Anyone else hate braid?

The single most important aspect of your tackle providing that vital link between yourself and your catch. What's everyone's favorites and why? Come on in and find out!
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falcon
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Anyone else hate braid?

Post by falcon » Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:24 am

I cant stand the stuff. I dont like its feel. i dont like the way it handles. I dont like the way it lays on the spool. I dont care for the need for a leader in certain applications.

Ive gave it a fair shake throughout the years and i feel confident now that ill just never care for it. Frogging and punching may be the only time i feel its needed. Even then i wonder cause my best frogging year ever was using #20 McCoy mean green. i never broke the line and i never felt i was jeopardizing my chances of landing the fish. Then again i live up north not on the delta or the big O.
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cjtoad
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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by cjtoad » Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:33 am

I love the stuff and plan on using it more and more as my knot skills get better.

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fishingandfords
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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by fishingandfords » Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:48 am

I also love braid but use my fair share of fluro especially for smallies but braid is a lot easier to deal with and you feel everything plus you know if you horse a fish it isn't going to break off

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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by tywithay » Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:21 am

Not a huge fan. I do have braid on my surf rod (used for spillway/heavy current river fishing) just because it's difficult to spool 30lb mono on a spinning rod; it also helps me cast 1/4 mile. As far as my smaller rigs, I don't really care for it at all. I use mono almost exclusively. The way I see it, with all the money we spend on upgrading our drags and such, there's no reason for braid. I agree there's times when you need to lock it down a bit, like fishing heavy brush piles, and horse one out; for that braid is good. Fishing open water with the drag set correctly, I don't care how big the fish is....you should likely get it in. I've caught plenty of 20lb+ catfish on 10lb line, just takes patience.

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USA-RET
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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by USA-RET » Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:58 pm

I love it. Cuts Florida weeds like a knife through hot "butta"
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KCL655321
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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by KCL655321 » Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:32 pm

Like fluoro, it has it's purposes. Long casting baits in thick cover like frogs/toads, it's a must, as well as pitching into super heavy cover. The visibility thing I'm not a big believer in as a negative, although it's biggest asset can be it's biggest negative in some situations, it's low stretch. I don't like using braid for light diameter hooks & treble baits. Yes, you can compensate for it's stretch with lighter powered rods & lighter drag setting, but I like having extra power in the rod when I need it without having to bend it to the reel seat.

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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by njbasscat » Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:26 pm

I don't hate braid. It has it's place, mostly for punching heavy grass and fishing frogs, at least for me. One big drawback that I never see mentioned is the fact that it slices my fingers almost to the bone when my hands are wet and I am tying a knot. I used to use braid on all my reels and whenever I was on a week long trip I had to put neosporin on my hands every night or the cuts would get infected and burn like crazy.

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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by Jighead61 » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:55 am

I use (Daiwa Samurai) braid exclusively. I love every aspect of braid except abrasion resistance.

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Jason Penn
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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by Jason Penn » Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:24 am

no luck with braid here, but i don't fish grass much so it's not needed.

i might like it if someone comes up with a good sinking braid. i haven't tried the fluorobraid because of all the bad reviews, but i love the idea. if someone could come up with a good braid that sinks like fluorocarbon i would use it for sure on my plastics, jig, & spinning setups.

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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by Dabluz » Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:35 pm

I like braid. All of them are good but I prefer the ones that have no coating to make them a bit stiffer and more manageable. Braid is the only way to have very strong line without the size. I can not even imagine using 50 lb mono on a small baitcaster. Even 30 lb mono is huge.

No stretch....no problem for me. I'm used to using 2 to 4 lb mono so I know how to strike without causing shock to the line. Striking when there is slack line.....it never happens to me. If a fish picks up my bait on slack line, I reel in the slack until I can feel the fish and then I strike.

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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by JDLaman » Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:08 pm

Nope, I love braid as well. Love the sensitivity with plastics, and its low stretch properties.

I am usually fishing stained to very dirty water so the visibility issues aren't a problem for me. I seldom use a leader so no problem passing knots.

I fish topwater walk the dog and popper baits almost exclusively from March through November each year. When I used to fish mono I would experience bouts of elbow pain. After switching exclusively to braid over a year ago, I no longer have any trouble with elbow pain, etc. I am convinced that because of the low stretch properties of braid, I can make much more efficient motions while topwater fishing and I am less fatigued after a full day on the water.

I recently picked up a friend's rod that was spooled with mono and a skitterwalk. I made a cast and started working the bait and I felt like I was trying to gain traction in really slick mud while working the bait. I could still do it, but it took alot more effort than working the bait with braid.

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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by QUAKEnSHAKE » Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:35 pm

Braid on all my reels its just less hassle no spray no coiling no line twisting no stretch, just fish.

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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by Altro Cat » Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:12 pm

I don't like braid at all. If it weren't for muskie fishing I would never have a reel spooled with braid. All my bass, crappie, and catfish rigs have mono or fluoro.

I have two muskie rigs with 50lb braid and in that application I couldn't imagine not having braid.

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bassninja
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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by bassninja » Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:59 am

Truth be told... if braid was invisible and sunk, I would have it on all of my reels.

Steve Williams
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Re: Anyone else hate braid?

Post by Steve Williams » Fri Apr 20, 2012 9:32 am

Try the Sunline FX2 froggin braid. It has been a game changer for me as far as what I thought about braid. I have used it for a long time, but I have never really liked braid. The suffix performance braid was my favorite (over daiwa, purefishing, mccoy, bass pro and sever other) until I got a spoool of the FX2. It stays round, casts smooth has enough body/stiffness that I don't get wind knots, does not bleed color all over my reel and cuts through grass like a hot iron through cold butter...

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