Fishing Line: the basics

[Bassmaster2008]

I was at a bass club meeting the other day and it was brought to my attention by a member that Bass at times DO see your line and obviously this ruins your action when they do. This has never dawned on me and I was like ****......I need to get to know what lines r best for what. I have seriously underestimated the importance of line.

Can anybody give me the basics for water that is ~6 feet of clarity?

BTW, I bought line before he told me about its importance

the lines for my rods:

Flippin rod w Baitcaster: P-Line CXX xtra strong 10lb test (I know it's light for flippin, but I usually don't get way back into the gunk) It also mentions extra high abrasion resistance.

Other spinning rods for miscellanous stuff: Gamma High Performance Copolymer line. 10lb test. Says its basically all purpose line.

What do you think?


ps....ahhhhhhhhhhh the late nights in preparation of my first fishin trip of the season!!! Ill let ya kno how it goes

[platinumroof]

Usually the diameter of line should be dictated by what you are doing. 10 lb is good for jerkbaits and crankbaits because it is strong enough to withstand the strain of throwing those heavy baits but lets you get them down deeper than you could with 12lb or heavier (I just started using fluorocarbon for these because it is denser than mono and sinks better). 15-17lb mono is best for spinnerbaits (if the fish get a good enough look at it to see the line they will probably notice that the spinnerbait has a big old wire coming out of it). I use 12lb fluorocarbon for football heads. 15-17 lb mono for topwater because it floats better. 4-6 lb fluorocarbon for dropshots. 8lb fluorocarbon for light carolina rigs or mojo rigs. As for 10 lb test for flipping/pitching: you should probably up it to 15-20. Also I never go heavier than 10lb on spinning reels or lighter than 10lb on baitcasters. If you are worried about fish seeing the line then fluorocarbon is less visible than mono and mono is less visible than braids. I personally don't worry about fish seeing the line much when fishing running baits. I consider it more when fishing dropshots.

[T Dot]

Can anybody give me the basics for water that is ~6 feet of clarity?

bass will 3x more than you already see. so whatever you see, multiply that by 3 and it is roughly how far a bass can see in that body of water.

if you are throwing alot of reaction type lures, you can throw everything out the door. when throwing those lures, bass will just react to the lure.

[HillbillyGeek]

The ideal strength/type of line depends primarily on where you are fishing.

Heavy cover (wood, weeds, and docks)
Your line needs to be very strong and resistant to abrasion. Brute strength is important because you want to get the fish out of the water quick -- before he can wrap you around stuff. You simply don't have time to play a fish in heavy cover, and the drag on your reel should be very tight. Use the heaviest line you can get away with and you'll lose less fish. If you go too heavy, the fish may be able to see your line, thus reducing the number of bites. If the fish won't bite because they are spooked by the line, everything else becomes irrelevant.

Abrasion resistance is needed because your line will be rubbing things while you are fishing -- and it will definitely get rubbed big-time when you have a fish on. Mono generally comes in two categories: Tough or Limp. Limp line is better for casting distance, but should be avoided in heavy cover. Fluorocarbon has a high degree of abrasion resistance and is less visible than any other type of line. On the down-side, it's expensive and can be relatively stiff compared to mono (which translates into less casting distance.) Braided lines have the advantage of much smaller line diameter so you can get away with using very strong line and still get good distance on your casts. (20 lb braid is the same diameter as 8 lb mono/fluorocarbon.) Braid has two major disadvantages: it's very expensive and fish can see it more easily than mono or fluorocarbon. Sometimes going with a heavy braid mainline and a lighter fluorocarbon leader is perfect. If the cover is very heavy and/or the water is murky or stained, you can sometimes get away with using braid without a leader.

Light cover or open water
Your line should be as thin as possible without breaking off your fish. This is where the drag setting on your reel is critical. Abrasion resistance should not be an issue, so you can use limp lines for better casting distance.

Another big factor when it comes to visibility is the amount of time the fish will actually be looking at your lure. If fish are feeling finicky and you are using finesse lures like tubes & dropshot plastics (fished very slowly), fish usually take a good long look before biting. Because of this your line should be as invisible as possible. If you are using lures that provoke reaction strikes like crankbaits & spinnerbaits, line visibility is not as important.

