thanks for the opinions on 10# mono. i may go ahead and invest in the braid and save me some baits. as for as life of braid, when i fished for the green carp i have some braid that is several years old and still is being used. i just watch for it when it starts to fray then remove several feet of it. that was 65# braid so i dont know if the 30# will hold up the same. i do pull it off and reverse the line to get more life from it. that way the line that is normally on the reel is now in the water.