Mono or braid

[Rumpig]

Gidday,
I went to a tackleshop the other day and got a SiC tip for my little spinstick. The bloke duely put it on and then started talking about braid, I've always used mono and never had any problems with it, I told him this and he said that it is vastly differnt and all the differnce is positive! I'd be able to cast further, feel more bites and generally have a better time.
Now, I recently spooled my reel up with tortue and was wondering if it REALLY IS worth stripping all the line off and wacking some briad on there?

I use the rod for
HS spinning
Bream and flatties
and freshwater some times

Mick

[krazyfisher]

You sound the same as I was 18mths ago I have now gone to braid for lures and love it have not used it to bait fish but I am going to it is worth trying the only thing is it dearer and does not like rocks. I use 20lb whiplash very thin either way its all fun

[Muzzy]

One thing to remember is to not limit your self in fishing to thinking one being the "best" especially with lines IMHO...

Now braid has some good traits that lend it self to lure casting/trolling. The lack of strech and its inherant feel it produces is one of the big +'s over mono. Braid is also alot thinner, this alows us to load our reels with more line and heavier line. It doesnt pick up the memory problems mono suffers from and lasts longer. It is dearer up front but due to less line changes it balances out.

Now some lures dont perfom with braid IMHO things like jigs (lead heads) a metal twisters etc. I find the lack of strech makes the lure un life like due to a robot type pause/rip effect. I find mono with its lazy strech to be better in this situation.

Now bait fishing is some thing I dont do heaps of but I do use braid when I do. It allows for a better feel of bites in deep water and big tides. Doesnt seem to get as much line drag on it with big tides so smaller sinkers can be used to get the bottom. But its is very thin and by nature thin things dont like sharp things so its not real good against rocks. But mono can be used as a leader to keep the braid well clear of the sharp stuff.

Leaders should also be used while trolling/casting. If you just tied your lure to the braid you may find a heap of dropped stikes occuring. Due to you ripping the lure from the fish rather than a hook set. What mono does is alows for a shock adsorber to be in place. This little amount of strech allows for great hook set and also reduces the effects of gill rakes and sharp teeth from cutting the braid. There are special leaders designed for braid use but thats not the question here normal mono does the job.

With braid ya dont need to fully spool the reel with only braid, a top shot is a good option. Get a spool of say 150m of braid and just add that to the top of say half a spool of mono (there abouts it takes some mucking round but ya suss it out). Tie a double in the mono, one in the braid do a cats paw connection and wind on. I dont think you will ever cast 150meters or fish for a flat head that deep.

Some knots need to be adjusted while using braid but these adjustments are normally only adding more twists as the braid tends not to bind as well as mono does.

I could go on and on. But I reckon for what you are doing braid will more than likly improve the situation with that feel I talked about. And you dont need to waste that mono just add a top shot of braid may be even a heavy one like 20lbish, that way ya can just lock it up and turn when ya want or play around.

Each to their own but none is better than the other just has different uses and applications.

Mostly I use braid but I do still use mono, and ya can never only just use braid ya always need a leader.

Hope this helped a tad if not it might get the ball rolling from the blokes that actually know what they are on about *G*

Muz

[Rumpig]

So it sounds like it's worth it! I think I'll have to pick a spool up to play with. What are the recomended brands?
Also Braid or Fusion? And what's the difference between the two?

Mick

[Muzzy]

I like using the fussion stuff with fire line and spider wire.

those two are as good as each other can get em both from kmart in small (top shot spools) for about 30bucks.

I'm now changing my line over to bionic briad for a few reasons. It has a little more traditional line feel to it with out losing the feel of braid. It is great to handle durring knots and holds well also. Is an Aussie product, and a few other persol things as well.

I think it couldnt hurt giving braid ago, and give it a fair go to dont just get one birds nest or slipped knot and pack it in. Once you get used to it, it really comes in to its own and improves certin fishing situations. I think it should improve yours if not its not that bad a thing as we aint in afgainastan *G*

Into it brother cuz

Muz

P.S it might pay to get some other more local sudjestions in regards to the fusion or braid question I like the feel of fusion and have more faith.

[Travis]

As you are talking about bream and flatty spinning there is no better than fireline in the lighter poundages,Penn power braid,bionic,fins are all good braids but the fusion for the lighter stuff just cannot be beaten...

And l recommened 4 or tops 6 pound for the work you want to do,you can buy it in 125 yards or 300 yards spools the 125 yards is $23 so try that and if you dont like it then its not a huge loss...

Travis

[Muzzy]

Thats top value mate, wish I had a tackle store like you guys in Darwin.

[Rumpig]

Thanks for that info, I'll go out and have a look at some 6Lb fireline then.

Mick

[Roman]

Muz or anyone.

I have always been unsure as how to choose a leader and how long to make it?
Should the leader be the same test as the line?
The mono will be thicker but does this matter?

[rivermanau]

On the other hand, there have been a lot of improvements in mono lately, copolymer stuff like Harro's Lureline is a far cry from the old sloppy mono feel. the other day i bought a very cheap spool of Ryobi mono which said it was a low stretch line, which it is! For $6 for 500 metres it is working very well for bass spinning. i had no trouble dragging a 40 cm bass out of a snag this week. I think a crisp graphite rod makes a more important difference than the line- I just dont like the feel of braid.
I'm really enjoying using a Shakespeare Synergy spin rod ($60) with a small Catera reel ($80)for this sort of thing
Robert