braid or mono

[wsmlewy]

hi all,

i know how knowledgable you guys are so i was just wondering on a bit of advice for line?

all three of my reels are loaded with mono at the moment which has done three good hard seasons i have no idea what it is apart from it is 10 pound breaking strain!

i want a line as reliable and resonably priced i do alot of big waters for carp and seem to be fishing for pike lately aswell.

but im stuck between braid and mono i know that braid is considerably thinner compared to breaking strain and doesnt have as much elasticity but how much difference does it make and is it better than mono. I NEED HELP!!!!!!!!!!! thankyou

[Dick Dastardly]

I use braid for nearly all my fishing now.The only times I dont are if Im fishing close in with light hook length materials for big fish.For piking you just cant beat it.Same as for carp but I prefer to stick to 15lb mono for close in/snag hit and hold situations.

 

Best bit of advice I can offer on braid selection is to choose it by diameter rather than breaking strain.For example if the standard mono line you use for piking is 15lb (most have a diameter of 0.35mm) then get a braid of around the same diameter regardless of the braids breaking strain.By doing this you will avoid all the common problems that people seem to get when first switching to braid.

[Newt]

I'm all braid except for a couple of specialty uses where I need a naturally sinking line.

 

For me, PowerPro in 10, 30, and 50lb pretty well does it although I do keep a couple of reels spooled with 80lb for places where I need more abrasion resistance.

 

Unless I have bad luck and break off a long amount of line, the braid lasts pretty much forever.

[Guest tigger]

hi all,

i know how knowledgable you guys are so i was just wondering on a bit of advice for line?

all three of my reels are loaded with mono at the moment which has done three good hard seasons i have no idea what it is apart from it is 10 pound breaking strain!

i want a line as reliable and resonably priced i do alot of big waters for carp and seem to be fishing for pike lately aswell.

but im stuck between braid and mono i know that braid is considerably thinner compared to breaking strain and doesnt have as much elasticity but how much difference does it make and is it better than mono. I NEED HELP!!!!!!!!!!! thankyou

 

 

I keep changing my mind which I think is best. I think it depends on the fish your targeting and the venue, casting distance etc. You will find braid is better for casting distance and possibley better bite indication at distance. I have to say if I could only use one or the other it would have to be Mono. At the end of the day you have to try it for yourself.

Edited December 24, 2007 by tigger

[noodle996]

as mr Budgie says be sensible and buy by diameter if your going to use it for distance then maybe (and I mean /maybe) drop the diamater eg if 50 lb is the same dia then use the 40 from the same company

personally i have 4 braids for general pike fishing with baits one of 55lb the oldest i use about 5 years old by penn two spooled with daiwa sensor 50lb braid and one with 44lb antares for drifting and distance work the most robust is the daiwa and the least the shimano but then its around half the diameter of the daiwa

[Dick Dastardly]

as mr Budgie says be sensible and buy by diameter if your going to use it for distance then maybe (and I mean /maybe) drop the diamater eg if 50 lb is the same dia then use the 40 from the same company

personally i have 4 braids for general pike fishing with baits one of 55lb the oldest i use about 5 years old by penn two spooled with daiwa sensor 50lb braid and one with 44lb antares for drifting and distance work the most robust is the daiwa and the least the shimano but then its around half the diameter of the daiwa

 

Yup I can agree with that too.If there is a reason ie long distance casting then sacrificing a bit of abrassion resistance for the lower diameter to help this is acceptable.Its just when people use the same BS and therefore have a much thinner line for no reason that the problems occur.

[Dick Dastardly]

I keep changing my mind which I think is best. I think it depends on the fish your targeting and the venue, casting distance etc. You will find braid is better for casting distance and possibley better bite indication at distance. I have to say if I could only use one or the other it would have to be Mono. At the end of the day you have to try it for yourself.

 

Similar with me as well.Ifirst wentr through a stage of using braid for everything after my initial sucsess with it for pike fishing.Didnt use it for any light float work though.Over a period of 15 or so years using it Ive chaged my mind and now use it for trotting (with top and bottom floats) as well and no longer use it for the the situations I mentioned in my earlier posts.

[Dick Dastardly]

Maybe this bit I wrote a while back on braid may be of some help/interest to you wsmlewy-

 

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.

 

 

NB:In addition to this some braids now come with a "dressing" which makes them a little bit more slicker going through the rings.An example of this is Spider Wire Stealth.

[wsmlewy]

thankyou very much for your advice budgie i think im going to just get 300 yards and put it on one reel and see how i get on with it that way if i fish with mono and braid at the same time and hopefully get a fish on either rods i can work out for myself what i feel personally is best and how i find fishing with it!!!!

thanks again lewis

[benhben]

I'm all braid except for a couple of specialty uses where I need a naturally sinking line.

 

For me, PowerPro in 10, 30, and 50lb pretty well does it although I do keep a couple of reels spooled with 80lb for places where I need more abrasion resistance.

 

Unless I have bad luck and break off a long amount of line, the braid lasts pretty much forever.

 

You must spend alot of cash on braid!