What Line Is Best For Live Baiting, Trolling For Kings, Mahi Mahi And Bottom Bashing At The Reef

[Kingfish_Beast]

Hi guys we currently just got a boat and don't know what line braid or mono, pound and brand for live baiting for kings trolling for kings and mahi mahi and bottom bashing at the reef.

Thanks Kingfish_Beast

[GoingFishing]

Hi mate, congrats on your purchase!!

You will get lots of answers to this question  (which actually is 3 different questions!)

I can only tell you what i use.

Bottom bashing i use 25lb but you can go up to 40lb.

Live baiting mahi i would go 15lb main and 30lb leader.

Kings....well...depends on how big the kings are....25lb to 100lb ??

[Berleyguts]

As GoingFishing says, you will get a lot of different answers here. In my game rods with Overhead reels, I like to use mono and use Platypus Pretest as it is pretested to break at or under the line class I am fishing. On my light outfit, I use a Shimano TLD2000 Charter Special and 6kg Pretest, although I could spool it with 10kg if necessary. I also fish 10kg and 15kg outfits with Pretest (10 and 15) on a Tyrnos 20 2 speed and a Tyrnos 30 2 speed respectively. For the fishing I do, I don’t feel I need to fish 24kg line class or heavier. I use mono because I predominantly troll and mono’s stretch can be a bit forgiving on the strike. Also, braid is expensive, especially pretested braid, if you can find it. I fish ANSA/IGFA line classes.

On my threadline outfits, which I generally don’t troll with, I currently fish 20lb braid and I like Daiwa J Braid with the colour indicators. To fish under ANSA regs, I use a 50-100cm length of mono Pretest (in the line class I am fishing) as a breakaway line between the braid and the fluorocarbon leader. I may invest in a 30lb braid outfit this summer.

I personally don’t feel the need to fish any heavier than 15kg class. Not sure I have the strength to fish 24kg or heavier! I once spent 3 1/2 hours on a huge yellowfin on 10kg, standing up in a 14ft Quinnie. I reckon if I’d tried to put the pressure on with 24, it would have pulled me in!

If I was consistently targeting huge fish, I might consider 24 but 10 and 15 suits me fine and 5:1 and 10:1 captures are possible. ?

Just my thoughts.

[PaddyT]

Ok , your questions are a bit "how long long is a piece of string" but heres what i think-general bottom bashing for reefies/flatties with a paternoster-20-30lb braid and 20-30 lb nylon leader. Fishing for snapper in a berley trail- 15-25lb nylon depending on the territory you are fishing. Kings- anything from 10lb braid to 100lb braid depending on the size of the kings and the territory, 20lb to 130lb leader, my two general king rigs for downrigging are both loaded with 40lb braid and i use 60-80lb leader in general, if i am putting out a live frigate or big squid then i go up to 80lb braid and 130lb leader , but most Sydney kings are ok on the lighter gear (that said i do get wiped out here and their but thats part of the fun). Dollies are pretty clean fighters but do have very raspy teeth which will wear through the leader in a prolonged fight- ive caught them on everything from 6lb line to 24kg game gear. If i am targetting them i will usually use 15 or 20lb braid with 40lb leader  , just check the leader after every fish.

[JonD]

My advice would be stay away from braid until you've landed a few kings and mastered some good knots (fg and pr for joining braid to mono). Also mono is far more forgiving due to the stretch it has, this puts less pressure on the rod when you have a king or lively dolphin fish close to the boat. 

Braid is great when you need to feel the slightest of bites, this is something less important on the species you mention. Due to the stretch in mono it can be far easier to keep pressure on things like dolphin fish that can often flick a lure if they get slack line when they swim at you jumping and shaking.

Braid is extremely dangerouse if you try to grab it with any kind of weight on the end, the extremely thin diameters will slice into skin and cut through anchor lines and other fishing lines. By the way braid is fantastic.

As mentioned above line class is extremely subjective but in my opinion most people fish way heavier than they need to. It used to be the recognised thing to fish drag settings 1/3rd the breaking strain of the line (I fish drag settings around half the breaking strain or more). With this in mind using the old method of 1/3rd you should safely be able to use 7lb drag on 20lb line, this sounds light but have a try lifting 7lb and you will soon see where I'm coming from. 30lb line will allow you to fish 10lb drag safely with good knots on the terminal tackle (hooks swivels etc). 10 lb drag is quite a large amount of drag when you are standing in a small rocking boat trying to control a fish.

Kingfish are ultimate scrappers even at 60cm they fight unbelievably tough but here's the funny thing, my daughter has landed more big kings than I have by quite a margin. I've fished much heavier trying to bully big kings which has resulted in snapped 10/0 hooks,  pulled apart split rings, 80lb leaders snapped as well as 65lb braid main line. I got smashed five times in a row and gave up while my daughter landed every fish she hooked from the same session. She was using a light spin outfit 30lb braid and 30lb leaders and drag settings well bellow half of what I was pushing. 

When dolphin fish get up over 12-15kg they become very stubborn tough fish also and not something you can simply drag to the boat.

[rozza_b]

As said above you'll get a million different replies

What I run with: 

Mainlines

15-20lb for most things plastics, slow jigs, light or unweighted baits in berley trails and light bottom bashing

30-40lb general bottom bashing, some live baits and heavier jigs 

60-80lb big jigs, live baits and when I know the big king's are around 

Leaders:

I change leaders depending on conditions, fish mostly 15-40lb for most things depends on depth and what style fishing I'm using. 60lb and up for king's most of the time

As mention above spend some time sitting down and learn how to tie solid leader knots when using braid to leaders as there's nothing worse then loosing a fish to this. 

[Scratchie]

If you are trying to ask for one combo that would cover the lot? 

My pick would be 30lb braid and 40lb leader! Use afg or improved Albright knot.

If you get dusted on that, then you’ve lost a good fish! ?

cheers scratchie!!! 

[JonD]

This is the calibre of kings I was breaking off, yet my daughter on half the class tackle didn't lose any (15 kg tackle ). Her biggest so far has been 1.30m ( not this one in this image).

Edited October 19, 2018 by JonD