Been Too EMMBARESSED TO ASK...

[OSIRIS631]

HI Guys,

Yes it's me again Mr. Clueless.  I have used mono all of my life and have been debating about using  braided line.  I have kind of shyed away from them because from what I read and hear they are hi maintenance lines to use.... Is it true?  Do you have to use different knots than you do with mono.  Do I have to put a topshot of mono in front of the braid and why?  and is it true that you cant strike a fish for initial hookup as hard as you would with mono because it has the tendency to rip the hooks out of there mouths do to the fact that there is no stretch to the line.... Do the benefits outway these issues?
Guys I know it takes patience to deal with a newby such as myself, but think of the satisfaction of helping out someone green behind the ears and passing down your knowledge, not to mention St. Peters might take it into consideration when u get to the perly gates..   

Regards,

John

[alantani]

normally i'm a scotch drinker, but this is a discussion to be had over very cold vodka....... 

[Bryan Young]

Hi John,

I have been using braided lines for over 20 years now.  Not Dacron, but Dyneema and Spectra weaved braided lines, and for most of my fishing, I will not use mono again.  There are exceptions based on fishing location and underwater terrain.

My Pros and Cons for using braided Line -

Pros - Can immediately feel the strike, Line doesn't stretch, last a very long time (does not decay due to UV light), possitive hook sets, much thinner diameter (sinks faster, casts farther,...), you can feel what the fish is doing, greater line capacity, fish with smaller reels, if fishing live bait with no or short top shot, the live bait will swim better and will last longer due to the thinner line,

Cons - Initial cost, spooling (more controlled spooling method), unforgiving since it doesn't stretch, not very abrasion resistant, can cut your hand if unprotected with glove or finger protection, tangles are difficult to get out, short or long topshots may be needed, may need to retie knots more often if you are fishing braid to terminal tackle (abrasion, even to the ring of a swivel),

I'm sure others will add to my list.

I'd say 90% of my reels have braided line.  The ones that don't are my trout fishing gear and my trolling rigs since I haven't had the chance to change them out yet.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

It cost me 30 bucks or so to fill up my 9/0 with mono. I caught a deal on braid from a friend so now I h ave raid and topshot a for a while for 10 bucks. 70 dollars of braid with a 5 dollar topshot, I respool mono take a year usually so 3 years no question it's worth it. Plus what Mr.Bryan said

[Makule]

Aside form initial cost, the only other reason it is not in some of my reels is because it has very poor abrasion resistance.  These reels are "specialty" application reels and all others have braid.

[OSIRIS631]

Bryan thanks for taking the time to answer some of those question.  know if I understood you right.  the topshot is used because braids low abrasion tolerance.  Wow its funny how even the ring in a swival can ruin it.  once again.. Thank you

John

[OSIRIS631]

Alan if your ever in New York the Vodka is on me and Iam taking about the good stuff... would be well worth it just to pick your brain... 

John

[maxpowers]

My take is you should always give yourself at least 10-20 yards of mono as a shock absorber to the initial hook set, especially with high drag setting.  the 3-5 ft of fluoro may not be enough. 

The con to doing this is that you will have at least 3 connections or minimum 2 connections from the braid to the hook.  Since I always make sure the weakest portion of the connection is always from the fluoro to the hook, the connection from the braid to the mono can be done with a modified albright, a double grinner, of a FG knot and is 100% strong.  The connection between the mono and fluoro could be uni-uni, double surgeon or loop to loop via spider hitch.  Those knots are about 85-90% strength.  From there whatever knot I tied to the hook will be the weakest.  Typically I snelled my hook and that is about 80-85% strength or so..

[LTM]

John,

Braid is too damed expensive!!  I've only a handfull of reels with braid at the moment and Im not looking forward to spooling-up the rest of my reels. The Black Pearl braid is priced right but still $150 plus to spool a Daiwa 600h, the same for my Avet EX (my two largest reels) then 12-15 more reels. I'll need to take out a loan to get them all done at the cost of several nice reels. I myself dont know where to start spooling-up with braid. Should I start with my large reels (and largest cost) or my small reels (smaller cost)? I understand and like the advantages but the cost.......... geeeez!

Leo

[Dynamo]

If you want cheap braid free fisher PE x strong braid off ebay is cheap and better than power pro, maybe. Ya don't have to be embarrassed here, that's what everybodys here to do, just learn and have fun . Tying knots in braid is easy, just double the amount of turns with the line you'd use for a mono equivalent. Uni, Albright, etcetera all work fine. Braid lasts like forever if you don't get it cut, smaller braid is pretty tough compared to a mono of same class, but higher up, (like in the 80 class), is smaller diameter becomes a weakness. High test mono is thick and takes a lot of abuse, but braid will take one nick from a shell. That's it. IMO, light stuff braid is best, but using heavier stuff in snaggy areas or areas with obstructions mono or at least mono w. braid backing won't let you down. Cheers!

[Keta]

My take is you should always give yourself at least 10-20 yards of mono as a shock absorber to the initial hook set, especially with high drag setting.  the 3-5 ft of fluoro may not be enough.  

I fish topshots as short as 10' and up to 200lbs with no issues.

John,

Braid is too damed expensive!!

I have reels spooled with spectra that I put on close to 20 years ago that is still good, try that with mono.

[maxpowers]

LTM - you don't have to spool it all.  You can back it with dacron and spool 500 yards of so of your favorite braid and then top off with some mono..

[Ron Jones]

It really depends what you are after. I have started spooling almost the whole spool with braid. Yes, it is expensive, but if you keep it clean and out of the rocks it will last your lifetime. YOu can respool a reel a bunch of times with mono before you even question braid.

Ron

[maxpowers]

My take is you should always give yourself at least 10-20 yards of mono as a shock absorber to the initial hook set, especially with high drag setting.  the 3-5 ft of fluoro may not be enough. 

I fish topshots as short as 10' and up to 200lbs with no issues.

Keta,

I just felt that you are more likely to pull hooks with such a short topshot.  Obviously s you moved up on the breaking strength the fish get bigger and have more meat to hold the hook in.  When I was fishing bluefin on the 1-3 days SD fleet this summer I saw a lot of hooks got pulled on those who fished short topshot while the ones fishing longer top shot (10 yards or so) or mono had solid hook set.  I myself experience the same thing thus I switched over to a 20-50 yards mono topshot and did much better.

[Dynamo]

Just a tip, don't know how yer fishin but usually with braid, sharp hooks, and right timing you can hook a fish just by reeling and applying pressure. Jerking the hook tears the mouth of the fish if you rip 'em to hard . . . .