> mhall: I have a question
>for you that I would
>really appreciate some help on
>since you seem very knowledgeable
>on the line discussion. I
>fish dale hollow some at
>night with usually both spinning
>reels and baitcasters. I perfer
>the baitcaster, but will usually
>end up as the night
>goes on with the spinning
>rod due to cast control,
>in lure placement, and bottom
>line my eyes aren't what
>they use to be on
>picking out the back lashes
>especially at night so I
>get frustrated and lay it
>down. I have always fished
>with 14-17lb. flourscent mono to
>see the line while fishing
>a jig at night. However
>I think I am trying
>to fish the jig much
>like a worm bite, when
>you feel the tap tap
>reel down get the slack
>out of the line and
>set the hook and walaha
>NOTHING'S there. I have tried
>to disclipine(sp?) myself to jerk
>first and then reel and
>it has been a hurdle
>to overcome. I have
>never fished with braid or
>flourcarbon line, but have read
>and been told there is
>no strech in these lines
>which seems like it would
>be the better choice to
>fish a jig with. My
>question to you is this:
>Do they make a good
>quality line in the flouocarbon
>or braid, which ever is
>best, that is flourscent so
>a person can see it
>at night and still have
>the advantage of a no
>strech line to jig fish
>with and still have the
>senitivity as with mono? Sorry
>to be so long on
>the post and probably a
>dumb question to you, but
>I catch a few on
>the jig, however I miss
>alot on it too. Just
>trying to narrow the odds
>in my favor alittle more
>of having something on the
>end of the line when
>I do get to go.
>Thanks for any input you
>can share would be great...283
>in middle Tn.

I agree with alot of what ployboy has told you, and there are some good quality lines out there to choose from. At night if I'm fishing a jig or plastics I prefer flouresent under the ole blacklight. Because I've taught myself to fish by feel more on finesse fishing instead of line watching, I sometimes will fish jigs on flourocarbon. During the day in super clear water such as Dale or Cumberland I almost always use flourocarbon line. As ployboy pointed out maybe there isn't anything to it, but to me it means everything. My bite and catch ratio increased dramatically after swithing to the flourocarbon lines. P-line is my favorite and I rarely go over 12lb. test. Fred McClintock is a absolute legend in fishing and has forgot more about catching smallmouth than I will ever learn. However all that being said he and his clients fish alot and I mean alot with live bait. Therefore maybe the line choices aren't as big a deal as chunkin and windin with various lures. Ployboy catches alot of super nice brown bass and has his way of thinking. I catch my share and fish Cumberland more that Dale and I'm real believer in light as you can get by with and flourocarbon P-line. It's a personal choice and confidence thing in my opinion. Ive been on the big C and have guys in my boat throwing the same thing as me with flouresent line and I'm catching two or three to their one with the flourocarbon, why ??? Also remember this, the flourocarbon isn't good for everything. For example don't use it with topwater baits because it sinks and causes your lures to dive instead of walk or spit. Buzzbaits are o.k. but any pause topwater use mono. For jigs and plastics it's great because it sinks and you get a quicker more vertical fall. Sorry for being so long winded but it was the only way for me to explain my thoughts on this debated topic. Make your own choices and experiment and tell us how you do, I would be interested to see what your results are and with what direction you pick. This I know for sure smallmouth ARE NOT largemouth and I sincerely believe they most times require a more calculated approach, any other words they are harder to catch on a consistent basis, so you need every edge you can get. Oh and when you feel that tap on a jig or it gets a little mushy feeling cross his eyes do not hesitate. When you feel that hit it's all the way in his mouth 99.9% of the time. Good luck and tightlines, Mark.