Braid and heavy weights

[tywithay]

I've heard horror stories of using too thin of a braid with heavier lures and seeing your expensive baits flying 300yds never to be found. I am just curious what people's stance are on determining what size line to use.

I'm considering using braid on my Daiwa Z for line capacity reasons and was thinking of what lb. I should consider. It's not uncommon for me to throw 3-4oz, and possibly higher; so the line digging could obviously be an issue. My first thought was 30lb, thinking the thinner diameter would aid greatly in distance, but I am apprehensive because the thinner diameter also causes digging. I don't necessarily need to go any heavier than that, but would I be safer just going ahead and jumping up to 50lb or even 60?

Thanks for any input. I don't use braid often, so not well-versed on this subject.

[RIK]

You can definitely snap off a bait with 30# braid if you backlash and stop the bait dead in mid-air. A 3-4 oz bait can pretty easily generate enough force to hit the breaking strength, especially if you're muscle-casting the thing for distance.

I and a lot of other muskie fishermen learned this the hard way when braid first came out. 36# dacron was the standard muskie line so when braid came out we all bought 30# braid and proceeded to snap off lures and have spool digging problems. I know I sent a couple baits into near earth orbit before I figured out diameter not rated strength was what actually mattered. Most muskie guys use 80#, which is almost the same diameter as the 36# dacron. (Interesting aside, there were some lures - crankbaits especially - that just didn't work right on thinner braid too. They were designed with thicker line and thing line screwed them up...)

I think you'd be safe with 50# (throw plenty of muskie lures on 50 without problems), and with a 3-4 oz bait, if there's a drop in distance, it sure won't be much.

[Toadslayer72]

The lowest I've gone with braid for swimbaits is 60# PP slick. I now only run 70# and 80# Samurai on all of of my braid rigs, even for the "lighter" baits in the 2-3 oz class. I haven't had any problems since switching to the 70/80 but I did have a few little hiccups with the 60. I kind of think even those were my fault by trying to get too much on a cast with a smaller bait. It is always in the back of my mind though and it's just something I accept. I feel that the benefits of braid for me far outweigh any occasional issues I might have with it. I think if you are mindful of your mechanics then you should be ok.

I would suggest at least 60# simply because there is a little more room for error and god forbid if you do get any kind of lash, at least you'll have a little hope for picking it out. I'm sure people use lighter and have no issues and I may one day drop down a little one day but I like where I'm at for the most part with my current set up. I could not imaging slinging a 4-5 oz. bait on 30# though, I think that's begging for problems.

[dragon1]

I agree with the above...diameter first. And a strong non-braid leader as well.

I fish up to about 3.5oz on my Z2020H with 50lb Cortland and 17lb CXX leader...this said, if I were throwing 4oz+ (Z will struggle in the 6oz + range anyway, IMO), I would opt for 60lb in the Cortland Master Braid, or even just go with 20lb - 25lb CXX.

[Toadslayer72]

Oops, forgot to mention my leader, CXX for me too. I use 15# (smaller stuff) 20# (mostly) and 25# (only on a couple of my heaviest baits). For joining the two, I was using the Alberto knot for a while and it's a great knot but I switched off to the FG knot a couple of months ago and I'm liking that even more.

[brwn_bggr]

Even a moderately exuberant cast with a 4 oz. lure will easily generate in excess of 500 foot pounds of energy at the beginning of the cast...more than a lot of pistol bullets...if the brakes come on,only the elongation of the line and rod flex will spread that energy out to a point where it can be absorbed without breaking something...your using braid,very little elongation...and at the time of your cast,the rod is,for the most part,pointed at the lure,very little flex...to me,that's asking a lot from our tackle...I don't fish for musky...well,not on purpose,grin...but my son does and even with 80 lb line,he has on rare occasion,sent a lure into the next zip code without line attached...as well as having stripped reel gears...surely there are actions to reduce these from happening,but for the most part,I think it may just be part and parcel when using tackle of that caliber...good luck,grin...!

[HellaBass]

My personal experience, that anything under 40lb braid for me digs into easy on my baitcasters and causes these problems

[Wachtel]

I use 50 lb for my heaviest lures, 4-6 oz. Haven't had any problems with 30 lb for 2-3 oz lures with a 8' rod.

[Seph]

agree....shop by diameter for sure.

[takrat 67]

To stop braid digging in on a spool diameter is not always the best bet. I'd be looking a lot closer at profile. Braids like Suffix 832 are perfectly round and for that reason that's all I use on my bait cast reels. I'm going down as low as 10lb at the moment and having not problems. However I am throwing far lighter lures than what you mention. As we don't have Muskies in Australia I can't comment on the appropriate lure size of weight, however the problem of digging in is greatly lessened if the braid is round, not oval. A longer leader of Mono should help too that should compensate in part for the nil stretch in the braid.
JD

[mbg60]

One way I have found to keep my braid from digging into itself is to start spreading out your line into wider XXXXXXX's with your thumb as your line gets closer to your lure/leader. Maybe your last 10 yards or so.

[jamesdta]

Could you damage your reel casting 4 ounces and having it stop suddenly ? Like bending your spool shaft ?

[tywithay]

Could you damage your reel casting 4 ounces and having it stop suddenly ? Like bending your spool shaft ?

Seems like it could be a possibility, but I can't see it happening. Otherwise, you'd run the risk of deforming the spool every time you made a hard hookset, especially if you snagged a log or something that doesn't have any give. FWIW, I have been using 60lb FX2 braid on my Tatula and Z2020 without any issues. The most weight I've used it roughly 4oz. and it hasn't been digging into the spool at all. One thing I know for sure, if you take a Tatula with a 3oz weight and a thin 8 carrier braid on a 7'6" rod, you can send it into orbit. I can't believe some of the distances I've been casting.

[jamesdta]

Good point.

How's the tatulas line capacity casting those heavy weights ?

[tywithay]

I haven't had an issue to this point. I've got almost 125 yards on the nose (125yd filler spool only had a few coils left) , plus roughly 10 yards of 14lb mono backing. It'd take one hell of a cast to get to the knot.