Best over line/weight

[Battery]

Hi guys,

So this year I'm looking to upgrade all my equipment as I haven't in a few years. I mainly fish for trout, walleye, perch and rarely pike. I will be buying a new light weight rod/reel and am now looking for the best overall line to use. I am thinking 6 lbs test will be good enough as I never really hook into monsters and even if I do, I can loosen the drag. Should I be using mono, flouro or braid? I have always used braided line up til now, but I notice it starts to come apart after a while.

[Frozenflyguy]

I would definitely go with a braided line ... good option might be 10 to 15lb test which will give you lots of line capacity. Then just attach flourocarbon leader of the best test to fish for the target species (6lb, 8lb 10lb). You can take it all the way up to 15lb flouro and still target larger fish if you want ... assuming your rod and reel can handle it. just a suggestion.

[Frozenflyguy]

I should add .. that this assumes a medium action rod ... not an ultra light ( i have one but only use ultra light for small streams and small fish). Medium action offers a nice blend of all so you might want to consider stepping the gear up slightly. oh and I have always felt a longer rod was more enjoyable and forgiving ... the little sticks are for heavy veg and confined spaces.

[yetiseeker]

I agree with Frozen - I would use braid at approx 10lbs and tie in flourocarbon leader using a double-uni knot.

I like suffix 832 braid myself.

[Battery]

Do you guys find your braided line comes loose on the reel at all? I find it comes loose all the time, even when I reel it in with tension. I do a lot of bait fishing with a slip bobber, will that have any impact on using braided with a flouro leader?.

[Battery]

Sorry, title should read "overall", not "over".

[cube]

Hi guys,

So this year I'm looking to upgrade all my equipment as I haven't in a few years. I mainly fish for trout, walleye, perch and rarely pike. I will be buying a new light weight rod/reel and am now looking for the best overall line to use. I am thinking 6 lbs test will be good enough as I never really hook into monsters and even if I do, I can loosen the drag. Should I be using mono, flouro or braid? I have always used braided line up til now, but I notice it starts to come apart after a while.

I am assuming a spinning reel here as bait casters don't work well with thin braid.

I would use 8 lb braid or fused line (could certainly get away with 6 though).

I would use either titanium, mono, or flouro leaders as a particular job warrants. Titanium works great for toothy critters and is very abrasion resistant but if you’re using a static presentation for skittish fish is not the best choice. Mono works great if you need it to float a bit or you need it as a shock leader as it has the greatest elasticity. Flouro if you need it to sink fast or need the extra stealth or abrasion resistance.

[Frozenflyguy]

to prevent slipping of braid ... I usually leave or put on a thin base of mono to bind it to the spool ... it will not slip then. Make sure when you spool it up you use fairly good pressure and take your time so you don't fret about a knot or loop 100 yards deep when you have a monster fish ripping away drag like crazy.

[Frozenflyguy]

further to Yetiseekers point ... you can also just tie on a barrel swivel as sometimes joining braid and flouro can be a bit of a b*itch. You can also tie as triple surgeons knot but you have to twist the line a lot before you start the triple. (I hope that makes sense)

[Battery]

to prevent slipping of braid ... I usually leave or put on a thin base of mono to bind it to the spool ... it will not slip then. Make sure when you spool it up you use fairly good pressure and take your time so you don't fret about a knot or loop 100 yards deep when you have a monster fish ripping away drag like crazy.

Does that not promote tangling on the spool when youre wrapping a base of mono?. I seem to have problems with that where a single piece will come loose and screw up my whole reel

[Bushleague]

Does that not promote tangling on the spool when youre wrapping a base of mono?. I seem to have problems with that where a single piece will come loose and screw up my whole reel

A thin layer of backing should not cause trouble, a layer of electrical tape will also work. I find very cold weather can cause braid to slip if I have no backing, the spool must shrink a bit and the line does not. One of my ice fishing rigs would always slip in the field but be perfectly fine at home, I re spooled it in out on the lake and haven't had a problem since. Maybe chuck your spool in the freezer or something and spool it cold.

