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USING BRAID


Guest craig

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Guest craig

I was thinking of going over to braid

on my carp rods,has any one got any

answers on the pros and cons of braid.

 

Thanks

craig.

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Guest Elton

That's a bone of contention, that one. If you're fishing at long range, then striking is certainly improved. Having said that, many rigs these days are designed with self-hooking in mind.

 

Braid at close range could result in you losing fish - it has virtually no stretch and the chances are that you will pull hooks. You'd certainly have to adjust the way you play fish, at least.

 

My advice would be to stick to mono - cheaper, less hassle and better the devil you know! Of course, if you ever decide to have a go at lure fishing....

 

All the best,

 

Elton

 

------------------

Elton Murphy

Anglers' Net

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk

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Guest Steve Burke

Like Elton I've gone over to braid completely for lure fishing where the lack of stretch makes a huge difference to detecting takes and setting the hook. It also means that I can cast quite a bit further. I may also use it in the future when carp fishing on a "feature finder" rod as in theory it should be easier to detect what the bottom is made of. It may also be better for floater fishing in conjunction with a flourocarbon hooklength, but I haven't tried this either yet.

 

However braid has 1 big disadvantage and that is very poor abrasion resistance. Take it from someone in the tackle trade and forget the claims of better abrasion resistance than nylon. This is pure hype and the companies making the claims should know better.

 

Braid is much finer than nylon of the same breaking strain. However, even comparing diameter for diameter rather than breaking strain for breaking strain, no braid I know of has anywhere near the abrasion resistance of nylon. The best I know of is Quicksilver but it's still poor compared with nylon.

 

There are 2 types of braid. Conventional braids like Spiderwire and "fused" lines such as Fireline. The latter are strands made from the same material as braids (Spectra or Dyneema) but fused together. Because of this they should be less expensive. This makes them less supple but easier to handle and somewhat increases their abrasion resistance. However they're still way behind nylon in this respect. They are also thicker than conventional braids for a given breaking strain. Thus in many respects they're some way towards nylon in their properties.

 

To sum up I'd recommend against braids as a main line for carping except possibly for the 2 uses referred to in the first paragraph, although as mentioned I can't yet speak from personal experience. However those anglers I know of who've tried braid as a main line when ledgering for carp have all changed back to nylon, which obviously says a lot!

 

Finally, if you do decide to try braid make sure you buy a higher breaking strain than you would with nylon to avoid some of the problems.

 

------------------

Wingham Fisheries

www.anglersnet.co.uk/fisheries/wingham.htm

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Guest oliver g

CRAIG,istarted using braid last year,iused it 6 times and found: although bites were better & easer to hit i didnt like the feel of playing fish,some times hooks would pull at close range(particularly on more powerful specise)and twice it broke for no apparent reason once 10 feet from the rod tip . iwont be useing it again ,the brand i used was fireline .

 

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oli

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Guest craig

Thanks fellas.

you've just frightened me off

especially as it's an exspensive move.

Are there any good points?

Or am I just fighting a losing battle?

 

later

craig.

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Guest Elton
Originally posted by craig:

Are there any good points?

Or am I just fighting a losing battle?

 

later

craig.

 

Take up lure fishing - then you'll feel the benefits! You can feel and react the second a fish hits the lure. Not only that, you have more control over how the lure performs in the water, due to the lack of stretch. I like braid, but I don't think I'd use it for bait fishing.

 

All the best,

 

Elton

 

 

 

------------------

Elton Murphy

Anglers' Net

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk

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Guest craig

Thanks Elton

I will still have a go but only put it on

one of my rods and see how I get on

I'll let you know

 

craig.

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Guest RobStubbs

Craig,

I recommend braid on a marker rod as it gives a far better indication of the nature of the lake / river bed. You have to be careful with the floating braids as they behave oddly. I only use it at close to moderate ranges because of the tangles you can get in. A number of braids appear to loop up and bow in the opposite direction to the wind - just asking to be picked up by a baited rod.

 

That said I will try it for fishing with, but probably when I next get out sea fishing.

 

Rob.

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Guest Dave B

I tried using a number of different braids last year. The water I was fishing was seriously weeded-up and I thought that using braid would help - WRONG.

I found it to be quite useless. For one most braids float, and that can present awsome problems with surface movement, even ducks and geese etc.

Also, contrary to popular belief, braided lines are not as abrasion resistant as most good monofilament lines. I know this because I was lucky enough to visit the Ultima line laboratory two years ago to do some tests on braids and monos.

If I were you I'd stick to a decent monofil. forget braid altogether.

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Guest Steve Burke

As you can see from my previous post I agree with Dave about abrasion resistance and braid.

 

However I certainly won't go as far as writing braid off completely as I'm also a keen lure angler. In fact I would almost go as far as writing off nylon for lure fishing! I can imagine so few situations where nylon would be better that I can't see me using anything but braid for lure fishing ever again.

 

Because of the low stretch braid is much more sensitive than nylon and hooks better. Also because of its low diameter it will allow a lure to run deeper.

 

Incidentally there are sinking braids on the market but none of these sinks very quickly. They're made by mixing in another substance that is heavier than water. This means however that they're thicker than normal braids.

 

Another factor to bear in mind is that, except for fused lines, braids aren't circular in cross section. This is just because they *are* braided, and how close they are to being circular depends on the number of strands they're made from. Unfortunately, the more strands, the greater the cost.

 

One last point. Make sure you put a little nylon backing or some double-sided tape on your reel before winding the braid on. This way you avoid the annoying problem of the entire braid slipping on the spool making it difficult or even impossible to wind back in.

 

------------------

Wingham Fisheries

www.anglersnet.co.uk/fisheries/wingham.htm

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