Braid or not to braid

[TimberTodd]

No its not my hair! I have 14lb. mono on my spinning reel for surf fishing. I am considering braid with a 6'-8' mono leader to cut down on line twist. I am using swivels but the rolling in the surf is still twisting the heck out of things. The only downfall I can think of with the braid is no line stretch, but the mono leader should help there. I am wondering what others thoughts are.

 

[playhooky]

I've just been using 8 lb. mono with no ill effects. Seems to work just fine for surf perch'n. Ounce and a half wt. is usually sufficient. Heavy surf might call for two at the most. Medium action rod lets you feel that rapid perch tap. 2" berkley saltwater worms (natural).

 

[montym]

I replaced all my mono line with braid last year, love the improvement. I have 12 lb on my trout/panfish/surf perch reels, planning to have one with 6 lb braid for panfish this summer.

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[Big3d]

I think people get too built up on one or the other. I like both, braid works great for some things and mono for others. As far as surf fishing goes, my thought is you may also acheive better casting distance with braid. I don't think about line twist too much, my line gets bad, I respool. I fish spinners with no swivel so I can't worry about twist or I'd freak out. If you do go to braid remember that it's on there when you set the hook, other than that the no stretch is actually quite nice.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

14 pound mono on a spinning reel? Are you a member of a cult of self flagellation? :sad::lol:

I say give braid a shot. Never know till you try. I would suggest using a leader that is long enough that some of it is wrapped onto your reel, so when you cast you are not shocking your braid to leader connection. I use a 15' leader most times, which is way longer than most folks use.

Tie a double Albright knot or a double uni. Aaron Martens has a good demonstration. Knotting leaders is by far the biggest hassle of using braid. Match diameter to diameter, not test to test.

SS

 

[TimberTodd]

I always use a double uni between the braid and mono on my bobber rod. I have a lot of confidence in that knot. I love the braid on my steelhead and salmon rods. I think I will give it a shot.

 

[montym]

Have you tried the FG knot? Haven't tried it yet, saw it while browsing only a couple of days ago, looks very slim and apparently very strong too.

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[troutmasta]

Braid.

 

[TimberTodd]

I am not familiar with that one Monty. I will have to look it up. Thanks for the input guys. I may hit Sportsmans Warehouse up this weekend. They have their balloon sale where there is a discount amount off your purchase in the balloon. I scored a 60% off balloon last year.

 

[Fishpdx]

Braid is good for big fish in my opinion, I have a low profile bait caster for rockfish/lingcod with #30 stren braid, works great if you get snagged you can pull it out without loosing line. But for surf perch I would use mono , like 8-12 pound line. Surf perch are line shy. braid is highly visible. I use braid for salmon/steelhead , but trout and other panfish I use mono. I have one bait caster for bass and only for bass with #40 braid for frog fishing.