Braid

[Alan Taylor]

Jim Roper:

I can see that a roller tip ring will avoid abrasion for boat rods.

I use braid for most of my boat fishing, a word of caution with roller rings. With the thicker mono there is no problem but the very thin braid can trap between the roller and the frame that holds it.

 

I have never had any problems with the line bedding in, probably because I use a medium action rod, depend a lot on the clutch, weak links for the lead or between the pirk and tripple (fishtek.co.uk). when I snag up wrecking (as mentioned before) I put a couple of turns around a priest and break it out. I never ever use a leader for the simple reasons that I just can't be bothered to dig out my glasses, fiddle around tieing knots with cold hands etc and mainly missing out on a drift over the wreck.

I do check the last couple of feet after every couple of drifts for damage though.

 

One good example of the advantage of braid when there is a strong tide.

I crew on a charter boat most weekends here in Holland (www.simacharters.com I think). We had a charter and on the first 2 drifts they caught nothing. We could see sign on the fish finder so I went out on the next drift and was strait into Cod, this went on all day, I was catching every drift but the clients were not. I went around the deck and tried to help them out,4 had braid and 2 of these LISTENED, they started to catch fish. Albert (skipper) came out and fished alongside me in the bow and we were both hauling fish out. One of the clients came up from the stern and fished alongside us but could not catch, he was using heavy mono and not getting near the wreck/fish. This guy even accused Albert of putting the bow of the boat over the fish at the expense of the paying anglers

 

I still use mono on small tides or when anchored but much prefer the feel of braid

 

I don't beach fish but used fireline for years for my Carp fishing, with the rite rod and using the clutch as it was designed to be used gave us great sport.

 

Norrie can back me up on the above, he has fished with me over here

 

Tight lines.

 

Alan(nl)

 

[ 15. January 2004, 09:01 AM: Message edited by: Alan Taylor ]

[Ed Matysiak]

I found out the hard way that braid is no use on rough ground. Its a total waste of time. It doesn't take long before it has rubbed on the edges of rocks and the fibres start to seperated. Then it snaps on the cast!

[Jim Roper]

Newt:

Use decent rings.

Such as?

[jabee]

I don't think you need to use the special 'braid' rings that are being marketed at the moment. Any quality ring from Fuji/Seymo/AMTAK/Pacific Bay etc will do the trick - I use fuji BNOG on rods up to 20lb and have never had a problem using them to fish with braid - check the rings regularly for any cracks etc and replace if necessary. Agree about not using rollers due the low diameter although I think there are now 'braid friendly' rollers available but I wouldn't consider them worth the expense.

[Newt]

Jim - I have no problems with any of the decent ceramic rings on the market these days. They are more prone to cracking if abused so need checking but so far I've not had a problem with braid doing any damage to them at all.

 

I have several lure rods with the medium quality fuji rings and they have done well over several years of 30lb powerpro. I will probably make 200-300 casts on a days lure fishing and I fish about once or twice a week so they have seen some serious amounts of line across the rings.

 

I can't speak to the rougher textured braids like fireline or the old style dacron but my guess, based on the total lack of cutting from powerpro, is that the rings would do fine with most any line you wanted to use.

[Jim Roper]

The grooves in my old Modern Arms Castaway were caused by hauling in strings of mackerel.

I never pump them in, I think they are more likely to ball-up if you do that. I just winch them in so the line is rubbing the same place on the ring all the way in.

I've got Fuji rings, I think, at the moment, all 12 of them.

Still think I'll stick with mono, off the beach!