Mono vs. Braided

[shrapnel]

I use braid to a leader on over 1/2 my set-ups, and feel they give me a definite advantage.  I think I outfish a lot of guys I fish with, because I feel more bites than they do.  I just recently went to 8lb Power Pro high vis yellow with a 8' long 6lb mono leader on my 5-1/2' dock shooting rod for crappie and LOVE it as well.   In this cold water a lot of bites are just the fish mouthing it, there is no line jump, slack, thump, tic...and absolute ZERO MEMORY is a huge help.

My #1 bass set-up is a 3000 series spinning reel, 7' M Heavy rod spooled with 20lb Daiwa J Braid with a 5' 15lb P line leader with a shaky head tied on.  I have landed a LOT of big fish on that set-up the last couple years.  For braid to leader connections I use a Modified Albright Knot, far superior to FG, Double Uni etc.  I never "hear" my knot going through the guides.

I do use 50lb braid on a 4000 series spinning reel for A-Rigs, because I want them back...I get them hung 2 out of 10 casts.  I use a Palomar Knot.

Flippin rod is 40lb braid to 22lb fluoro.  For fluoro or mono direct to hooks / lures I use a trilene knot.

Jerkbait rod is 12lb Tatsu fluoro.  If you have not tried this line, I think it is one of the biggest breakthroughs in line in some time.  It is way under rated for strength, amazing stuff.

 

[ivegotafever]

Long time lurker here.  I began using braid 10 years ago muskie fishing up north.  I have since switched on all of my set ups.  A polomar knot works great.  To me it casts better than mono or fluorocarbon and has less memory.  You can "horse" bigger fish with it and not worry about your line breaking.  Its great when crappie fishing since you can straighten your jig hook when you get hung up in brush and then bend the hook back with your thumb.  I generally do 3 kinds of fishing.  Picture, tournament, or food fishing.  In my opinion, braid allows you to get fish in the boat more easily than other options.  Playing fish only provides more time for unfavorable things to happen.  I prefer to minimize that.  I have a spinning reel with 6 year old braid and it still performs beautifully!