# Which Braid Strength?



## Bart70 (Jan 28, 2007)

Hi Everyone,

I have a question regarding braid/line strength.....I have a couple of reels that I want to use but the braid on them is well past it - time has come to replace it.

These will be used on my lightish composite rods for general flatty, pelagic, snapper fishing. These rods will be used for 95% of my SP fishing and maybe the odd troll. My question is what rating braid would you guys recommend?.....

I was thinking around 14lb Fireline - strong enough to handle a flighty pelagic but not too heavy for the lighter times.

What are your thoughts?


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## Guest (Apr 19, 2007)

I dunno if 14lb Fireline is going to be very good for lighter work mate, I would go probably around 8lb max for estuary work, I'm using 6lb Fireline on that lighter outfit of mine that you seen at Moruya. The rod is a 3kg and the reel is a Daiwa 2500 size.

I am using 14lb Fireline on my bigger outfit for larger SP's for outside work, the rod is rated to 7kg and the reel is a Daiwa 4000 size.

I dont like the wiry feel of the 14lb fireline either, if it doesnt improve soonish with a bit of use I will be discarding it and putting on a spectra braid line like Tuff Line XP or similar.

Fireline that I've used under 10lb seems to be pretty good once the wiry stiffness goes away after some use, but over 10lb I asvise you to look at something other than Fireline.

Good luck


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Difficult call - most fish you encounter can be easily tamed with 10lb line. The bigger snapper and kings will probably reef you, but salmon, tailor, flathead (even very big ones), bonnies etc and the smaller kings and pinkies will be readily tamed.

I'm sure Kraley would counsel going even lighter. I would too if you were also looking to use sps in the 1-7g range in the estuaries as the heavier line shortens your casting distance


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## Bart70 (Jan 28, 2007)

Funda said:


> I dunno if 14lb Fireline is going to be very good for lighter work mate, I would go probably around 8lb max for estuary work, I'm using 6lb Fireline on that lighter outfit of mine that you seen at Moruya. The rod is a 3kg and the reel is a Daiwa 2500 size.
> 
> I am using 14lb Fireline on my bigger outfit for larger SP's for outside work, the rod is rated to 7kg and the reel is a Daiwa 4000 size.
> 
> ...


Thanks Funda & Peril,

I did not realise that you were fishing that light - this coastal stuff is pretty new to me so am still 'finding my feet'. I cannot recall what line strength I put on that rod I was using when I caught the Salmon....so cannot use that as a reference.

That rod I was using is rated a little heavier than yours....but can see from what you guys are saying I should be looking at around the 8-10lbs max.....regardless for that type of fishing....

Agree with the fireline stiffness...am not a fan of it for that reason....wil be looking at other braids when I get a chance.

Thanks again guys....

Bart70


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## Jeffo (Sep 10, 2006)

I agree with the other guys mate.

I have been using 6lb for offshore stuff (snapper, bonito etc) and 4lb for the river. Rod for offshore is 2-5kg & river 1-3kg.

I htink the lighter braid will also help if your fishing SP's.

If your bait fishing offshore then I reckon straight mono is the way to go & then you might want to load up a bit &as I am a firm believer that bigger fish take baits over SP's offshore.

Cheers

Jeffo


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Theres another advantage of using lighter line......you'll hook more fish, especially using SPs. Longer casts, more finesse, and a thinner line that's less visible translates to more hits and hookups. For your fishing I reckon 8 pound fireline should be ample (keep in mind that fireline breaks well above the line rating - probably around 15 pound for 8 pound fireline - so leader strength would be the biggest concern).


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## Nodds (Feb 28, 2007)

My father inlaw cought a flathead today about 85cm long on 20lb line with a 12' surf rod with a chunk of mullet on gang hooks and from bite to bank took about 60 seconds. I cought a flathead about 40cm long in the same sesion on 2lb mono with a squidgie fish (gary glitter ) with a 3kg grafite spin rod 6'6" and it took about 8 mins to land.
The father inlaws fish was a lot bigger than mine but I know who had a lot more fun :wink: If you fish for harvest than go with the heavier lines but if you fish for sport then the light gear is a lot of fun, as the other guys said you may loose a few but the ones you do land give you a real rush. Plus on light line you seem to get more hook ups so it all balances out in the long run imvho.

it realy was a BIG flathead  nodds


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## sam60 (Aug 30, 2005)

My wife and I use 4 to 8 lb fireline in the river here on flathead salmon and trevally. We prefer the lighter line due to our use of small lures and jigheads when fishing. the fun factor is improved but saying that you lose some too. I have caught a few flathead on 6lb line over 60cm on the beach and to date a 63cm on 2lb braid is my bit of bragging rights on light line :wink:


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

yeah, as others have said, braid (fireline) is much stronger than the line rating would have you believe, and apparently is around twice the 'rated' capacity, (so 4lb fireline is the same as 8lb mono, 10lb fireline is the same as 20lb mono).

