to braid or not to braid that is the question

[jim m]

have a friend that just swears by braid with a florocarbon leader, says the feel of the bait and what it is doing is superior to floro main line. what say ye gentlemen of great fishing knowledge and experience. thinking of riging up one rod to try but have never been a fan of braid but if it is a better tool then I'm willing to change. all comments welcome

[shrapnel]

There's no one line good for all applications.  I love a braid to fluoro leader for a c-rig and for finesse fishing, and have just recently started using a 20lb leader on 30lb braid for flipping.

The muskie I caught yesterday I posted in another thread was probably 10lbs caught on a fluke with 20lb braid to 4' 12lb fluoro joined with an FG knot.

[dtrs5kprs]

I am not a fan of braid for finesse. I use it a bit, on some UL's, and for a few baits that just won't throw on mono or FC. Dislike it the entire time I use it.

I have not seen better sensitivity with braid and a leader, even throwing it on GLX, IMX, etc. It's like the leader deadens it.

Straight braid is a different deal entirely.

[Ham]

? Not gonna do it. 

[dtrs5kprs]

 

? Not gonna do it. 

Oh, go ahead.

[Old plug]

Well i use braid for two applicarion I crapoe fosh woth 10lb braid and sjip plastics woth 20lb braid both are pro braod brand. I flat refise to use a leader. To me it is foolishness fr most fresh water fish? They care abought whats at the ebd of your lone and not the line. 

[Mitch f]

I really don't like using braid at all... but if there is one application where I  use it in my realm, it would be for topwater. Making long casts in clear water, and being able to make a snappy walk the dog cadence with all the extra line out really helps me to get more strikes. Braid also increases the hook up ratio when making long casts, because of less stretch.

[rps]

I troll cranks and bottom bouncer and Lindy rig fish with 10 lb Power Pro metered line. For all other applications I use Yozuri hybrid or Maxima.

[moguy1973]

I only use braid for top water and that's without a leader.

YoZuri Hybrid or P-Line Premium CX for everything else.

[Al Agnew]

I've never been a fan of braid with a leader.  I'm not nearly as worried about straight braid spooking fish as many are, and have caught a lot of fish on straight braid, though I will say that I have seldom used anything with a greater diameter than 4/15 Power Pro.  To be honest, I don't like braid, but for me the benefits of it on spinning reels outweighs the things I hate about it.  Braid doesn't give you the same problems with line twist as mono type lines--the line still twists with spinning gear, but the twist doesn't affect the braid like it does the monos.  And since I almost exclusively use spinning tackle only for jigs and soft plastics where feel is important, straight braid gives you much better feel than anything else.  And finally, braid allows you to use lighter power rods and still get good hooksets, so you can cast light stuff better with the lighter power rods.

I've been experimenting with braid on a casting reel for throwing fluke type baits.  I like it okay so far and it definitely helps with hooksets.  But since I've gotten to where I seldom use spinning tackle at all, that means that at present I'm using braid only about 5% of the time, because I do not use it on most of my casting tackle.