Braid. Is it just me that hates the stuff?

[john frum]

Having come back to fishing after years away, I was sold braid as the greatest thing since mono. Given its very small diameter, lack of stretch and generally supple handling I was inclined to believe the claims - despite the tricky knotting and splicing requirements.

I've now tried two different brands/weights on both multipliers (Abu 6500 CS) and two sizes of fixed spool reels (Daiwa 5500 Emcast and Grauvel Herox - which is exactly the same reel as an Abu Garcia model incidentally!). I've been using these for beach/pier/estuary fishing. Total pain in the ass every time. Many sudden casting snappages caused by the unpredictable appearance of (?) loops and knots.

Anybody else share this experience?

[chevin]

No snapping but plenty of birds nests through sudden snatching while casting light baits. I have given up using it for that type of fishing, but I love it for the more normal kind of boat fishing.

[John E Ashford]

Boat fishing it's the D.B.

 

I do know of a few that use it for beach fishing, using fixed spool reels, and they would never go back to mono.

 

I use Multipliers, on the shore, and I ain't going to thumb the reel if it's holding Braid.

 

Therefore Mono on my shore Multipliers.

[Norm B]

john frum:

Having come back to fishing after years away, I was sold braid as the greatest thing since mono. Given its very small diameter, lack of stretch and generally supple handling I was inclined to believe the claims - despite the tricky knotting and splicing requirements.

I've now tried two different brands/weights on both multipliers (Abu 6500 CS) and two sizes of fixed spool reels (Daiwa 5500 Emcast and Grauvel Herox - which is exactly the same reel as an Abu Garcia model incidentally!). I've been using these for beach/pier/estuary fishing. Total pain in the ass every time. Many sudden casting snappages caused by the unpredictable appearance of (?) loops and knots.

Anybody else share this experience?

:cool: I love it, used properly with the right tackle it's great, I couldn't go back to nylon now.

It enables me to fish previously unfishable marks, bite indication is superb and the lighter lead has increased the sporting aspect of my fishing. Just take a bit more care when winding on the line and winding in and most of the problems you're experiencing will disappear. Any minor problems are outweighed by the advantages.

[argyll]

It is the DBs, no question and I've used it in some shape or form for 13/14 years, starting with the old bright blue Dyneema all the way up to Power Pro.

 

You dont say what brand of braid you are using and what breaking strain. Without knowing that its not easy to comment or to advise. Sticking my neck out tho', I would suggest that you're getting something wrong somewhere.

 

[ 30. June 2005, 07:49 PM: Message edited by: argyll ]

[john frum]

Unfortunately I've disposed of the spools but one is/was about 8 and the other 12 Kg. Both examples perfomed fine at first and then I started experiencing sudden twangs. I've been using adequate shock leaders. The Abu has a level wind but as for spooling it carefully, what can you do with about 10Kg of weed... just pump it in. I was using some tape around my finger to prevent burns when casting on the mp. Not that I can succeed in generating any longer casts with Abu/Conoflex than I can with a 20+ year old fibreglass Shakespeare and a fixed spool... but that's another gripe. Much as I try to like multipliers (as a youngster I persisted with them in the absence of decent beachcasting fs reels) the fact is they're a bloody hassle to use for a very marginal advantage - at least where the casting's concerned as far as I can see. And one bird's nest through a moment's inattention (unavoidable at some point; but maybe I've just got a low attention span - it fails after five or six hours) or a change in the wind strength or direction, and the day is ruined.

 

In the case of both fixed spools I also experienced sudden breakages - in one case where I was float fishing! - I don't recall anything happening to abrade the line. The final straw was a couple of days ago when I was casting with the Daiwa off the beach. First dozen or so casts (3-4 oz leads) were fine then suddenly a breakage with about 50 yards out. I'm not at all sure what caused it. The spool's here now and I can't see any mis-spooling on it. This line was actually transferred from the Abu when I first started having the problem - and it's not kinked before anyone asks. On this occasion I didn't put any great tension on the line other than retrieving a fish-free trace (a depressingly regular experience with shore-fishing these days it seems).

I'd really like to be able to use braid for its obvious advantages but it gets expensive to keep throwing it away.

Any suggestions as to brand? Does the brand really make that much difference?

[Salar]

Check your rod rings very carefully. You probably have a chip or hairline fracture on the ring liners, or maybe a bit of rust or chipped chrome if they are metal, and once it nicks braid, it will snap like cotton (been there, done that ) A way to check is to run a cotton bud round the inside of the dry ring, and the fibres will catch in any tiny cracks and show them up. The only cure is to replace a damaged rod ring.

[john frum]

Salar - two different rods involved... I've checked the older one (Shakespeare)which has double insert in the rings - the retaining part encloses a greenish material which in turn holds a grey metallic-looking inner. None of the innermost sections looks flawed although the big first ring does indeed have cracks in the green material. It doesn't look as though the line would normally come into contact with this though (whatever "normal" might mean).

 

The Conoflex seems to be fine - I tried the cotton bud test.

 

If the old rod is shot that's not so great as - despite the consensus of opinion when I brought this up here previously - the fs reel doesn't perform very well on the Conoflex which is ringed for a multiplier. If there were a few more fish out there I might consider splashing out on a fs beachcaster, but so far my first eight sessions since moving back to the coast have been blank apart from a few mackerel on feathers, which isn't my idea of anything except catching bait.

 

Suggested line brand?

[Guest stevie cop]

Braid is more trouble than it's worth in my opinion. Too many added problems that aren't encountered with mono.

[Davy Holt]

Tis horses for courses, normal braid is best used on a multiplier, if you want to use it on a fixed spool go for one of the fused brands like Fireline.

 

It's all I use now..I have to if I want to catch fish