Shilling for Braid

Thinking about running braided line instead of monofilament?

The main downside for most people is the cost, but when you realize that your monofilament is getting brittle after 6 months of moderate use, Braid doesn't seem so expensive. Besides cost, the only other downside to braid is it is more visible in the water compared to mono. But if you run moss green braid in most water, it blends in well and will be thinner than equivalent mono anyway. If the water is super clear and the species of fish is easily spooked, you can run a flourocarbon leader. I personally have never noticed any less bites when fishing for bass with braided line, even in crystal clear water.

Braided line lasts much longer than monofilament. You can run it 5 years without any issue instead of one year max with mono. It is much stronger so if you are running 10lb mono, you could switch to 20lb braid and it will still be thinner, lighter, and cast further than the 10lb mono. It doesn't stretch like mono so you can feel every bite but you have to be careful not to set the hook as hard as with mono otherwise you can rip the hook away from the fish too fast. My favorite thing might be the fact that braid doesn't have memory like mono so you don't get the little curls and loops in the line. Braid is also more flexible than mono, especially once you break it in. This seems to help keep knots tighter than monofilament or flourocarbon, especially when running higher weight lines.

A couple things to remember when usinf braid: braided line is a little more bouyant than mono so it floats. Your lures might run a little shallower than with mono. Braid is also more slippery than mono, so make sure to follow the correct steps when tying and spooling it onto your reel. It may require a backing of monofilament.

As with monofilament, don't cheap out on braid. Line is the last thing you want to try and save money on by grabbing a generic brand for half the price of well known brands. PowerPro is the standby for many anglers.