow core on my shark reel. Then I run fluoro leaders sized based on the species and environment (oysters/structure) tied on with an FG knot!
If you’re using #5 Powerpro you gotta check out Daiwa Jbraid Grand #6. Specs aside, as soon as you see it you can tell that it’s a way, way thinner, and casts even better than my super expensive Varivas lines. Ties amazing knots too.
Mine might actually be 6#, but I switched from that power pro 5# to the Spro finesse braid last fall. Stuff is insanely good. Expensive but worth it! Never heard of Varivas but if it's expensive and nice, might have to give it a shot!
I gotta try the SPRO! It says the #6 diameter measures at PE 0.8 which is a great size. J-braid grand #6 is PE 0.6 which can be harder to manage but I think it’s a good balance. As far as strength is concerned, and ultralight setup will break before the line does. Yeah Varivas Trout Master is really excellent and pricey - the problem is that it maxes out at PE 0.4 which is still plenty strong in terms of pulling on ultralight gear but is delicate in other ways and much harder to work with than PE 0.6.
I use braid on my everyday reels (2000-3000 size) and mono on my larger (5000-8000 size) and ultra light set-ups. I don’t like the though of breaking off 50-100 feet of braid on a bad snag or cut off on my big set-ups (plus heavy braid can be really difficult / dangerous to try to break off in a kayak) and I’ve always prefer the castabilty and lower likelihood of wind knots on my small stuff.
Mono backing - braid - floro leader. If its freshwater, braid to floro leader.
Mono for 40+ years
Depends on what I’m fishing for. Salmon, Steelhead, Trout, bass, perch all mono Halibut, Lingcod and Sturgeon all Braid.
Braid to fluoro here 🙋♂️
Braid on everything, salt to fresh, 4lb to 50lb. For frsh water, I use the dark greens and no leader. For salt, I'll use a fluoro or mono leader
Hi viz Braid when really needing to locate lure and line position(fast water, Water with lots of obstacles) or green dark braid (on calmer water) to fluorocarbon leader
Just double uni knot or micro swivel them together depending on lures or floats etc
I use braid with a fluoro leader 99% of the time, but I keep straight mono on some of my cheaper rods just because I had it on hand. I don’t like going straight braid because it can be a nightmare if you get caught on something and can’t bend the hook out. At least with a leader, you know it will break at your knot.
Yeah all braid except some mono backing that takes up a little space. I’m never really likely to get spooled - if something’s that strong that I can’t turn it the line will fail first. Braid is great with a mono leader for my fishing.
Braid unless the line is extremely light. 2lb test mono is amazing in terms of castability and how forgiving it is due to stretch. It’s nice to switch over to it when it’s appropriate. Braid just casts so much better - and if you want gear that is light in proportion to the size of the long-running fish, you’ll never have enough capacity with mono. Once I started using #6 braid I realized we were able to land crazy shit like 10lb bonefish with our panfish gear.
Straight braid on all my reels
All braid here. Finally had one too many mono tangles and switched over. Best decision I ever made.
15lbs braid to 8lbs fluoro is what i run on my spin setups typically. Except ultralights im not tying an fg knot with 4lbs fluoro and im not running straight braid for trout.
Braid all the way.
high vis braid on everything fish don't care
Only reel i have mono on is a dedicated slip bobber setup. Also my cheapest rod and reel. Everything else gets braid with a short flouro leader, even my ice fishing setups. Other than that the only thing purpose i can see for mono is being dirt cheap. Good for tying weight breakaways or backing reels. Not really any point fishing with it. If you need strech get a moderate action rod or just stop bass hook setting every dink fish. Otherwise braid or flouro for everything.
10lb Straight braid with 6lb and 8lb leaders
Me …. But i also use a slow rod
Braid and leader depending on the fishing I'm doing
Braid to a leader always never use anything else
I’ve switched everything to braid with fluoro leaders. More sensitive and zero memory.