NJ Saltwater Fisherman Forums
NJ Saltwater Fishing Reports and Information => Helping Each Other Out => Topic started by: TurboDan on January 18, 2008, 10:15:48 AM
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Hi All,
Though I've used it before when using others' tackle, I've never had braid spooled on my reel before. I'd definitely like to try it for winter flounder season as well as fluke season this year. Can anyone recommend a good brand of braid? Are there significant differences between brands? Basically, I'm looking for something that is a good balance between price and quality, if such a brand exists.
Additionally, I know the tests vary a bit when you switch to braid. What do you guys think the best test would be for winter flounder fishing in the spring and for regular bay/ocean/inlet fluke fishing for the rest of the season? Thanks!
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Its the best.. never fish without it. .
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I have been using Power Pro for a number of years now. I personally have had no problems with it what so ever. I have HEARD people talk about problems, but I have never experienced any. I will continue to use Power Pro without hesitation.
You will, without a doubt, up your catch by using braided line. You will feel everything your bait drags across. At first you will be yanking on bottom bites but you will get used to that. After using braid, monofilament will feel like a rubber band.
My opinion; go with any name brand braid and you will not go wrong. t^
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Use 20 or 30lb for the bay. No need for more inside and it is the equivalent of 6-8lb test or so.
Tuff Line XP is my preferred. Suffix is good, but a bit more $$$.
I DO NOT like Powerpro. Inconsistent quality, color fades quickly, etc.
I have a boat load of stuff from Australia (some generic looking stuff I bought in bulk 50 and 65lb) and have been pleased with it so far.
99% of my gear is outfitted with braid now.
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You got to use it. I have used Power Pro and has worked fine. But I use on my personal gear and on my customer equipment 30lb Spider Wire Stealth. The 30lb test has good strength and gives you the line diameter of 8LB test. So you will find you can use lighter weights and hold bottom. The reason is that the braid has no stretch. With the small diameter there is less Resistance in the water.You will feel a Fluke breath on the bait. It is very sensitive.
Give it a go.
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All my reels are spooled with Power Pro.. from fluke reels, to heavy Striper and Bluefish reels and even my Surf outfit..
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All my reels are spooled with Power Pro.. from fluke reels, to heavy Striper and Bluefish reels and even my Surf outfit..
And they are all spinning :)
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yes, spinning.
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You got to use it. I have used Power Pro and has worked fine. But I use on my personal gear and on my customer equipment 30lb Spider Wire Stealth. The 30lb test has good strength and gives you the line diameter of 8LB test. So you will find you can use lighter weights and hold bottom. The reason is that the braid has no stretch. With the small diameter there is less Resistance in the water.You will feel a Fluke breath on the bait. It is very sensitive.
Give it a go.
I have used both and still do powerpro and spider wire. Most of my setups have the spider wire, I am going to make all of mine that way. Price is a lot better and you can order it direct for an even better price over the internet.
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yes, spinning.
Have to teach ya how to cast with conventional one of these days >:D
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Fireline TT^
Some say it's thicker than other braided lines, but FL under-rate their line significantly. Firelines's 30#test is comparable to PowerPro 50#test IMHO.
I have it on spinning, conventionals, and baitcasters. No issues at all. For fluke/flounder you can go with their 14#test. Will break maybe at 25#s t^
I use their 30#test and it holds up longer than 60#mono leaders I attach to it.
I ALWAYS use a mono leader attached to the braid/Fireline. On conventionals I go with atleast 14' of mono leader attached via a connection knot(uni-to-uni, Alberto, bimini/yucatan) Generally will use 15-20# mono for leader for fluke/flounder. Gives you abrasion resistance and easier to rig up. Also alot easier to untangle especially on a crowded party boat. Trust me, even if you're just fishing an inch of braid/superlines off the reel spool, you'll feel the difference. For flounder fishing, sometimes I'm almost just fishing the 15#mono leader as they tend to be caught in the shallows.
On spinning gear, my leaders will range from 3' on up.
Properly tied knots will fly right through rod guides and levelwinds.
Fireline is not a true braid, but close enough. My overall favorite. Next would be Tuf-line XP.
Power Pro I've used and had some issues with a few band runs of it. To me, the Tuf-line is almost identical to PP, but less expensive TT^
Stealth is ok as well.
Each brand has little differences that the individual may prefer or not.
Many new brands out there, but happy with Fireline so no real need to change.
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Fireline TT^
Some say it's thicker than other braided lines, but FL under-rate their line significantly. Firelines's 30#test is comparable to PowerPro 50#test IMHO.
