What do you guys think about braided lines for crappie fishing?

I have just started dock shooting for crappies a few weeks ago and I have been running into a lot of largemouth and spotted bass that just rips through my 4 pound line or just run with it until it gets hung up around the docks. I was thinking about going to some 10-15 pound hi vis braided line just in case I hit one of these bass so I can yank them out before getting hung up. I was reading the label and the 10 pound was said to be around the same diameter as the 4 lbs and 15 is the same as 6 lbs. What do you guys think about braid for my situation for dock shooting?

That's right Hi Vis is great for me I can't see mono.. braid has it's draw backs but I use Hi Vis 14 pound test braid and 8 pound hi vis gold always use hi vis. 15 braid is okay by me

Never tried it shooting but use it for everything else. Think I might try some fused line like Berkley fire line. It also is small diameter like braid.

i have noticed that crappie and even bluegills hit lures/bait with monofilament more than braid. i had one pole with 4lb mono and one with 10lb braid (diameter of 2lb mono) and the one with mono outfished braid about 3-1. could have been a fluke but im sticking with mono.

Braid doesn't have any stretch, which is not good with surging paper mouths.

Braid sux. I have it on all my reels but I hate it. But I love it.

Wind knots are a constant headache on my spinning reels.
FIN

Advantage with braid is that you won't loose near as many jigs as you would with mono cause it doesn't break as easy and you can hog in the bigger other fish with it. I landed a 40+ inch muskie with 10# braid. Disadvantage, Power Pro hi vis braid does loose it color easily, don't know about other brands of braid. Another advantage with the braid is that you can feel the slightest of bites, I swear I can even feel them suck the bait in.

15# Power Pro hi vis braid works for me on my Mitchell 308 Pro and 12' BnM.

What do you do about wind knots?
FIN

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Originally Posted by Eaglehorse

15# Power Pro hi vis braid works for me on my Mitchell 308 Pro and 12' BnM.

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Originally Posted by FIN

What do you do about wind knots?
FIN

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Don't wrist snap cast !! Make your casts with a more fluid motion. That worked for me.

I did have a few instances of "wind knots" when I first started casting jigs on braid (PP 10/2) ... but, since I stopped using the fast motion of a wrist snap, I have not experienced the problem.

Recently, I started putting a small splitshot sinker about 8" up the line. Now, instead of "seeing" the line jump when a fish hits, I feel a serious "thump" !!

And yes ... PowerPro does fade after awhile, but is still quite visible. And even though I tie my jig directly to the braid, I still get Crappie to bite it !!

... cp :kewl

Fins wind tamer braid helps on the wind knots.

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Originally Posted by FIN

What do you do about wind knots?
FIN

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Actually for last season and this season so far, I've only had it happen twice. It may be unusual, so maybe I've been lucky. Mostly for shooting I use a 1/8th oz. Roadrunner head with a 2" Go Go Minnow. I superglue the minnow to the jig head because fish like to try and pull the minnows off. It doesn't take a lot to put it under the dock far enough.

I use Power Pro Hi-Vis 15lb braid which is 4 lb equivalent. Use it to dislodge my hung hooks without breaking line. Can feel the slightest bump too! I have used for dock shooting, bobber fishing, vertical jigging, casting and anything else you can think of and it lasts!! I do use 6 lb mono on two of my jigging rods for more sensitivity.

I just ordered enough 20/6 spiderwire glow-vis to outfit my longline spinning rods for trolling cranks. I've suffered a left wrist injury and can't handle a rod with my left hand required for my baitcasters right now. I have small spinning reels and needed a higher lb test line for cranks so I didn't really have a choice at this point. We'll see how it goes.

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Originally Posted by That'sABingo

i have noticed that crappie and even bluegills hit lures/bait with monofilament more than braid. i had one pole with 4lb mono and one with 10lb braid (diameter of 2lb mono) and the one with mono outfished braid about 3-1. could have been a fluke but im sticking with mono.

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I use a small ball Bering swivel then about 3 ft or mono leader. Best of both

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Originally Posted by FIN

What do you do about wind knots?
FIN

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After putting any line on a spinning reel i free spool 90% of the line out with out tying and lure or weight on it. I pull it behind the boat at low speed about 5mph for a minute or 2. Then reel it in. This removes any twist in the line. I have 20# power pro on my spinning reels going on 2 years and not a wind knot yet. I prefer braid over mono. I found the braid does get better the more its used. With mono on my spinning reels I get wind knots every other trip. When I do I just do the free spool trick again and am good for a few more fishing trips. I use it on bait casters and spinning reels. On spin casts I use mono. I also free spool a spin cast reel. It helps to spool it out every few trips also to remove line twists. I have heard braid doesnt do well on a bait caster.

