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River ledgering - mono or braid


The Flying Tench

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Martin56,

 

Quick story. In the early 70's the Germans "prefected" one pound mono. Proudly they sent it to Japan for an "opinion". The Japanese returned a 25 meter section of line with a hole drilled down the center. The "comment" accompanying the line was WHY?

 

Phone

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I use braid a lot and have used it for lure fishing since 1993. Have recently started using it for general ledgering and even float fishing and am warming to it, probably because I'm so used to it's characteristics.
As back in the early days of lure fishing, don't try to match breaking strain because the lack of forgiveness will drive you crazy. Better to match diameter and reap the rewards of no stretch and additional strength.
My recent double figure barbel was landed on a 25lb mainline and 15lb 8 strand hooklength and while you may not think of that as "sporting", there're was nothing sporting about leaving a fish with the two hooks in it that I removed after removing my own.

Species caught in 2020: Barbel. European Eel. Bleak. Perch. Pike.

Species caught in 2019: Pike. Bream. Tench. Chub. Common Carp. European Eel. Barbel. Bleak. Dace.

Species caught in 2018: Perch. Bream. Rainbow Trout. Brown Trout. Chub. Roach. Carp. European Eel.

Species caught in 2017: Siamese carp. Striped catfish. Rohu. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Black Minnow Shark. Perch. Chub. Brown Trout. Pike. Bream. Roach. Rudd. Bleak. Common Carp.

Species caught in 2016: Siamese carp. Jullien's golden carp. Striped catfish. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Alligator gar. Rohu. Black Minnow Shark. Roach, Bream, Perch, Ballan Wrasse. Rudd. Common Carp. Pike. Zander. Chub. Bleak.

Species caught in 2015: Brown Trout. Roach. Bream. Terrapin. Eel. Barbel. Pike. Chub.

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Using braid as a hooklength in my local rivers would leave a hell of a lot of fish with hooks in their mouths and trailing line. Whilst trotting i've caught numerous barbel with hooks and braid left in them, some with mono but mostly braid. Very often the hooks have been barbless, so much for them falling out!!

I remember one barbel I caught whilst legering and it was trailing about 25 yards of braid from a "barbless hook" firmly lodged in it's mouth. The fish was weak and hardly fought, it was also pale in colour. Luckily I caught it before it went beyond the point of no return.

If a river has a rocky substrate or boulders etc i'd steer well claer of braid.

Edited by Tigger
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Recently fishing a small private water where all braid is banned, also bolt rigs are banned and barbed hooks. I was float fishing, I foul hooked a carp around 6 - 7lbs. I played it to the net and saw it had a huge hook embedded inside its bottom lip. Last time I saw a hook so big I think it was berthing the QE2. Attached to that a 5" length of braid and a bolt rig with a battered 4oz lead, attached to that a length of braid which two of us began to pull in. A rod and reel and maybe 20lbs of weed, sludge and muck attached to that. Reel firmly locked in place, no bait runner or anything engaged. The waters owner said he had a good idea of its owner and would deal with it. Klinik applied the carp was released and will hopefully live on. The question I had was why? When everything used was banned and the biggest fish I have seen is 18lbs although the lake does contain low 20s.

 

I have nothing against braid, but know nowhere that I fish that allows it. Even braided hook lengths are banned on most of the venues I use.

 

I can't get my head around fishing something like 24lbs or more breaking strain for fish that on average run 6 - 8 lbs. From what I've seen its twice the price of mono. I'd like to try it to say I either do or don't like it, but can't think of a circumstance to use it. I usually fish the rivers in the broads once or twice a year but don't think strength is warranted.

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If all else fails, follow the intructions.
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The reason its bought is in the main it wont be breaking reeling in a fish ,carp chappies in their camo lives cant be losing fish after camping for the weekend can they ?

 

I am always amused in the local matches on a local lake generally full of bivvies a chap on a pole will land far more carp in an 24 hour match than they could ever dream of .