On a private boat 14' mono is WAAAY to long to use. 5-7" TOPS.
Fishing in 10' of water in the bay, might as well not use braid then :)
ALways use 5' or so of topshot on braid, but no more then that unless a party boat, but I really do not fish them.
I have it on spinning, conventionals, and baitcasters. No issues at all. For fluke/flounder you can go with their 14#test. Will break maybe at 25#s t^
I use their 30#test and it holds up longer than 60#mono leaders I attach to it.
I ALWAYS use a mono leader attached to the braid/Fireline. On conventionals I go with atleast 14' of mono leader attached via a connection knot(uni-to-uni, Alberto, bimini/yucatan) Generally will use 15-20# mono for leader for fluke/flounder. Gives you abrasion resistance and easier to rig up. Also alot easier to untangle especially on a crowded party boat. Trust me, even if you're just fishing an inch of braid/superlines off the reel spool, you'll feel the difference. For flounder fishing, sometimes I'm almost just fishing the 15#mono leader as they tend to be caught in the shallows.
On spinning gear, my leaders will range from 3' on up.
Properly tied knots will fly right through rod guides and levelwinds.
Fireline is not a true braid, but close enough. My overall favorite. Next would be Tuf-line XP.
Power Pro I've used and had some issues with a few band runs of it. To me, the Tuf-line is almost identical to PP, but less expensive TT^
Stealth is ok as well.
Each brand has little differences that the individual may prefer or not.
Many new brands out there, but happy with Fireline so no real need to change.
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Wow, lots of great info here. So, I guess the bottom line is to go with a 20-30 lb test of braid, which would end up being the same amount of yards/diameter as an 8-12 lb mono line? Wow! I like being able to get away with using less weight, especially since I like the egg sinkers for fluke.
I'm using conventional for winter flounder and fluke fishing, does this make any differrence? I've heard braid can "dig in" sometimes in such an outfit.
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14' leader too long on a 7' rod w/ conventional reel on a private boat? Only if you use a swivel for the connection ;)
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Keep the drag set a little bit looser than normal and you should not experience the line digging into the spooled line. If you have a tight drag and get hung up, you will dig in the line when it tightens up and doesn't come loose.
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Another Power Pro user here.
Been using it for years. Every other year I'll reverse it on the reel to get 2 more years out.
For bucktailing with spinning gear in under 20' of water I'll use #12-14 rated line. I'll also use this when winter flounder fishing on the flats in the bay on either spinning or conventional reels.
For bay fluking and fluking right off the beach I like #20. For deep water fluking in the channels or out in the ocean I'll bump it up to #30.
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14' leader too long on a 7' rod w/ conventional reel on a private boat? Only if you use a swivel for the connection ;)
What good is 14' of mono if fishing in 10-15' of water?
No reason to use more then 5-7' on a PrivateBoat.
Party boat? Maybe, so that mates don't complain.
Why would you?
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I'd definitely like to try it for winter flounder season...
...What do you guys think the best test would be for winter flounder fishing in the spring
For winter flounder you can't go wrong with 6# Fireline. Very thin and strong!
BTW, I wish they'd bring back the winter season for winter flounder! >:( I miss catching those fat little fatties in December and January!
(http://www.smiliegenerator.de/s34/smilies-1300.png)
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I've found that I like braid for Fluke fishing only.
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if you like braid for fluke, shouldn't you like to for everything else. I use braid all the time. I swiched to mone on one of my old reels, and it completely sucks. Braid is good for FEEL... so all bottom fish are work briad, fluke, sea bass, stripers, tog, etc.. The only time I don't feel a need for it is if I am either trolling or bluefishing. You don't need the feel while bluefishing but with most other species you want to have that sensitive touch.
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if you like braid for fluke, shouldn't you like to for everything else. I use braid all the time. I switched to mine on one of my old reels, and it completely sucks. Braid is good for FEEL... so all bottom fish are work braid, fluke, sea bass, striper's, tog, etc.. The only time I don't feel a need for it is if I am either trolling or bluefishing. You don't need the feel while bluefishing but with most other species you want to have that sensitive touch.
Perfect for trolling to get your baits down.
Easily get 5' + deeper with braid then with equivalent mono.
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I knew that Mike.. I use braid for trolling also... I was just saying that if there is anything I can get away not using it for would be to troll... See ya at the party pal.
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if you like braid for fluke, shouldn't you like to for everything else. \
I find it's not really necessary for clamming/chunking stripers and I don't troll too much. I also don't like it for casting jigs and lures because it has a tendency for wind knots. I wouldn't bring it on a party boat because I don't want to be hassled about it.