I'm curious about why you folks use such a heavy pound test braid? I've caught 5 lb. smallies on my 4# test Fireline rig, with never a loss due to line failure. Caught an 8 lb. Northern on the same rig several years ago. You have to admit, that casting with a 4# braid is much better (for distance) than 10# braid in any case. I use a 4' leader of 4# test XL put on the main line with an Alberto knot. Have used this set-up for many years with no problems.

Just ordered a SHSS 9' rod & matching Pflueger President. Going to be filling it with 2# Fireline to try out! First time with this light a braid. (I did try 2# Nanofil, which was a total disaster.) Should be an interesting experiment. I'll let you know how it turns out. I have several spool of 2# test XL which I know works just fine for casting light jigs. :)

Two words... straightening hooks. :twocents

Suffix 832 HI-VIS yellow in 6LB dia (20 # test) is all I use for long line trolling, spider rigging and pulling crankbaits. Only draw back is the knot tying, I haven't mastered a consistent knot that doesn't slip on occasion. But the line is well work the cost and the occasionally knot slip.

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Originally Posted by Quackrstackr

Two words... straightening hooks. :twocents

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Not sure what kind of hooks you are using, but I mold my own jig heads and loose a lot each season. So what? They are so inexpensive it seems silly to me (just speaking for myself here) to consider sacrificing casting distance, presentation and performance to save a single jig head.

I've seen times when crappie got so finicky that you couldn't buy a bite unless you went down to 2# test mono and slow crawled a jig over the bottom. But more importantly, line size gives you two important presentation controls: depth and speed. Maybe I just like to over-think it, but that's what I like to do. If some of you folks feel more comfortable with 10# test braid, more power to you. I meant no criticism; more an observational question. :)

I like braid when fishing small crank baits or road runners but mono will out fish braid like bingo said. braid sux when the cottonwood is putting off it gets on the line and wont come off

The reason why I ask about heavy braided line is because I have caught a lot of bass dock shooting and they will just pull my line out and it will eventually get caught on a dock post. I want something in heavy pound in small diameter so I can pull those bass out if I ever get them hooked on.

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Originally Posted by Crestliner08

I'm curious about why you folks use such a heavy pound test braid? I've caught 5 lb. smallies on my 4# test Fireline rig, with never a loss due to line failure. Caught an 8 lb. Northern on the same rig several years ago. You have to admit, that casting with a 4# braid is much better (for distance) than 10# braid in any case. I use a 4' leader of 4# test XL put on the main line with an Alberto knot. Have used this set-up for many years with no problems.

Just ordered a SHSS 9' rod & matching Pflueger President. Going to be filling it with 2# Fireline to try out! First time with this light a braid. (I did try 2# Nanofil, which was a total disaster.) Should be an interesting experiment. I'll let you know how it turns out. I have several spool of 2# test XL which I know works just fine for casting light jigs. :)

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Originally Posted by Crestliner08

Not sure what kind of hooks you are using, but I mold my own jig heads and loose a lot each season. So what? They are so inexpensive it seems silly to me (just speaking for myself here) to consider sacrificing casting distance, presentation and performance to save a single jig head.

I've seen times when crappie got so finicky that you couldn't buy a bite unless you went down to 2# test mono and slow crawled a jig over the bottom. But more importantly, line size gives you two important presentation controls:
depth and speed. Maybe I just like to over-think it, but that's what I like to do. If some of you folks feel more comfortable with 10# test braid, more power to you. I meant no criticism; more an observational question. :)

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It's all relative to where and how you fish. Undoubtedly you fish really clear obstruction free waters. Down here where I fish we have stained water, standing timber, pulling cranks, spider rigging and single pole jigging in a lot of brush and stake beds. 2 lb wouldn't last very long where and how we fish. And I would say our fish are larger on average than the fish you see up there. Plus we catch a lot of cats that will wind up and cut your line with their fins along with the occasional big drum or white bass.

I agree with you cray, the water we fish here is not particularly cluttered with obstacles to have to worry about. And the water is very clear on most lakes. However, I have taken some pretty big fish on 2# mono and I would have no problem targeting bass with my 4# Fireline rig either. BTW, 4# test Fireline is a heck of lot stronger than just 4#! It would be interesting to experiment with actual breaking strengths of the new super lines.

I mostly use Power Pro 10# and use it most of the time. If for some reason I get to thinking they are getting line shy I will either go to mono or add a kind of long mono or Fluorocarbon leader tied to the braid. Also last year I tried the kind of new Power Pro Super Slick and love that stuff!

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Originally Posted by Crestliner08

It would be interesting to experiment with actual breaking strengths of the new super lines.

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Just like with mono, they're far stronger than what's printed on the box.

Ive always used mono. Never tried braid for crappie. I do a lot of verticle jigging and I dont think I would like the sensitivity of braid.