Yes the bigger fish will be a problem but in weight alone the carpers are thrashed!i think 284 lb of fish was the total for the winner this year!

 

Braid has its advantage its stronger for its thickness but theres little else to recomend unless your after extremely finicky fish in completely clear water ,carp are not suited to such things their very act of feeding stirs silt removing the need for braid and theres not much more finicky than a wildy and i have caught lots with (looking back) pretty crude tackle!

 

More amusing is we couldnt ditch braid quick enough in the 50's when decent mono was obtainable for the very reasons its showing today ,it snaps for little reason and it frays very easily!luckily modern materials mean your not having to dry your line after every trip but you didnt with mono either

 

Perhaps a metre of braid on the end of mono would be the best compromise if it snaps it will be a short bit rather than at the rod tip ,you then have the best of both worlds

Edited by chesters1

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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Funnily enough I thought I remembered my Grandad telling me about drying line but also thought I might have imagined it.

 

I also remember him using early pva in the 60s on the Trent at Kelham, only thing was he called them paper bags and used a stone to sink them.

If all else fails, follow the intructions.
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Yes braid was natural materials so needed looking after,same with expensive tents if they are cotton you make sure they are dry before storing or they rot in a few days

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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Funnily enough I thought I remembered my Grandad telling me about drying line but also thought I might have imagined it.

I also remember him using early pva in the 60s on the Trent at Kelham, only thing was he called them paper bags and used a stone to sink them.

Back in the 60s I remember using dissolving bags made out of rice paper which we used to put a stone in to make them sink because of the trapped air caught inside of them.

 

We still put stones into our more modern PVA bags to help them sink when air gets trapped inside.

But I much prefer using PVA mesh stocking as air doesnt get trapped in them so you dont need any stones inside of them to make them sink.

 

Braid:

The old Braid we used was a lot thicker than todays, but it was used by some because of the lack of stretch it gave and its suppleness, plus it didnt seem to cut through a fishes mouth like its possible for modern braid to do when too much pressure is being applied, because the older braid was a bit thicker.

 

Im not very keen on using Braid as a mainline because of the tangles you sometimes get with it when its a bit windy and because of its tendency to fray when it catches on underwater obstructions and subsequently breaks, and as I rarely need to fish to the horizon these days, line stretch in nylon isnt a major problem for me; plus braid is banned as a mainline on most of the waters that I fish anyway; however I still use it as a hooklength for most of my Carp hooks and still use it for a mainline when dropshotting for Perch with a fluorocarbon trace at a short distance on a canal, but my dropshotting rod has some give in its action to compensate anyway.

 

Keith

Edited by BoldBear

Happiness is Fish shaped (it used to be woman shaped but the wife is getting on a bit now)

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All,

 

Firstly, I'm a fan of braid. It is better than every other way save one - the fisherman. I'm old and know how to fish mono, silk and cotton. The best was the white cotton with the single red thread spun into it. Braid is to frustrating for me to have a good time. That's an angler problem not a line problem.

 

For example, "snaps" on braid is: 1. poor knot; 2. poor guide (usually the tip); 3. inexperienced anglers, With a properly set drag you CANNOT snap any fishing line by over powering it; 4. poor or inadequate swivel, you can "unwind" braid and have the tangle of all tangles (line twist). Any braid manufactured after about mid 2018 is more resistant to nicks than any mono. 5. Braid casts 30 - 40% farther than mono. 6 Even Gozzer can use braid (eventually)

 

It’s irrelevant how a line breaks in a dry state since no one fishes a dry line. Most anglers, however, assume that the breaking-strength designation refers to line in its dry state. Equally the term "critically balanced" is BS with mono (an impossible condition) Braided and fused lines do not absorb water and do not change in strength from dry to wet. Last, for now, 15 lb braid has an incredibly thin diameter which should be perfect for dink fishing.

 

Phone

 

PS: Any guess what a 40 lb fish weighs in the water?? Any guess how much force a fish can exert swimming??

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