Getting the distance: braid or light mono?

[Kappa]

I'm thinking of fishing some swims which require a long chuck 80-90 yards. I know people band the distances about all the time but for me with my rods I reckon 60-70 yards is pushing it. One of the problems I think is the heavymono (13lbs) I'm using. I use leadcore so I also use heavy mono to ensure that whatever happens I don't leave a fish trailing leadcore.

 

So I was thinking of going down the braid route to reduce the diameter of my mainline in order to get greater casting distances. I could use lighter mono, say 8lbs but I'd worry this would not have the strength to handle larger tench.

 

I was thinking maybe 20lb fireline crystal, what do people think?

 

Rich

[Si...]

I'm thinking of fishing some swims which require a long chuck 80-90 yards. I know people band the distances about all the time but for me with my rods I reckon 60-70 yards is pushing it. One of the problems I think is the heavymono (13lbs) I'm using. I use leadcore so I also use heavy mono to ensure that whatever happens I don't leave a fish trailing leadcore.

 

So I was thinking of going down the braid route to reduce the diameter of my mainline in order to get greater casting distances. I could use lighter mono, say 8lbs but I'd worry this would not have the strength to handle larger tench.

 

I was thinking maybe 20lb fireline crystal, what do people think?

 

Rich

 

Heavy mono will reduce your casting ability severely, due to the extra thickness, friction on the lip of the spool and wind resistance.

 

Unless you're fishing a really snaggy water or one with several sharp bars, you should be OK with 8lb mono. My Pb carp was caught using 8lb mono, so that should be plenty to cope with for tench.

 

Braid is good, but it has it's disadvantages,

ie: no stretch making playing fish a bit scary at times.

 

Wind knots is one issue a lot of people have, but I have yet to come across when using braid, it might be because I put the spool of braid in a bucket of water when I spooled up the reels with it, plus I always dip the spools in the water at the start of a session to make the braid wet, thus reducing the risk of a wind knot forming.

 

Friction burns, you think mono hurts, think again when it comes to braid, its in a totally different league to mono and it can slice through flesh like a cheese wire does to cheese.

[Kappa]

several sharp bars

 

There are sharp bars in the water concerned!

 

Rich

[Ken L]

Fireline crystal is thick and springy stuff and won't really give the advantages of braids. You'll get more distance with proper braids like power pro or the new lines from Suffix. These have big advantages in terms of casting distance and lack of stretch but you will need to bear in mind the disadvantages of these lines as well.

If you are fishing waters with raised gravel bars, mussel beds or other abraisive features between you and where you're fishing, sticking to mono might be a better plan.

[poledark]

Richard, 20lb power pro mainline and 30lb power pro leader. My leaders are about 10 yds long, this allows me to get the knot on to the spool before the fish is close to the net.

 

No stretch is briliant for playing fish and the 30lb gives me the confidence to really give it some welly

 

Den

[Peter Waller]

You could ask on the sea fishing forum, some of those boys think nothing of lobbing their leads 200 yards plus.

[Neil G]

Braid is great stuff but wind knots when distance casting are a bl**dy nightmare

[poledark]

Odd you should say that Neil, I have used braid for several years now, and only ever had a couple of wind (loose loop) knots. This was when surface fishing with very little weight on the end. My spools are filled right up to the brim

 

Simple cure is to make sure you wind on tight (firmly).

 

Den

[Anderoo]

Ditching the leadcore and changing the lead set-up will gain you a few extra yards too.

 

I'd go for mono with a shockleader, it would be heartbreaking to hook the fish of your dreams only to have braid sliced in two by a bit of flint.

[rarepleasures]

To add some fuel to this thread I've just been watching Bob Nudd' Feeder Fishing DVD. His set up was braid with a mono leader. He chose braid so that it could accurately spread the feed out pull the hook bait back into it. The lake he was fishing though was consistantly shallow without the features that would cut through braid.

Watching it I wondered should I get one of my shallow spools filled with braid and employ the same tactics ?