Braided Line??

I was thinking about trying some braided line this season. What is your choice of brand? And do you have to use a mono leader when tying to every bait? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Powerpro and suffix are the two that I use. Rarely to ever do I use a leader. I use braid 80% of the time on spinning gear and 20% on baitcasting.

[quote=flippinstick;316405]I was thinking about trying some braided line this season. What is your choice of brand? And do you have to use a mono leader when tying to every bait? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks[/quote]
I agree with Power Pro but the thing I would recommend is keep an open mind about this stuff it's good for certain techniques but not all. Myself, I only use it for C-rigging and fishing small tubes and plastics on one of my spinning rods. I tried it for all the other techniques but didn't like it. I have my certain hookset when fishing (flipping, pitching) plastics and braid messed me up. I was actually losing fish and I think it was from making huge holes in their mouth fom the hookset that I was programmed to using when fishing with 17#-20# mono. JMO :)

I've tried a few different brands and PowerPro has performed best for me. I use 65 lb for my frog fishing and heavy flipping, without leaders. I use 10 lb braid with a fluorocarbon leader for shakey heads and small jerkbaits.

I use the Spiderwire braid when fishing grass, thats about the only time i use it. All the rocks and shell beds here at home tends to fray the braid so i use a Flouro or copolymer line

PowerPro is my favorite so far.

I agree with the PowerPro or Suffix.

i use 8 strand
diawa j braid on my spinning reels, and 4 strand power pro on my bait casters. the 8 stranded braids on the spinning reels cast further than the 4 strand because they are rounder and go thru the guides better, but are more prone to dig into the spool on baitcasters . if the water is very stained, i dont use a leader. but if real clear i will use one. you may need to switch to a bit softer rod if you really hammer them on the hook set. absolutely no stretch with the braid, and you can tear a bigger hole around the hook.

LOL !!! ..... not sure how this thread got resurrected (it's 9yrs old), but it was probably replied to & then the message was deleted by the Admin.

So, anyway .... it's here, so I will add a little something to the discussion: especially for those that have never used braid & may want to give it a try.

Two items that I think are needed for braid users are ... a short piece of wood or wood dowel & a pair of Childs Size Fiscar Scissors.

The wood/dowel is used to wrap the braid around when trying to pull a hung bait free. Believe me when I say that braid will cut you bad, if you wrap it around your hand/fingers and pull against a snagged lure. And it will also cut into cork or foam handles on your rod, so I wouldn't recommend using those either ... though, you may get away with doing it that way if your rod handle is a graphite Tenn handle. But, why risk damage to rod or limb, when a simple piece of wood works & saves your hand/fingers or rod handle from that risk ??

The Fiskar scissors are cheap, small enough to fit in a slot in your tackle tray/box, readily available (Wal-mart school supply or craft sections), and they cut braid clean & blunt. Now, for the Bass guys, the clean/blunt cut may not be all that important since the bait/hook eye ring is fairly large, so the inserting of a ragged tag end isn't that big a deal. But, for those of us that use very small baits (like 1/32 or 1/16oz jigs) whose eye rings are quite small ... trying to put a ragged tag end of a line that is as limp as a wet noodle can be tedious & aggravating. The scissors cut being clean (no fibers protruding) and blunt (straight across) means it can be put through the eye ring quicker & easier. And the fact that they are cheap (~$2-$3/pair) means you can have a couple of pairs on board and not have to risk having your favorite pocket knife or other cutting tool slip out of your hand & into the water. If it happens to the scissors, you're only out a couple of bucks (and not your favorite Buck ... or Case ... or Kershaw ... or, as in my case, my favorite Sog).

I started using the stuff the day after it came out. I'm an old timer [real old]. I fished before mono was invented.DJ comment about hook sets never bothered me, I always liked softer rods, for the fishing I did it was the best thing since sliced bread. By way, I even used 100 lb braid on my down riggers at the end, it didn't howl like wire does. There were times when I used mono because it has its place, same with flouro. But for me, where the braid really worked was trolling. The no stretch feature let me long line, and still have a good hook set.Wish they would have invented it 50 years ago..Also, throwing a zara spook 90 ft with braid and still getting the perfect action was a plus. Braid floats, small dia and great strenght, let me put cranks down even deeper.But I wasn't only a bass fishermen, I liked to fish everything. It will cut ceramic guides, and the fiskars work. At the end 10 lb braid was almost impossible for me to tie,