what line for ice fishing?

[AdAMxr]

I have always spooled my reels with mono for ice fishing(besides tip ups). But I use braid with a fluorocarbon leading in open water. Ive always thought braid would ice up terribly. Am I missing out?:test:

[EZM]

Braided lines are fine to use. Most brands have coatings (polymer) that isn't any worse than regular mono in terms of freezing up.

There are specially made "ice fishing" lines ( both in mono and braid ) in a number of popular brands but I can't really see any discernible advantage to them myself.

If you use braid - I definitely would run a swivel to some fluorocarbon for a leader to your hook. I usually run at least 24" of clear fluoro.

Fish under the ice have time to study your presentation, so it's a good idea to have something a little more invisible and natural looking to eliminate some of those picky rejections.

[Geezle]

I use some of my open water reels so I just use regular braid...I typically fish inside a tent so the line freezing up isn't an issue. Like EZM I usually use a small swivel or snap swivel and a fluorocarbon leader.

[Flieguy]

depends, on my trout rig that I fish clear water with I have braid with a 5' 6lb fluoro leader. Fluoro is awesome for micro jigs and flies because it sinks, and it's also much less visible than mono. I like braid because it's super sensitive and you can spool a lot on.

The braid does ice up, but not much worse than mono.

[cube]

I have always spooled my reels with mono for ice fishing(besides tip ups). But I use braid with a fluorocarbon leading in open water. Ive always thought braid would ice up terribly. Am I missing out?:test:

My favorite lite line for ice fishing is Trilene® Micro Ice® in the clear steel color. It is formulated to be supple (which fluorocarbon is NOT), low stretch, and has the slightest steel grey tint to inhibit light piping. It only comes in 2-8 lb tests though but does not freeze up nearly as bad as braid.

Will braid work in the winter? Yes. Will it freeze up? You bet unless you are fishing above freezing or in a shelter it sure does freeze up. Though some steps can be taken to lessen its effects, such as setting your drag lower (as the peeling frozen line acts as a drag by its self) or one can also "prefeeze" the line after landing a fish. ie lay out a bunch of the wet line onto the ground and let it freeze before rewinding it onto the reel. It is not the fact that the water is frozen to the line that is the problem here it is when the water freezes the lines together that is and by laying it out and prefreezing it you don't have this problem. Something else I have found is new (as in not used for a season or 2) FUSED super lines don't hold and much water as braided lines, hence give me less problems. And of course the newer ice fishing coated super lines should also hold less water.

As for fluorocarbon attached to the braid I do use this on some of my reels but a good mono might actually be better for some applications such as suppleness. The actual visibility difference between mono and Flouro is not that great in reality ( if you would like to read, not just the advertizing hype) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EHnxsLu69o
http://www.bigindianabass.com/big_indiana_bass/the-truth-about-fluorocarbon.html
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfluorocarbon2pg3.html

I did try a reel in all flouro for ice fishing and it was a very tring time. You had to be very careful or you would have a tangled mess in the blink of an eye.

Have a great season

[Wild&Free]

8lb mono is what I use most of the time.

Berkeley big game has always been good to me.

[BPman]

I have tried all the "Ice" lines and found no advantage as far as suppleness or icing up over regular mono. I agree that the flourocarbs seem stiffer in the cold so some time ago I settled on good old regular STREN mono- either clear or yellow, depending on the application.