Braid - Which One?

[The_Bream]

I have just bought a new rod and reel combo, a Shakespeare Synergy Graphite 6" rod, and a Shakespeare K2 X-Treme 1000 XFD, and was told that this was a nice combo for flicking SP's around, and was also told that i would need some braid as it is stronger than monofilament.

If i was going to go and buy some braid line, how many different types of braid is there, and what type woudl suit what i would like to do?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanx,

The Roundmeister...

[LEELEE]

Well it depends on what you are fishing for. There are heaps of braids and fused lines available but the best would be fireline in my opinion.

For bream and similar species 4 and 6 lb fireline is what I use, but 8 n 10 lb for fishing very heavy snags and rough racks.

I used 6kg fireline up at the Solitary Islands at Coffs harbour with a 30lb mono trace when jigging and got the jig snagged on a bomby. The 30lb mono broke before the braid.

Braid gives you the " come here feel " but mono has stretch and for some fish that’s what you want.

For flicking lures for bream and trevs and flatties I would suggest 4-6lb fireline with varying mono leaders, depending on what you are targeting. As for salmon i would suggest 6-10lb depending on how confident you are.

The new fireline xds is out and have a look at the link -

http://www.berkley-fishing.com/new/story.c...128&Position=51.

Will be spooling my abu C4 5600 LE up with some very shortly.

I prefer to use light line so i can enjoy the fight when hokked up to a fish.

Hope this helps

Lee

Edited September 25, 2004 by leelee

[mitch]

lee is on the mark there, My fave Line at the moment is the Squidgy braid, as yet I haven't had any problems with it.

[LEELEE]

How have you found the squidgy braid mitch??

I was tossing up between that and the new XDS but after looking at both I decided on the xds due to the amount i can spool onto teh reel.

[Guest Big-Banana]

Iam just starting to get into plastics and I wa tossing up between the squidgy braid and the xds. So I bought the XDS and PLatil. Very fine line.

[mitch]

lee so far i haven't had any problem with the squidgy braid and it has some good holding power. the XDS is a great looking line and i also think i may try some out. let me know how it goes

[tyrone07]

I use fireline on my baitcaster in 10lb and its perfect for flatties and have even caught bonito outside on it with plastics. For bream gear the 6lb will handle most bream and is what i use. For leader use siglon flurocarbon in 6-15lb as this will handle most fishing applications when flicking sp or hb around.

[Guest Big-Banana]

Yeah I ended up buying 10lb XDS because he said if I went any lighter the line would be to thin in diameter. I hope I still get the fight and sport out of the fish.

[Guest Jocool]

I'm more than happy with the fireline I have on my smaller spin reels. On my overheads I use the Hotfbre from Platil. Great line on O/H, but dont use it on eggbeaters. I have found that it gets too many wind knots in it and isn't worth the hassle on a spin reel!

[LEELEE]

Interesting how we all have different experiences.

I use Platil (20lb) on my big eggbeater and it's fantastic. It's so smooth it almost falls off the spool. Casting distance is awesome and I'm yet to get a tangle while casting. I have also found that with other braids, the line tends to wedge into itself as it's wound onto the spool so when you cast you can feel the line pullling itself free. I'm yet to experience this with the Platil.

Iain,

The reason for the braid wedging into itself is sometimes 3 things that I have found.

1. backing. Good thick backing is a must to keep and stop the braid from slipping on the spool and wedging on itself.

2. Line Lay. The line laying system of your reel can have a huge impact on how your spool handles braid. Bad designs or even defects with line lay systems can make braid cut in on itself and thus you get the wedging you are talking about.

3. How the braid is put on the reel. I have seen and experienced this. If the shop you buy the braid from has a spooling maching I recomend they spool the reel on thier machine. I have wound 300 yards of braid onto my baitrunner twice with two different outcomes. Once was wedging becuase I think i wounda little to quickly or there was not enough pressure kept on the line, and the second time I think we realised that the line lay system maybe defective with the bail arm kinked possibly.

Lee