Northwest Fishing Reports

I've never used braided line before. Is it best for baitcasters or can you use it on spinning reels also? I want to get some not sure which brand to get.

I have been using Power Pro braided on my spinning reel and it works very well. My friend purchased spiderwire at the same time and he has quickly swapped it out for the Power Pro. I have been holding off on adding it to my baitcaster as I have just gotten that reel this year and as it is my first baitcaster I have much more parctice before I feel I am going to be putting braided on it.

I have 80lb stealth spiderwire on both spinning and baitcaster. I love it,no problems thus far

Power Pro on both Baitcasters and my spinning rod,..I think you might get a bit more distance on your casts when using Mono or Floro,..not sure,..but for the confidence and saving money {ie lost lures} Braided is the only way for me! Power Pro all the way baby!!!!! Besides "WHAT-IF" you do hook onto the "Fish-of-a-lifetime" and lose it cause your line failed? Ponder that for a bit!!

BB

I have lost more fish on braid that anything else. I have confidence in Sufix mono and P-line co-poly lines. Ive used braid plenty. Also, I have lost very nice fish on 30lb for no reason, all on the hookset. Knot strength is good however.

Braid has its place though, but, in clear water situations like most lakes here, i think its garbage. I got rid of braid late last year. Let me tell you, my catches have dramatically increased, and Im pretty confident its not only because of swimbaits.

When you have a major birds nest deep in that spool and break a rod, your lure flies off, or you spend 30 minutes cutting that braid out of your spool with a pocket knife, you will quickly turn back. I know I know people will say that never happened to them. It actually hasnt happened to me, but I did watch it happen 3 times this year.

my choice is power pro I just started using on my baitcaster today other then that I use mono on everything else

tagwatson360 wrote:Braid can still be a good option for "line shy" fish in clear water. Simply attach a 15 to 25 foot leader of copolymer, monofilament or fluorocarbon. There are several strong knots for joining braid to your leader. This way you can have the stealth of fluoro/mono and all the benefits of braid (extreme sensitivity, solid hooksets at a distance, longer casts, etc.)

Tag-this is the set-up I recently switched too and couldn't be happier! Best of both worlds!

I use 50lb Sufix Performance Braid and 50lb PowerPro on a couple of my baitcasters for pitching/flipping and frogs and I have 10lb PowerPro on one of my spinning outfits. No significant problems with either of these brands. Didn't care too much for the Spiderwire or Stren Superbraid. They seemed more difficult to manage and I ended up with more wind knots and difficult-to-remove bird's nests.

My favorite non-braid line is Yo-zuri Hybrid, hands down. Less memory, breaking strenghts higher than the rated strength based on diameter, very smooth and manageable, IMO. You can usually find 1/4lb spools on eBay for good prices (or in Wal-Mart or other discount stores). Green shows up less in clear water up here.

I just put 20# Power Pro on one of my spin reels the other day, fished it the first time the other night. I like it better than any other braid I've used, from Spiderwire to the new Stren stuff. It holds a knot better, and it doesn't fray nearly as much when cutting it. I keep a razorblade in my tackle box to cut braid and the Power Pro cuts better than the others I've used. And when you're fishing in a lot of slop, that frayed end will catch and hold a lot of grass. I didn't see that happening with the Power Pro braid.

So yeah, consider me a convert

Hey guys, just be careful with the heavy braid on baitcast reels (high end) when you are pulling on a snag. You can pull so hard with the braid that it could bend the spool pins on the reel. Seriously, just wrap the line around the base of the reel, then pull on the rod, so it is not pulling directly off the end of the spool......just my opinion.

i love braid on my spinning reel that I use for jigging and senkos around structure. I use 14lb braid and the other day I had a good one on and the rod tip broke before the line would. and it takes minimal effort to cast a good distance with braid vs mono. On baitcasters I heard it can be a tough task getting used to it but once you have it done its butta

I'm using Gamma, couldn't be happier with it. It's not quite flouro, but it's "moleculally engineered" to have special features.