Braid or mono

[Pike stalker]

Could do with som advice on advantages and disadvantages of using braid or on the other hand mono for luring and deadbaiting. Please advise

[AddictedToScopex]

Could do with som advice on advantages and disadvantages of using braid or on the other hand mono for luring and deadbaiting. Please advise

For lure work I find braid to be far better than mono especially when it comes to both striking and feeling your lures movement. With braid being pretty much none stretch you can see and feel all the little knocks and pulls as your lure works under the water as well as feeling your bites much quicker as opposed to stretchy mono. Also braid can be far stronger for its diameter than mono allowing you to use a heavier strength line for snaggy areas to ensure lures do not get left behind!

 

As for deadbaiting I use braid but will leave someone more experienced with that side of piking to fill you in.

[Pike stalker]

For lure work I find braid to be far better than mono especially when it comes to both striking and feeling your lures movement. With braid being pretty much none stretch you can see and feel all the little knocks and pulls as your lure works under the water as well as feeling your bites much quicker as opposed to stretchy mono. Also braid can be far stronger for its diameter than mono allowing you to use a heavier strength line for snaggy areas to ensure lures do not get left behind!

 

As for deadbaiting I use braid but will leave someone more experienced with that side of piking to fill you in.

 

Cheers that's been very helpful Iv wanted to change to braid for while now so think it will b my weekends work

[Smokin line]

The fights a lot more fun on braid. Try braid and you won't go back to mono

[Pike stalker]

The fights a lot more fun on braid. Try braid and you won't go back to mono

 

Looks like the braid is calling me then

[Smokin line]

Looks like the braid is calling me then

Go for a green coloured one

[Hopinc]

Nylon has a stretch rate of approximately 20%, whereas braid has none. This results in the angler being able to feel exactly what is going on at the lure end. You get so much information transmitted down the line that it is possible for someone with only a little experience to determine if they are touching bottom, or if they have got the attention of a predator.

 

I use braid exclusively on my baitcasting reels for lure fishing. I like the Power Pro in the 30 & 50lb breaking strains. Recently I purchased some Fox SoftSteel, which I am also quite impressed with but have not used it extensively yet.

 

There is no reason why it's use should be restricted to lure fishing, it works well for float fishing too.

 

Braid can be more subject to abrasion damage than nylon, but its advantages vastly outweigh it's drawbacks. It is expensive, it can loose it's colour with prolonged use (can be easily replaced with waterproof pens - Sharpie's for instance).

 

Certain knots work better than others, preferably the none-strangling type. I always tie on my traces using a very simple to tie Palomar knot, which has never let me down.

 

It is thinner than monofilament for the same breaking strain and therefore cuts through the wind and water easier. On the downside of this, if you don't feather your cast, the wind could pick up on the lighter braided line and draw off the reel an excessive amount of line.

 

I have just spooled the Fox line (10lbs 4oz) and some Zander Pro braid (4lbs) onto two spools of my Shakespeare Mach 3 XT reel, which I intend using for drop-shotting. I have not tried the Zander Pro line yet so I can't offer any opinions.

 

Oh yes, one other thing that it almost guarantees, should you get a lure hung up in weeds you will be able to yank it free. Please wear a strong glove to do this or wrap a towel, or similar, around your hand before you get hold of the line. Never use the rod or reel for extraction purpose.

 

Try some braid, I think you will find it a revelation.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Hopinc

[Dick Dastardly]

Bit pushed for time so here is a "cut and paste" from something I wrote a few years back-

 

Right guys braided main lines.

 

Braided mainlines are relatively new to UK angling only really been over here for ten years or so.Been used in the US for quite a lot longer.They are similar to the braided hook length matirials used by carp specialists in that (as the name implies) made by braiding together many ultra fine filiments.One of the most common matiriels used is gel-spun polyethylene or Spectra as its some times called.

 

There are two main types of braid- fused and unfused.The unfused is made by braiding the fillaments together and the fused has unbraided filiments covered in a plastic coating and "fused" together.

 

Braided line comes in a variety of profiles ranging from round through to flat.The tightness of the braiding causes this to a degree and this affects its softness/stiffness,obviously the tighter the braiding the rounder and stiffer the end result.

 

Braids come in a variety of colours from subtle green,brown and greys to bright fluro colours such as yellow,orange and fluro green! Obviously the choice of having an invisible or highly visible line will depend on its use.One thing about colours is that the matiriels used to make these new super lines doesnt take dye very well and after a lot of use they all fade to an "off white" colour.

