Line advice

[gunning]

I have always used mostly 14-17 lb mono on most of my baitcasters. I also usually have one rod spooled up with a heavy braid. I have read some good things about Gamma's line so I was thinking about trying some of their stuff. I have been reading up doing some research trying to figure out what line I should go with on my different rigs but I'm still not sure so I just going to ask you guys for some advice.

I have 4 baitcasters and one spinning rod I will use for walleye rigging/dropshot and soft plastics. For the most part I will always have two rods set up for casting, one spinnerbait rod and a topwater rod. Two rods for pitching, a texas rig and a jig rod. My jig rod is a 6'6 MH MF with a curado E5 so I figure it could also be a good crankbait rod. If you were me what would you put on my rods.

Spinnerbait

Topwater

Texas rig

Jig/crankbait

Spinning

[Craigums]

Spinnerbait- 14lb mono

Topwater (frogs?)- 30lb Braid

Texas Rig- 8lb Copoly

Jig- 14lb Flouro

Spinning- 6lb Flouro

Thats just me though

Lot of it is personal preferance and what kind of cover your using the baits near.

[SStracker]

spinner/cranks- 20lb copoly

topwater- 40lb braid

texas- 30lb braid

jig- 15lb flouro

spinning- 8lb copoly

thats my current set up plus a few extra bait casters with braid and flouro. and spinning i have some interchangeable spools for some quick changes.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Again, its all opinion.. here is what works for me

Spinnerbait 14 lb.

topwater-openwater- 10 lb

topwater heavy cover 50 lb braid.

texas rig- Open water 12-14 lb

Texas rig Cover- 17lb mono or 20 lb floro, or 65 braid.

Jig same as Texas rig cover.

Spinning- I really only use spinning for docks and dropshot and jig worm.

Dropshot 6lb, shakey worm 8 lb, Docks 30 lb braid.

If your going to she show, stop by the gamma booth...

[Wayne Ek]

Everyone of us will have differant opinions based on our experience and the type of equipment we use. When it comes to lines it is certainly not the "one line fits all" theory. For me this is what generally works best:

Spinnerbait-30lb. braid

Topwater slop fishing (frogs/spoons/rage tails-40/50lb braid

Topwater open water 14lb mono.

Texas rigs- 14 or 17lb. fluorocarbon

Jig on deep weedlines-17lb fluorocarbon

Jig pitching/flipping heavy cover 65lb. braid

Ripping cranks--14lb braid

General cranking 14/17 mono

Spinning: dropshot is a 14lb braid to a 8 to 10 fluorcarbon leader. Docks is a 30lb braid. Jigworm is 6/14 fireline and swimbait(yes I use a spinning rod for swimbait) is 6/14 fireline

[gunning]

Thanks guys, is the copolymer stuff like mono with a floro coating? I’m thinking about throwing some floro on the spinning reel for sure but should I use some backing? I have read some negative things about the floro with jigs, like line breakage on hook sets. Its more expensive and I have confidence in mono so its a little hard pulling the trigger if you know what I mean.

[olski]

Again, its all opinion.. here is what works for me

Spinnerbait 14 lb.

topwater-openwater- 10 lb

topwater heavy cover 50 lb braid.

texas rig- Open water 12-14 lb

Texas rig Cover- 17lb mono or 20 lb floro, or 65 braid.

Jig same as Texas rig cover.

Spinning- I really only use spinning for docks and dropshot and jig worm.

Dropshot 6lb, shakey worm 8 lb, Docks 30 lb braid.

If your going to she show, stop by the gamma booth...

Hey Deitz thanks for saving me the typing. I would have to mirror that for the most part. The one thing I started doing last year and really like when deep water drop shoting is using 20lb. braid to a 6 foot floro. leader.

[SledNeck]

um, heres mine

spinnerbait- fireline

buzzbait- fireline

senko- fireline

rapalas-fireline

jig-fireline

spinning-fireline

[Deitz Dittrich]

LOL @ Olski- glad to be of a help..

