Northwest Fishing Reports

I am new to bass fishing. I am addicted to SMB fishing in our local lakes. Just got my first 6.6 foot medium action rod and reel. Now my question for local bass fishing do I rig it with Mono, Flouro, or Braided? Everything I read says keep the test at about 14 pounds. Need some advice.

Jeff

14 lb test is okay for topwater baits but 6 or 8 lb test will get you bit more often.
I fish Smallmouth at Potholes quite a bit and the liter lines work fine.
I use Trilene XL and XT most of the time.

I use 8 lb Fluro carbon from P-line for spincasts, using senkos, dropshots, and tubes. I use 12 lb mono Stren for baitcasters, using crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and jigs.

i like straight mono or braid w/ a fluoro leader for spinning gear. No clue about casting though. I'll be picking up my first casting combo at some point soon.

i'd use 6lb McCoy for smallies.

CK14 wrote:i'd use 6lb McCoy for smallies.

i totally agree. i never go over 10 pounds max for smallies.

I use 6lb P-LINE CXX this is some very tough line with low memory and cast re4ally well ...BBD

I used quality 8-10 pound mono on my spinning rods for years and got broke off too often by huge bass when fishing floating Rapalas. I did check the terminal section of my line often for nicks and scrapes but those big boys do play rough. A few years ago I switched over to 15 pound Power Pro braided line with a 4 lb. dia. and now I can play hard ball with those bruisers. I haven't been broken off since. And, I have caught a few dandies including my first bass of the 2007 season that weighed 5-15. I wanted to call her a 6 pounder but I don't believe in trying to fool myself -- or others. May the fishing Gods smile on you.

8 lb Berkly Vanish florocarbon is what I use for smallies.

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I have another question relevant to this topic: What color(s) work best in this state? I primarily fish during late afternoon/early evening on Beaver (King Co.), Sammamish, and Pine. Any help or comments would be appreciated. I am leaning towards a moss green or red braid. In what situation would you use the High-Vis yellow?

I have one reel with p-line floroclear. It's...clear
I have another reel with McCoy Mean Green. It's...green

Both work great. But I'm putting more floroclear on my new reel when it gets here.

I think the high-viz are for night fishing or saltwater applications.

Pline CXX 8lb test is what I used all summer on my smallie setups...

I ended up buying some PowerPro 20/6 braid in moss green. Hopefully I'll get it spooled up tonight for tomorrow's outing. I'll let y'all know how it works out since this will be my first time not using Mono. Right now my plan is to use a 3ft leader of 8lb mono to add a little spring/stretch.

I use whatever BigBassDez is using, the guy's a fish magnet....don't forget the bacon, that's more important than the line. LOL

I've got 8# loaded up on my spinning reel and 17# on my baitcasting rigs.

I would second the P-line CXX in 6#. That is what I have on all my bass spinning reels. There is also the BACON-PRO extreme edition it has scent manufactured right into the line!LOL

PLine is great stuff. I can't stand trilene personally, and stren is ok. Keep away from Maxima if its going on a spinning reel, that stuff is really thick and wirey, but it does the job just fine on baitcasters/levelwind. Pline's on almost every reel of mine. (Atleast 10 of my 12 reels, maybe more...)

that spider wire isnt to bad

I use 6lb. Mcoy on my dropshot, and 8 lb floro on my other finesse rods. I can't seem to make up my mind on a brand. I use 10lb floro on my soft stick bait rod, and 14 to 17 on my spinnerbait rods. I also like to use 20lb. floro on my flippin stick.

I hate stren. When you are bass fishing, there are tons of kinks in the line from being on the reel when you first start out. Then, it will straighten out and become very limp, which I like. But when I am fishing with plastics, I want my line to be buoyant in the water, so I can look for a take or hitting bottom. After you use Stren for like six casts, it soaks up water and sinks, making it much harder to look for gentle takes. Trilene for me is very buoyant and my line of choice when fishing plastics. But I've never tried P-Line.