 

The first thing that you will notice with braid is its remarkabley low diameter for its strength compared to traditional mono.The exact diameter /strength ratios obviously vary from make to make but here are some examples-Spiderwire is 3 to 5 times thinner than an average monofilament of comparable tensile strength! In practical terms this means that Spiderwire in 10lb BS will have a similar diameter to 2lb BS mono,20lb the same as 6lb,50lb the same as 10lb and 80lb the same as 15lb! Impressive but it can and does bring its own problems.

 

Abrassion resistance or rather lack of it is the down side of using an ultra thin line.Its not the material its self merely the fact that it is such low diameter.Initialy anglers would buy the same breaking strain braid as they would mono.They would be say pike fishing with 15lb braid but in effect using a line of around the same diameter as 4lb mono! no wonder they had problems with it wearing through! Most people soon realised that the best way to select braid size was by diameter not breaking strain.Hence forth why a lot of pikers use 80lb braid and a good size braid for feeder fishing is 20lb.

 

So if we are not taking advantage of its ultra low diameter then why use it? Another of braids advantages is that it has virtually no stretch unlike mono.For setting the hooks at range or in to tough mouthed species like pike this is a great advantage.Bite detection when quiver tipping is out of this world,you would not believe the difference!

Another advantage is that some (most) braids float.In situations like floater fishing for carp or drift float fishing for pike this is a God send.The age old chore of greasing up your line to keep it afloat gone.I have never found its floating properties to be a problem when ledgering or feeder fishing but for those who want a sinking braid these are now available.

 

Braid isnt cheap.In this country expect to pay around £30 to £40 for 300yrds from most tackle shops! As with most things shop around and you can get a much better price.Although the initial outlay is high braid isnt as supseptable to UV light damage as mono is and will last many years.For example I have braids on some of my piking reels that are used every winter 2-3 days a week that are nearly 10 years old!! with mono I would have been changing that each year.So unless you are very unlucky and get a knot /tangle half way along it it works out cheaper in the long run.

I personally dont fill a spool up with braid unless its essential.For example my drifting reel has 250m on it but my normal piking reels only have 75m on them.I just simpley back them out with mono.If it starts to become a bit worn on the end after a season or two dont cut off several yards as often reccomended just take it of and reverse it!

 

There is a lot of rubbish spoken about braid and as with most things this is by people who have never used it! A common one is that you need special rings as it will cut through normal ones! Rubbish! My cat rods have standard FUGI BNHG rings and they have been used with braid for all my "work" fishing.These rods have seen more use in one year than most will see in a life time and despite landing literally hundreds of treble figure fish they dont have a mark on them.MMMy feeder rod is a cheap LEEDA Generation rod this has normal rings on and haas caught a lot of carp in both this country ,France and Spain for bait and the rings are also ok.A lot of this comes from the grating noise that wet braid makes when being wound in.

"Braid cuts/damages fish" the main line should never come in contact with the fishs body or mouth.Most definately shouldnt be used as a hook link.Just a case of using common sense really.One problem is that high strength braids coupled with todays trend for 3lbTC carp rods can be used by idiots to "haul" big carp in.Obviously all this force is aplied to the fish via the hook and Ive seen some horrendous damage caused by the hook ripping through the flesh.Once again common sense must be shown.

 

Well a bit brief as its a massive subject but I hope that gives you some insight into braid.Summing up I have found it to be a great bit of tackle and now only use mono for light float work (and most hook lengths) Need to learn to use it but well worthwhile taking the time to do so.Anything else as usual please just ask.

[Hopinc]

Whilst we are talking about braids, I thought I might impart a sure fire way to remove birds nests from baitcasting reels. This works with any type of line, not just braid. Unfortunately I cannot claim credit for this idea.

 

Firstly draw off as much loose line as you can until the drum won't rotate anymore. Place your thumb on top of the spool, apply pressure, and than turn the reel handle one revolution (this might have to be done several times). Draw off the loose line until the spool jams again. Repeat previous steps until all the birds nest has been removed.

 

How it works:- The birds nest is caused by overrunning of the spool which creates loose coils, jamming the spool. Using the method described, the coils can be tightened, and progressively more line drawn off until the jam is cleared.

 

It's brilliant, it works and it means that you don't spend hours picking the line apart.

 

I hope someone finds this useful.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Hopinc

[jameshodkin]

I've found braid a godsend for legering as due to the lack of stretch setting the hooks is so much easier, especially at range

 

I fish a pit which is very snaggy, has a 20ft deep end with a couple of cars dumped by joyriders and god knows what else, since switching over to braid i've been able to fish this area safely as when i've gotten snagged the hooks open out due to the strength of the braid - so no traces are ever left in snags

 

As everyone else has mentioned it's fantastic for lure fishing, you really can feel the lures movement transmitted through the rod, especially with large spinners/spinnerbaits!

 

I use Power Pro for both lure fishing and bait fishing, can't fault it

 

James