Originally Posted by
Yak Fish
I used to pull crankbaits on medium-light spinning rods with 6 to 10 pound mono. Several lakes I fish are fairly clear (for this area) without much cover in deep water besides weeds. I found that as the day wore on, the more stretch I got in the mono, the more short strikes there were, and the more fish I lost. The rods were soft enough action that some of the hook setting power was lost as well.
When I switched to braid, I backed the drag off to where it takes a good sized crappie to pull any, it also takes a bass over three pounds some work to pull much line off the reel. I moved to medium action 6'6"rods with line counter baitcasters, but kept the swivel tied to braid and a snap at the business end of the fluorocarbon leader to make changing lures faster. I probably don't need the swivel, though none of them have cost me any fish, so why not? I use the 6'6" rods, because if they were any longer and I couldn't untangle line wrapped around the tip when seated in my kayak. I don't use planers, plus the width of my kayak (29 inches) limits how many lines I can run without tangles.
I haven't kept up with numbers of landed compared to lost fish in braid versus mono, but I definitely boat more fish with braid by probably 1.25:1, especially if the line has been in the water a long time. Mono just seems to get more stretchy, like a rubber band, where braid doesn't have much give from start to finish. I hope this helps somebody.
Jim
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