Reel Repair by Alan Tani

My fishing buddies and I switched to braid a few years ago for bottom fishing,  grouper and snapper, with our smaller conventional gear. Even with only three fisherman on a 27' CC, there's at least one tangle per trip, and usually 2 or 3. When we fished mono, tangles were pretty infrequent. Fished a charter last Sunday and the captain had braid on all his conventionals, but used a top shot of 80-100' of 60lb mono. Fishing at depths of 125' to 165'.

I used my own rod and reel, 50lb braid with a 6' mono leader of 60lb mono. Of course I hooked something big, shark maybe, and caused a huge tangle before it broke off. Captain looked at my gear and sighed..."braid." He offered to tie a top shot on my reel, but got busy so it never happened. Now I'm considering using a long top shot for bottom fishing.

Questions: (1) Why does braid tangle so easily? (2) Would a heavier weight or smaller bait prevent some tangles? (3) How long of a top shot would I need to lessen tangles if bottom fishing in 150'? Thanks.

         If we are talking about tangles in the water  and enough weight to hold bottom , there is no difference .    Now if you hook into a fish that likes to fight in the horizontal water column , than you will have tangles . 

on the retrieve, guys will let the braid pile up on one side or the other.  on the next cast or drop, the loose braid on the top of the pile falls or slides sideways and gets wrapped up.  the success of any cast depends on how smoothly and evenly the braid is laid down on the previous retrieve.  that's why alot of guys have started using tranx reels or lexas for casting jigs. you've gotta pay attention. 

I think if 5 people are using mono leaders and one is using thin braid, the thin braid will move through the water differently than the 5 lines of mono that all travel together.

With that said I fish braid exclusively and had gone several trips in a row without a single tangle with others on a boat with 45 people on it. But last trip there were a bunch of beginners, and it was tangle city. Not saying your boat mates were beginners. But that was an interesting difference I noticed last trip.

Also if the person next to you is bringing up a fish, don't drop your line til it's up. Fish come up spiraling. Your line dropping straight next to something coming up spiraling is a recipe for disaster.

Braid tends to tangle more because it's so limp compared to mono. Also paying attention to where your line is and your fellow anglers. Ideally everyone has their line straight out in front of them although many times it's not possible   It's mostly awareness of your surroundings, if everyone is paying attention tangles can be minimal

Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on Today at 04:23:57 PMI think if 5 people are using mono leaders and one is using thin braid, the thin braid will move through the water differently than the 5 lines of mono that all travel together.

With that said I fish braid exclusively and had gone several trips in a row without a single tangle with others on a boat with 45 people on it. But last trip there were a bunch of beginners, and it was tangle city. Not saying your boat mates were beginners. But that was an interesting difference I noticed last trip.

Well 4 of the 6 fishers on the charter were rookies, but I caused the tangle so... well...maybe...I'll blame the fish. Whatever it was pulled a steady 17lbs of drag sideways until it cut my leader. Still considering a longer top shot though. Need to learn to tie a knot that travels well through the guides.