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if you like braid for fluke, shouldn't you like to for everything else. \
I find it's not really necessary for clamming/chunking stripers and I don't troll too much.
Def allows you to have to use less weight to get the chunks or clams down when chunking.
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at this point, I will never use mono again.. not even for snapper blues.. Im don't with it..
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Hi All,
I have braid on all my spinning surf reels and there are 6 of them. I haven't had a problem with wind knots at all. A lot of time the wind knots are caused by not using snap swivels from your braided line to the leader and twist causes the knots. Plus I found that over filling of ones spool will cause the knots and one other thing that I suggest all anglers just starting out in the surf to do is after you cast trip the bail over manually.
By tripping manually you will not put a twist in the line as the bail flips over.
Happy Catching
Paul
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Based on the high praise I read here I have spooled up my fluke spinners with Sufix braid. I got a good deal on it and can't wait to try. My conventionals haven't made the switch yet but sumthin tells me I will soon...
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I just got a new Penn 525M as a belated B-day gffe that I will be loading up with braid, now I have to go and but a new rod for that puppy.
Paul
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once you use the braid, you will never go back to mono.. im surprised mono is still in business
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14' leader too long on a 7' rod w/ conventional reel on a private boat? Only if you use a swivel for the connection ;)
What good is 14' of mono if fishing in 10-15' of water?
No reason to use more then 5-7' on a PrivateBoat.
Party boat? Maybe, so that mates don't complain.
Why would you?
Why not? All you need is just a small section of braid off from the reel to have improved sensitivity.
On a privated boat I much rather have enough of a mono leader on so that I can grab it instead of braid especially if you end up with a dogfish or skate or whatever that you don't wish to lift with your rod or put in to the net. I rather have that leader wrapped around on the spool a few times to lift anything. That's me though.
Of course with spinning gear you can get away with alot less length of mono leader. I'd still would want enough on to be able to grab on to though.
Also if you use a fishfinder slide for the sinker, I much rather have it sliding on mono than braid, even with using the heavy-duty slides.
Mono still has it's place and time that it shines.
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5-7' of mono is MORE then enough mono to grab on a private boat.
14' of mono in 10-15' of water defeats the purpose of braid in both feel (however minor) and negates the "lower weight to hold bottom" effect.
For me, when fluking or bottom fishing, 7' of braid is plenty to be safe while maintaining all of the benefits of braid :)
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I don't use it any different than regular line with a normal fuke rig attached...Am I doing something wrong.
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Nope, to each his own.
I put a fishfinder rig on the braid, any where from an eighteen inch to four foot leader, depending on conditions and rig, and drift away.
Gives me plenty of leader to reach out to and pull in whatever doesn't go in the net.
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Sometimes using the bare minimum of lead to hold bottom is NOT a good thing. nosmly
For flounder, with a 10-15# mono leader, if fishing just that, trust me, it ain't an issue. ;)
Just remember, it's always better to have and not need, than need and not have. chrz
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Just remember, it's always better to have and not need, than need and not have. chrz
That is a great way to look at it.. I live by that as well.
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QUESTION ON BRAID . When you use braid do you like a specific color. They come in smoke,flame green, crystal,etc. Or does it make a difference ? Whats your feedback.
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For braid I like the green. The thing is once it gets down to any depth it all turns to shades of gray anyway.
I use braid to a swivel attached to a fish finder rig I make out of fluorocarbon. Works great off the surf.
Happy Catching
Paul
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I use hi-vis colors, green, smoke, etc. With a long mono leader(fluro I find for where and how I fish to not be an advantage) the color of the braid makes no difference.
Heck, T uses pink and outfishes many a supposed sharpie at times t^
I guess if you tie direct then color may be a factor.
Some say the new Fireline Crystal is the cat's meow. Personally have not tried it yet. DId find that the hi-vis green of Fireline seemed weaker than the same #test in smoke color. Pink seems fine. 5hrug
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Guys, Thanks for the feedback,looking forward to using some this year attached to a shocker.AJ
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more to follow.. this season didn't even begin yet.
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I tend to prefer the yellow so I can see it, but do have some green and some red.
I do have some multi colored on my blue avet the looks SWEET :)
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I switched several rods to yellow braid from green and find I like it better as I can see it better in the water especially if the line is near the motor or another line. I put a leader of Berkley Transition Fluorcarbon,which also turns yellow in the sun, about 6ft long on the end with a uni-uni knot so it goes right thru the guides. I then fashion a rig by snelling a hook to the end and adding goodies as the spirit leads. Worked great last year, see what happens this year.
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Sounds good.