Braided line overkill for lake fishing?

[StinkyH]

Gonna get a few lake fishing setups put together when I go to the outdoor show next month.

Was curious about line weight for shore line fishing lakes. Would 15# tuff line be overkill?

StinkyH

[bucketmouth]

I guess it depends on what you are fishing for. If you intend on chasing Bass then I personally think 15# braided line is indeed overkill.

Since there are weeds and other structures that you need to bring your line through while fishing from shore, you should try using a flourocarbon leader to your braided line.

[ 01-11-2004, 09:36 PM: Message edited by: bucketmouth ]

I don't like using anything smaller than 20lb due to its diameter. I use 20 lb Power Pro on my kokanee reels.

[nitrobass]

Definitely depends on what you're fishing for. Braided line is great but its not for everything. If its bass you're after you'd be smart to have a couple rods rigged with braid.

I usually use 60# stealth braid.

[StinkyH]

Originally posted by bucketmouth:
Since there are weeds and other structures that you need to bring your line through while fishing from shore, you should try using a flourocarbon leader to your braided line.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">How long of a leader of flourocarbon to attach to the braid?

StinkyH

[M BASS]

how long the leader is depends on the water and it'c clarity. the darker the water the shorter it can be but much depends on how and what you are fishing for

[nitrobass]

2 feet if you're flipping...if you're carolina rigging fish it as long as the cover dictates...if its moving baits(cranks or spinnerbaits) dont worry about using a leader.

[Wreckless]

If you are pitching into heavy cover I still like mono best. I hate to sound like "bubba" but I have 30# Tuffline plus on one reel and 25# Big Game on the other. Both heavy pitchin' sticks. I also tie the jig directly to the Tuff with NO problems, in heavy cover. IMHO they bite quickly or not at all in heavy brush and weeds. I'm not saying they won't eye it sometimes but in my experience they decide to bit on the fall, again, in heavy cover. Open water is a different story.

This will ruffle some feathers, but DON'T WASTE YOUR $$$$ ON FLOUROCARBON!! It breaks with the slightest nick, even the heavy stuff. If you are worried about the fish seeing your line use straight mono.

Pitching jigs into brush is my FAVORITE way to catch Largemouth...You catch BIG fish and it can be an epic battle!

Just my 2 cents worth....

[nitrobass]

The trick with flourocarbon is to not buy the cheap stuff. There's good flouro and there's junk. I've tried at least 5 brands and only one so far has been worth a darn.

It definitely has a time and place where its an advantage thats for sure

[BuKuBass]

The best fluoro that I've found is Seaguar. It's held up to sawing across underwater logs at Crane Prairie.
Wet the line and draw it tight slowly when tying a knot; heat kills.

[Wreckless]

I guess I can give Seaguar a try...it does make sense to have a couple feet of clear line, ESPECIALLY at a place like Crane Praire. Hey, if you found a flurocarbon that will stand up to the timber there it must be OK!

I may be stubborn, but I'm not STUPID................really [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]

[Wannabe]

I tried the Excalibur Fluro last fall for the first time and this could be another one that seems to hold up pretty well. Not as easy to find as I believe it has just come out. But I like the toughness and the non stretch qualities. As far as braids...I pretty much only use it for fishing frogs in weeds. I'm not crazy about it's floating qualitys and when I've tried the lighter stuff for drop shotting, with my bad habit of holding my finger on the line I tend to get some great cuts across my finger.
&lt))&gt;&lt;

[StinkyH]

I ended up spooling up with 20lb Tuff Line and then added an 8' leader of 10lb mono. I have the Epixor EF15 which is pretty light and does not hold much line so I figure if I just run a mono leader - I can save much of the mainline by cutting the mono to add new lures and what not and swap it out when it gets short. Will help too for leader shy fish.

I was going to go with the 20lb Power Pro but the 20lb Tuff Line XP was smaller in diameter so I could fit more.

Okuma screwed up on the figures they printed on their spools of the EF15s. They have on the spool - 6/110 but the web site lists 6/70. Kinda frustrating since I didn't figure this out til I went fishing and saw that a full cast really emptied the spool.

Either way - the tuff line allowed me to fit a longer mainline on the spool than the mono so I am good... I did however, shoot a note to Okuma about this.

StinkyH

[ 01-20-2004, 12:53 AM: Message edited by: StinkyH ]

[nitrobass]

Thats a long leader of mono, have you had a chance to try it? Seems like you're missing out on the whole benefit of spectra when the mono leader is that length. Maybe I'm way off though?