As a side note, scent is also much more important when fishing finesse lures because fish will usually get a good "whiff" before deciding whether or not to bite. A good scent will not only mask any human scent that may be present, it will also make them hungry and stimulate their feeding instincts. There's a great article in the Bass Angler's Guide (Volume 17, issue 2) about scent. It is written by Phil Pirone, who is the owner of Pro-cure. Here's a quote: "First, there are no miracle scents. Event the best scents can't make up for angler ignorance. To believe that you can fish the wrong water, the wrong depth, the wrong retrieve speed, etc. and make up for it by adding the new magic scent is ridiculous. An effective scent should be viewed as the missing piece of the puzzle. You set the trap, and the scent closes the deal. It's that simple. If all the other parts are in place, adding an effective scent can be devastatingly effective. Secondly, scent will at least cover human and offensive odors. In some cases yes, but let's look at this more closely. Any of us who've had the misfortune to follow our father into the bathroom after he's been in there for 30 minutes can recall a pretty offensive experience. So you desperately spray a bunch of air freshener into the room to cover up the smell, and it helps. But does it make you hungry? I sure hope not. But it did help cover the offensive odor. So let's talk about smells that do make you hungry. Bacon sizzling, a neighbor barbequing ribs, baking a pizza, microwaving popcorn. So it's pretty easy to see the tremendous difference between smells that cover up and smells that make us hungry. Bass are no different. Some scents at best are a cover up, but some can actually cause a bass to feed."

[Anglinarcher]

HillbillyGeek gave a pretty good guideline for this.

Keep in mind that bass can always see the line, it is just that most of the time they are not line shy. I don't often find that trout are all that line shy either, but ..................................

Sure enough, there are times when color and size are important. Trout and Walleye can be finicky with line color a lot, but I do remember one time where the only guy catching fish was the one with the blue fluorescent line. When we put a leader on with his line, we all caught fish, so go figure.

Now, as for Bass, I always go heavier than needed, and use colored lines, to start with. I don't go to the less visible lines unless I find a reason to. But, I always keep either some mono, or some fluorocarbon, handy just in case.

[TroutCowboy]

OK y'all don't laugh now, but I need some line advice for my daughter's "Tigger & Pooh" fishing pole. The reel has a simple push-button system on it but the line hangs up trying to get out the hole. Poor kid wants to cast a little further than a rod length! I took that cheap wirey cr@p off the reel right away, but the lightest mono I could find still does it.

I hear you snickering... "What do you expect from a $15 kid's rod?" LOL

She's not going to catch an lunkers where we're going for opening day, so what do you recommend for a super-silky, get-the-bleep-out-of-the-reel, cast-a-country-mile fishing line?

[Bigbass Dez]

OK y'all don't laugh now, but I need some line advice for my daughter's "Tigger & Pooh" fishing pole. The reel has a simple push-button system on it but the line hangs up trying to get out the hole. Poor kid wants to cast a little further than a rod length! I took that cheap wirey cr@p off the reel right away, but the lightest mono I could find still does it.

I hear you snickering... "What do you expect from a $15 kid's rod?" LOL

She's not going to catch an lunkers where we're going for opening day, so what do you recommend for a super-silky, get-the-bleep-out-of-the-reel, cast-a-country-mile fishing line?

Nothing to be ashamed about TroutCowBoy , anytime any angler get kids involved is "cool beans" in my book .. I would suggest maybe 6lb test cajon line or stren .. cajon line is a little cheaper in price , stren is better jus a lil more in cost .. On those rods i would also suggest not to over fill the spool to preventing line twist .. glad to be helpful and i hope she gets a monster someone .. good job man !! BBD

[HillbillyGeek]

For medium-sized spincasting reels I'd go with 8lb mono, and as Bigbass Dez mentioned, don't overfill the spool.

You may also want to consider a line conditioner to get better casting distance and decrease tangles.

This one is awesome: KVD Line and Lure

I like to spray it on the big spools of line then let it dry overnight before loading it on my reels. A little bottle of this stuff lasts a very long time. I've been using the same bottle for over a year...

[SilverLakeBoy]

go with all fluoro on all your rods. accept for your crankn rods, put some good clear mono on them. hope this helps.

Casey