Braid Vs Good Mono

[landbased]

Over the last couple of years I have systematically gotten rid of all my mono lines and replaced them with Good quality braided lines. I have loved the feel of the braids and also the strength vs thickness but ,i have noticed that I have been catching less fish especially over the last year or so .

Anyway I decided to do a test last week when I visited teh hawksbury river with an workmate.

I had 2 similar rods both with same strength lines (8lb ) 1 braid and 1 mono . Both also had the same rigs ( 1m 12lb fluro leader . black ballbering swivel small circle hook) also had the same baits on both (prawns or squid strips) anyway long story short : mono 8 bream , braid 1 catfish.

Both were cast within 2m of each other that way I could be fair.

Also tried the same today and the count was : mono 18 witing 4 bream , Braid 3 small whiting 2 pinkies.

I am thinking I will change my light gear back to mono but leave my heavy gear with braid. The only thing is I dont really like the feel of the fish through the mono it just seems slack somehow but that may just be the rod (8 foot shimano eclipse )

Please share your thoughts.

Chris

[Josh88]

Whilst braid does have many better qualities than mono, there are a few fish that seem to be caught more on mono lines like whiting, this could be that they are a bit more tentative when they bite and feel more tension on a braided line compared to the higher amount of stretch that mono possesses. Visability is a slight but unlikely issue. Anyone think of other reasons?

[pjbink]

Sometimes braid is more of a disadvantage. Eg the senstivity works both ways. The fish can feel something amiss and drop the bait (especially bream). Also it is more visible, less abrasion resistant, more expensive and harder to tie good knots in. I only use it for deepwater bottom bouncing and estuary lure fishing (especially with soft plastics). For other forms of bait fishing, game fishing and rock and beach fishing I think mono is best.

PS, some of the fine mono lines are worth a try eg Platypus Super 100 or Schnider Fine Line. You get some of the braid advantages of finer diammeter as well as the advantages of mono.

Edited March 21, 2008 by billfisher

[slinkymalinky]

Horses for courses, Chris. It's a fallacy that braid is better than mono... it's much better in some applications and not applicable in others. A lot of tournament bream anglers use flourocarbon right through to the hook when they want ultimate finesse... because of the visibility of braid. You won't find many marlin fishos caught on braid, because the stretch of mono is desirable with those wildly jumping, head-shaking, hard-mouthed fish just to stay connected. There are a number of charter operators who won't let you bottom bash with braid because of the problem of tangles among the customers.

I personally use Platypus mono on all my squid and bait jig outfits... I've done experiments like yours and while the number of takes isn't different, the number of dropped squid, or yakkas that flick off, is about 3 times more for me on braid (the lack of stretch thing again I believe).

Given that the reason most people fish is enjoyment, you really only have to ask yourself what you enjoy most. I get my jollies from working out patterns that seem to work in given circumstances and then successfully repeating them. I'll always try braid first since like you, I enjoy the feel so much more. If I was in your situation I'd probably do the test more than once to be sure but if it's a consistent result, I'd seriously consider changing... but only for that particular circumstance.

There's no one right answer that suits every occasion.

One really useful habit I'm in now is to load all the spare spools that come with reels these days with mono, while the other spool for each reel has braid.

Cheers, Slinky

[STOCK]

Ive also found that i catch more when using mono than braid

[kingiemaster]

Hi Chris,

I like you and many others have pretty much spooled all my reels with braid or gelspun. The only execption is my blackfish outfit. But I'm also beginning to think it's not the be all and end all and maybe contributing to less fish in specific circumstances.

So now you got me thinking. When chasing harbour Kings we envriably fish in 20-40 feet of water around the markers etc. with the fish hovering midway so anywhere between 10-20 feet of water. Therefore on a bright sunny morning you can imagine the Kings swiming around a marker looking skywards at a bunch of live squid and yakkas with funny dark lines protuding to the surface from their noses or bums all except for one. Guess which bait they are more likely to hit. I also tend to agree the zero stretch results in pulling the bait from their mouths when they hit it.

So my next harbour Kingfish session I'm going to take some light to medium mono outfits and do the fishing version of the nappy san challenge.

All that said I am tending to use longer and longer wind on leaders, sometimes up to 3 metres long. Someone would argue this negates the benefits of using braid but I find it to be a good compromise as well providing other benefits that have been discussed ad nauseam in other posts.

Will keep you posted

Dave

[Penguin]

PS, some of the fine mono lines are worth a try eg Platypus Super 100 or Schnider Fine Line. You get some of the braid advantages of finer diammeter as well as the advantages of mono.

I was using the 12lb Schnider fine line for a few months last year, and hooked lots of fish with it,

however most of these fish never made it into the boat, I either got busted off or the line got

bitten or worn thru, wasnt much fun watching my mates hook less fish but land more than me.

Im hooked on the Mustad Ultra line Thor at the moment and my hook up to landing ratio

has improved dramaticaly.

penguin

Edited March 26, 2008 by penguin

[Josh88]

Has anyone noticed different results in regards to amount of hook ups with braid and mono in both bait and lure fishing? With bait then the line is just sitting there and is quite easy as previously mentioned for a fish to see braid over mono.(Has anyone noticed this when using smoke grey coloured fireline? Is it less visible?)

Whereas with lure fishing, the fish are more likely to be following a lure or rise once seeing it usually seeing only the mono trace, not having as bigger effect when using braided line for lure fishing?

Anyone got anything to add?

[jewgaffer]

I use 80lb braid on the jew because I don't like having slack in the line. I leave the rod in the rod holder to do the hook up work as the jew pulls against a tight drag setting.

I have the drag tight enough so that I can just manage to pull some line out of with my hand. The only exception is when I'm using larger live baits, where I leave the drag just right to allow a larger livie to move along freely, though appearing injured, with the jew having room enough to run with the bait, pause for the head take and then move off at which time I let it run for 10 seconds then hold my hand around the spool to stop it letting out line, and the lift the rod firmly against the rod bend for the hook up.

I like to use mono on Alveys land based off the rocks as braid can get damaged too easily.

I prefer to use 40lb Bigfish Sports Tournament Monofilament as I find heavier lines can be a problem when casting.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Braidbuster]

I have fished for bream for years and have obseved that in shallow water or slow current situations they almost always 'taste',the bait twice,before swallowing it and moving off.

When they are 'tasting' they lip the bait and move it a short distance before immediatly spitting it out,and watching it.They repeat this a second time and if satisfied that it is OK return and eat it.If the bait moves after they have tasted it they swim off.The 'give' in fine mono (up to 20% of the length) would allow a small amount of stretch easily but braided line would tend to pull the bait back to its original position.

To avoid this problem you can leave the bail arm open,but unfortunately braid pulls off the spool with much more noticeable resistance than mono,thus alerting the bream to the presence of line.

Whether I fish for bream or kings if i put the rod down for any reason i always open the bail arm !