15 pound mono for stipers

[mrbrklyn]

When I was out of the west coast, the party boat captain out of fishermans warf insisted that 15 pound test mono for striped bass fishing was, in his opinion, the way to fish for Striped Bass.

Sp, this week I was out of the water, fishing with his recommend 15 pound test on my Seeker and the old Pen 3210 GT reel.  First I hooked up a 30+ inch Blue on the line, the live using a fish finder and gamachi octupus 6/0 hooks... and SNAP, gone went the line after a 3 minute fight with the fish.

I was really bummed but, hey, blues eat through lines.

So later in the day, next I pull in and fight off a 30+ prized striped bass, right to the boat and SNAP went the line.  Now I'm really ticked off!!  What is this with the love affair on underwieght monoline!!

I spun it all off and its going back to the 40 pound test line, and even that can be light.

Ruben

[Alto Mare]

For stripers I've been using 17 or 20lb  mono for a long time. My leaders are usually steel, but not crazy about them, I prefer  a heavier mono leader.

[Keta]

Your drag was not properly set for 15# and possibly your rod was not right.

[Dominick]

Your drag was not properly set for 15# and possibly your rod was not right.

I agree with this assessment.  You should have had only 5lbs of drag on the reel.  How stiff is the rod?  All things being equal you should have been okay with 15lb test.  However, fishing from high up on a party boat does not give you the luxury of playing 30lb fish with 15lb line.  Dominick

[Alto Mare]

fishing from high up on a party boat does not give you the luxury of playing 30lb fish with 15lb line.  Dominick

Bingo!!!

[akfish]

Check to make sure there are no cracks or nicks on your rod's guides. Cracks in the guides will spell broken lines every time!

[Doug]

I agree with Dominick . The most fish I have seen break off are almost always at boat side and always seem to be big ( you should have seen the one that got away type) . I use 20lb for stripers and 40lb on blues over 10lbs and on my own tackle a 40lb fluorocarbon leader.   Doug

[Alto Mare]

Doug, how do you separate the two I usually don't know what's going to hit my line when I work the birds. you'll be surprised to see what a 20lb line can bring in, my largest was 44lbs.
There are lots of things to take in consideration, Dominick had a good point.
I usually lift the tip of my rod and let it share the load, you can't do that on a party boat.
Lee and Akfish also had a good point. Also, sticky drags will also snap your line.

[Doug]

Sal Good point. I usually fish the prime seasons spring for stripers, summer fluke, fall blue fish. Granted there are stripers around during the fall run but the darn yellow eyes are so predominant its hard to get passed them to the stripers. I usually use a jigmaster or surfmaster and have extra spools with 20 30 and 40 test. If I happen to catch something big on light line the drag  becomes even more important. Yet another reason why your work on the drags has helped all of us.  Doug

[Alto Mare]

Daug, how do you like that surfmaster? I put a few together for that purpose, but haven't used them yet. I do use jigmasters and always have a couple of ss spinners, usually 550 and 650. I started fishing on spinners and just can't give them up .

[Doug]

Sal  I have  a 100 and a 150 that I upgraded one has Bryans 5+1 drags in it. I love them for drifting and short range casting bait but not so much for jigging , they seem a bit too slow but still a lot of fun to use and strong enough. I  also sometimes use a 550ss or even a 750ss. Recently I was looking to pickup a 710 for stripers , before I was about to buy one someone at my local Elks Lodge gave me a box of junk reels.
In that box was an old 704z and 720z . I cleaned them up and have not been able to use anything else since, go figure these reels are old tech and are most likely  over 30 years old and I just love fishing with them. The 710 z I have not used on stripers I got  it too late or the spring run but I have been using it for jigging fluke and of all things on a cheap 10-25 lb Ugly Stick.  Doug

[Alto Mare]

Haha!! nice score . don't underestimate the Ugly Sticks, that's all that I use and love them.

[Alto Mare]

Tell Ritch of the Marylin Jean Charter that he could catch striper with 20lb line as well .

[Keta]

The Seeker is a B-30 (25-40 range) and the 15 pound test popped like a button on a jacket of a fat man.
The drag was set very low, even less than 5.

It's a 30# rod, if you wish to land fish with 15# get a rod rated for 15#.  Use this rod for 25# minimum.

[SoCalAngler]

Many factors can come into play as to why you may be breaking off fish. The line rating to rod stiffness may be one but if the drag is set correctly as you state it was in my mind it would be one of the lesser causes.

The number one cause I would look at is the knots use. Number two would be the line it's self such as was it damaged from knicks or abrasions or has the line seen many hours of direct sunlight? Number three is the hooks, do they have any burrs or can the line get caught in the gap of the hooks eyelet/ring as a 6/0 is a pretty big hook for 15 lb test? Number four would be a sticky drag in your reel. Number five would using 15 lb line in the first place. The lighter the line the less damage it can take before failure and the lighter the drags the longer you will be on a fish, maybe longer then needed where only bad things can happen.

For me these would be the first things I would look at.

EDIT: Also right at the top of the list I should of stated was the line you are using in fact breaking at 15 lbs? I have seen mislabeled line before and bad line comming strait from the manufacture. Even very good manufactures have a bad spool of line get away from them from time to time.