However, has anyone ever TRIED to snap braid (even light braid)??? Its impossible.

Fair enough if it rubs across rocks or oysters, but on a fair dinkum straight pull I reckon I couldn't snap 6lb braid if my life depended on it (so unless its a massive fish it's not going to either).

As Squidder says - the leader and connections (knots) are what will let you down, not necessarily the strength of the braid.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Agree with Davey, braid is incredibly strong, I reckon you are much more likely to lose a fish by pulling hooks than by busting off. It also cuts flesh pretty well - when I first started using braid and got snagged, I did my wrap the line around your hand and pull trick - never again! I generally use 8 pound braid and 8 pound fluoro leader for most of my stuff, and when snagged it is always the leader that breaks first in a straight pull:wink:


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## Bart70 (Jan 28, 2007)

Thanks guys,

Went out today and grabbed some 8lb braid....am kinda looking forward to using it now.

After reading the comments about breaking braid....thinking back I have straightened hooks, broken hooks, but never broken the braid (or had a knot let go..which I guess says my knots are ok!)

The old rotten braid I am replacing is certainly cactus....I can snap a piece of it with my hands!....but when I sat and thought about it - i think it was purchased around 1999 and that reel has been in 'storage' since about 2002......so I think i can excuse it for being a bit over it.....

Cheers,

Bart70


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## slider65 (Feb 9, 2007)

I mainly use 4 and 6 pound fire line for all my estary fisfing with the odd play with a 2 pound out fit i have for bream when they are spooky. Except during summer when i am targeting jacks when i use 20 and 30 pounds fire line on 2 outfits just set up for jack fishing. 20 pounds is a spin outfit and the 30 is a baitcaster. But when i am chasing jacks i am trolling lures like man's 20+ and killalure river rats 20+ and bumping them off rockwalls and bridge pylons on the gold coast


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## fishinswing (May 15, 2006)

Going lighter is defintely the way to go for general fishing. I use 4lb for all estuary/freshwater and 10lb for light offshore work. If going livebaiting then it's a different story.


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## paulb (Nov 12, 2006)

Out of curiosity how strong should the trace be - if lighter is less noticeable, wouldn't you try to keep the trace as light or ligher than the mainline ? I've tended to have a heavier trace as that gets the most contact with the fish and their teeth.


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

I vary the trace more than the mainline, according to the fish and conditions. I tend to use heavier trace than mainline for the reason you stated, but will go lighter if the water is very clear and the fish are not biting


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## FletcherG1991 (Apr 17, 2007)

occy said:


> I'm not as fussy as Dave (and definitely not as good at knot tying), and tend to go with one or two left over monos I have in my kit. At present I'm using some 8/9lb mono (Tortue and Daiwa I think) on my 4 and 6lb Fireline, and a Maxima 15lb on my new Momo 16lb braid.
> 
> I have a reel of 9lb Flurocarbon but haven't used it yet, but will soon when my mono leaders need changing. *By the way, should I expect much of a difference with Fluro?* The mono I'm using is a premium line and wasn't cheap at the time, as it was the thinnest and limpest I could find.


You should see a masive difference, While good quality mono is good it is still very visable under water. Flurocarbon on the other hand has the same reflective index as water making it ALOT less visibale underwater to the fish.

I have spooled up a spare spool on one of my bream reels with flurocarbon specifically to use on squid. Has this improved my catch rate ? Definantly !

I always have a few spools of flurocarbon on me no matter what type of fish i am chasing. It has made a big diference to my catch rate and is definantly worth the money.

Flurocarbon is not just a gimmick, it works and will be around for a long time.

Cheers,
Fletcher


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## garrick (Sep 2, 2006)

I agree with fletcher. My main line is 1kg that I end up in a double (bimini twist)and then, with a double uni knot, I ad a rod and a half lenth of fluoro carbon. My fluoro carbon is either 2 ; 4 ; or 8 kg depending on what species I go for. I have been using it in the surf estuaries and dams with incredable success.

If however I target native fish I tend to go for 4kg (yellowbelly) or 10kg (cod)


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