Sleddie---LOL... LOL... LOL.. So, let me get this right, you may have a rod with Fireline on it?.. LOL

[RK]

Hiya -

Hhehee...funny stuff Sledneck. Eliminates all the agonizing over what to put on reels I guess.

As several others have said it will vary depending on where you do what in terms of cover, but here's how I'd go about it:

Spinnerbait - 15# mono (Berkley Big Game). I'd include buzzbaits with this too.

Topwater - Depends. Spoons/frogs in the salad, 65# braid. Poppers/walk the dog/prop baits away from cover, 10 or 14# Fireline with a mono leader on spinning gear.

Texas rig - Again, depends. My pitching rod has #40 Stren Sonic Braid, my open water T-rig/jig rod has 15# Copoly (Triple Fish X-rated) If I had to pick one, I'd take the braid.

Jig/crankbait - I use different rods for these two things, but if I had a rod doing double duty, I'd pick a tough, thin, low-stretch copolymer of some sort. I like Triple Fish X-Rated, but Gamma or P-Line would be good too. Either 12 or 14# I'd think.

Spinning - A manageable 8# fluorocarbon. I use Triple Fish because it handles well on spinning gear. Haven't tried Gamma on spinning. Did NOT like Berkley fluoro on spinning gear...

My $.02...

[TonkaBass]

sledneck-lol!

[JPSavage]

I'm curious why more don't use co-poly in other than heavy cover situations?.....Good knot strenght,low stretch,small line diameter, good handling.....If I want more forgiveness, I just use a softer rod tip.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I would say that most of my rods are copoly JPS... I only have one flipping rod that has braid, one flipping rod that has Floro, one crankbait rod that has floro, and 3 dock rods that have braid, and one frog rod that has briad.. and thats of about 30 rods. All the rest are copoly.

[SledNeck]

I tried fishing with mono once, like 2 years ago and it felt like fishing with a bungee cord.

[Cecil]

The vast majority of my rods have flourocarbon. The reason I shy away from copoly is the larger diameter and IMO that means less lure action and more line visibility to the fish.

[Craigums]

I'm curious why more don't use co-poly in other than heavy cover situations?.....Good knot strenght,low stretch,small line diameter, good handling.....If I want more forgiveness, I just use a softer rod tip.

[jwhjr]

I'm another one who has fireline on all of my rods. I switched over about 3 yrs ago and haven't used anything else since.

[tritonman]

I can't actually think of one situation where I would use mono over braid or fluoro. I think the main reason a lot of people still use mono is because of the inexperience with the other lines (braid and fluoro). They are not as user friendly in the begining but once you learn a few tricks with them you will wonder why you ever used mono. The only other reason I can see that people still use mono is the price. It is quite a bit cheaper than braid and fluoro.

[Cecil]

Open water topwater baits. Flouro sinks and braid increases the chances of hooks pulling out.

[tritonman]

I actually still use braid for this as well because mono also sinks. Braid does not. Also the hooking abilities are not very good at the end of a long cast with mono. I use a cranking rod for this app. so there is more give through the rod and less chance of hooks pulling out. Yes lots of people do use mono for this but these are the reasons I feel braid is better.

[TonkaBass]

I still use mono for some stuff, but fluoro is surely making it almost obsolete.

[Cecil]

I have heard that being done too. Especially when in clearer water and long casts are required.

[Craigums]

I use mono for spinnerbaits and Cranks also where the fish seem to set the hooks on themselves and line vis isn't an issue...I prefer it over braid and flouro

[TonkaBass]

How many of you guys put a fluoro leader on your braid when flipping heavy weeds??? I just color my line about 5' up or so with a sharpie, way faster and I haven't noticed a decrease in the number of bites. Do you feel that there is a weak link in the line at the bloodknot??? I know I never have an issue with breaking solid 50lb. braid.

[tritonman]

If the water has a stain to it I will use just braid. If the water is crystal clear I will use just fluoro. I have used a leader before but its just another spot that something can go wrong.