Braid Problem

[grayson]

I use braided line extensively for my winter chub fishing and am delighted with it, especially the feel when playing fish.But I have had a problem which reoccured twice today and would appreciate advice.I have had several breakages of the hook length - not against big pressure but on the strike.I feel a tiny resistance- not enough to break the line, the rod hardly bends but back comes the hooklength broken above hook.It's not biteoffs - am fishing the same river,same method , same hooklength as I have for seasons and never experienced with nylon.I am using 10bs braid and 8lb powerline hooklength.I suspect it is fact that no stretch in braid so all of the strike goes into the 8-10" 'point' and it just cannot absorb it.Most of time it doesnt happen but want to avoid a repetition for obvious reasons- help ? Want to keep using braid as I miss far fewer bites but what do I do- use braid hook length too ? Or what ? Have tried other nylon BTW and none has been 100%

[Dan G]

I've had this too - the only ways i've found round it are a) a longer hooklink a short length of power gum between mainline and hooklinkor c) a nylon shock leader. All presumably work as they allow stretch, but the latter sort of defeats the point of using braid to a small extent and the former isn't suitable for all methods... difficult one, to be honest, and i'm never comfortable with having another link (power gum) in the terminal tackle...

[Barry C]

I have never float fished with braid but I was told that when fishing the feeder not to strike. All that is neccessary is to lift into the bite. I found it quite difficult to have the discipline to do this especially trying to hook fast biting roach. I found when I did strike, like you I would snap the hook off or even slightly straighten light guage hooks. Just a definite lift into the fish usually did the trick.

Dont forget most mono will stretch up to 25% which makes a great shock absorber.

[Newt]

Could you move up in line B/S for the winter?

 

Power Pro

08lb 0.005" 0.13mm 1lb mono equiv

10lb 0.006" 0.15mm 2lb mono equiv

15lb 0.007" 0.18mm 4lb mono equiv

20lb 0.009" 0.23mm 6lb mono equiv

 

15lb mainline and 10lb hooklength would still be pretty fine but the extra line diameter should make it less prone to snapping.

[Ken L]

15lb mainline and 10lb hooklength would still be pretty fine

 

Newt. I was using 1.1 and 1.7lb hook lengths for river fishing 20 years ago when I was fishing club matches. I would imagine that nothing much has changed and wouldn't be suprised if 8oz hooklengths were considered normal for some venues these days.

[Dick Dastardly]

Your totally correct in your guess that the lack of stretchin your braid is causing such a short hook link to break.

 

Forget the power gum just use a leader of mono attached on the end of your braid ( I usually use around a rod length).Gives a bit of cushioning to your finer mono hook length.I say mono as flurocarbon is both stiff and quite brittle.

[grayson]

Your totally correct in your guess that the lack of stretchin your braid is causing such a short hook link to break.

 

Forget the power gum just use a leader of mono attached on the end of your braid ( I usually use around a rod length).Gives a bit of cushioning to your finer mono hook length.I say mono as flurocarbon is both stiff and quite brittle.

Thanks for this; very helpful.Is there a knot you would recommend for braid/nylon join ? And do you think a braid hooklink is also worth exploring- bearing in mind that I do use v short leaders for some of my winter fishing ?

 

Re strike- I do strike but not as hard as when I was using all nylon.But I amfishing up to 25yds range and 10' deep in a powerful river- have found barbel will hook themselves but not chub

[Newt]

Newt. I was using 1.1 and 1.7lb hook lengths for river fishing 20 years ago when I was fishing club matches. I would imagine that nothing much has changed and wouldn't be suprised if 8oz hooklengths were considered normal for some venues these days.

Thanks Ken. I can't really imagine using tackle as fine as you folks do or any idea how you manage. I would be totally hopeless at much of the normal UK coarse angling.

[Leon Roskilly]

When using braid, it's often necessary to use a rod with a softer action than you would normally use for mono.

 

Problems can occur not only on the strike, but also when playing a fish.

 

As always, it's a question of using balanced tackle throughout.

[Leon Roskilly]

Is there a knot you would recommend for braid/nylon join ?

 

 

When joining different types of line, with different charactersistics, it's best to use a small stainless still rig-ring between the different line types, or in flowing water a small swivel.

 

In fact I'm now in the habit of using a swivel most of the time as it also eliminates other problems such as line twist if the bait spins on the retrieve etc.

 

Just think of it as an additional shot, and adjust shotting as appropiate.