Thinking of trying some braided line on my 15lb class combination. The lower diameter of the line and hence drag seems very appealing. Anyone tried braid and have comments regarding the difference compared to monofilament?
Yeah - we use it a fair bit. With the same weight, the line is much much less suceptible to drag - its brilliant when the tide hits. Its a lot lighter but costs loads more - worth it in my opinion especially if you fish a fair bit. If you're doing something that is likely to use up a lot of tackle (wrecking) then avoid it.
The line is a lot more sensitive - e.g. when bream fishing with feathers + squid on the hooks, you can feel the fish nibbling.
I'm hoping there will be some nice edible fish in the SoF that will be tempted by my state of the art lures, or failing that just a bit of ham /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Lures are ok, not brilliant, not terrible but require a lot of patience. livebait is by far the best way to catch big bass / tope.
Ive caught mackerel on a bare hook before (note - i didnt try fishing with bare hooks, one of the feathers came off!)
Hope to see you around, if you're anywhere near Port Grimaud I'll probably see you, I usually know every boat that enters and leaves the bay whilst I'm there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Regarding the braid I'm thinking 300yds of 15lb braid with backing of 30lb mono. What about the trace? Does braid make a good trace or am I better off with some 15lb mono?
braid is good, both floating and sinking, if fishing for Mackerel or Bass 15lb seems a bit heavy, never fished in SOF so cant comment on bottom, or snags...
Braid is excellent if fishing straight up and down on the drift, you feel everything that is going on, also reduces the need for large sinkers as it has a finer diameter for the breaking strain, however if you are in shallow water and are casting away from the boat then beaware that it can be a nightmare (birdsnests) are generally terminal, and there is no stretch in it so it will break your lead out easier. Finally if you do hook up a good hard fighter your chances of a snap line is increased due to the lack of "give" as opposed to mono. As already mentioned if your are wrecking then put on a leader of 30lb mono, about 12 foot will do to act as a sacrificial to abraid on the bottom or wreck. Most lads I know have reverted to Mono.