The idea of going with a braid mainline and various mono leaders is a pretty good one, however I just don't like braid. Not going to bore everyone with the reasons but I like mono better, if I had to use one weight of mono to fish Alberta it would be 8lb. I like 6 lb for trout and some types of walleye fishing and 10 lb for pike and other types of walleye fishing. I could get by with 8 most of the time though.

[cube]

Does that not promote tangling on the spool when youre wrapping a base of mono?. I seem to have problems with that where a single piece will come loose and screw up my whole reel

You can make a couple of rounds of braid on the reel then tape it down. Then continue to spool it on regularly. Or you can put some cheap mono backing on. Here you put some mono on the spool then use an Albright knot or a Bob Foran knot to connect the braid to the mono. Continue to spool the rest of the braid, it will not slip.

[FreshAirGetter]

I just use 8 lbs fluoro because it's thin and invisible yet still strong enough...but I'm just a newb, so you might want to listen to the others guys :-)

Addition: also if it's just a light action rod or ultralight, I'm guessing casting would be way better with fluoro, as braid is thicker. But again I'm a newb...lol

[EZM]

Agree with everything so far mentioned ....

I triple wrap my power pro braid backwards on spool and two twists and knot it back the other way to attach the braid to the spool directly. I spool the reel a turn or two. I then put on some hockey tape to keep it from sliding.

Sometimes, on the bigger reels, I will run backing, but not for my lighter gear and smaller spinning reels.

Spool the line up to the reel with moderate tension.

Attach a swivel to the very end.

Tie my fluorocarbon leader material (not fluorocarbon line) to the swivel ( I use 36" for trout and other shy species). There is a big difference between fluorocarbon line versus fluorocarbon leader material - but we will save that for another thread.

I love power pro .... it tends to stay together better than some other brands of braid.

I use 10lb on my ultra light (it's thinner than a 4lb mono).

[huntsfurfish]

For superlines, I use just enough mono to cover the bottom of the spool then add superline with proper knots for the job. Learned early within weeks of the superline debut of spool slippage. never any problems since.

Also for reels used for jigging, will only put on about 50-75 yds or so of superline and use the backing to fill the reel spool. Cuts some costs.:)

[fisherman420]

I run a 7ft UL rod with 10lb power pro and a 3-4ft floro leader of 6lb test, the 7ft rod handles those 50cm+ walters no problem and you feel the slightest bump from any fish

[EZM]

I used to back every single reel ..... all the time .... the last 2 "re-spools" on smaller sized spinning reels have had the triple wrap, backwards loop and hockey tape (as described above) seems to be holding up.

For serious fighting, on a big fish that can peel serious line ..... I'd use backing for sure.

[Geezle]

I run a 7ft UL rod with 10lb power pro and a 3-4ft floro leader of 6lb test, the 7ft rod handles those 50cm+ walters no problem and you feel the slightest bump from any fish

7' UL rods are pretty hard to come by...most are in the 5'6"-6' range.

Anyway, going to the question regarding line - the lightest I use is 10lb PowerPro. As EZM mentioned, it's very thin for its weight rating, making it ideal for smaller spools with less line capacity, but it's still strong enough to handle walleye and average sized pike with no worries. Add the appropriate sized fluoro leader and you're set :)

[Battery]

I used to back every single reel ..... all the time .... the last 2 "re-spools" on smaller sized spinning reels have had the triple wrap, backwards loop and hockey tape (as described above) seems to be holding up.

For serious fighting, on a big fish that can peel serious line ..... I'd use backing for sure.

Not really understanding what you mean by triple wrap backwards loop. Are you wrapping it 3 times around the reel then taping it and wrapping the opposite way?

[EZM]

Not really understanding what you mean by triple wrap backwards loop. Are you wrapping it 3 times around the reel then taping it and wrapping the opposite way?

Sorry .... not a very good description ..... basically an arbor knot, cinch it down, retrieve line, wrap it three times, and tape in opposite direction.

Hopefully that makes more sense.

Here's the knot ......

http://www.animatedknots.com/arbor/index.php?Categ=fishing&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com