# Braid vs Mono



## kayakity-yak (May 31, 2007)

Obviously braid is great stuff - the feel, the action the casting distance etc etc, but all the advantages I know of are purely up to the point that the fish hooks up. What advantage(s) if any, does braid have when fighting the fish?

I ask because I had half a spool of 8Lb fireline leftover (maybe 50m) and I wanted to spool up a 2500 to use for luring, so I figured bugger it I'll just use the 50m of braid instead of going out and blowing more money and just have the rest as mono backing. I dont fish deep water at the moment so I'll never get to the backing unless something strips it off. So unless theres some clear advantage to having more braid I'll just leave it as is. Usually its just for flathead but I'm soon gonna be chasing kings in the harbour. Doesnt hurt to be prepared for big arse hoodlum, tho its probably wishful thinking at this point.

Cheers


----------



## craig51063 (May 30, 2008)

tristan if you do this be very ,very carfull of the joiner knot from braid to mono .......

i did this a few years ago with 12lb braid [ 50 is mtrs left ]so on a beach outfit it went .
one day up at terrigal a was fishing for tailor to use as bait for chassing jewfish that night .1 hour into it i hooked the biggest mulaway youve ever seen [ i saw it 3 times ]had on for about 30 minutes and when it came in closer as it was tyering when the knot came close to the rod the knot failed and the line snapped.......    lost a fish of a lifetime.

my advice is dont set it up for kingfish ,and bigger suff ,you should be right for bream and flathead BUT jewies also pick up a bream bait on a regular basis .

see you tommorow

craig


----------



## rawprawn (Aug 31, 2005)

When fishing estuaries I have one reel with very light braid and the other with very light mono. I don't really notice any great difference in the casting distance mainly because I cast very light lures. Because we are on yak's means we don't have to cast a country mile to get the lure where you want it anyway. I also don't notice any difference in my hook up and catch rate between the two.


----------



## Wannafish (Nov 27, 2008)

I agree with Craig above, it's probably fine but there is always that chance of what if I hook a big one and loose it at the knot!!!!!! Is it worth the gamble?
I also had a Braid V Mono thought.
I want to spool up a two spool reel one with braid and one with mono.
Braid for spinning and mono for bait fishing.
Do these newer braid orientated reels also go fine if using the standard old mono line?
Do most of you guys prefer mono for bait fishing over braid?


----------



## grinner (May 15, 2008)

briad is certainly good strong stuff and i really cant see many disadvantages. having said that if i was chasing whiting bream etc and they were finicky feeders and especially if i was using bait i would just run very light mono. i had a straight 2lb fluorocarbon spool that i used to fish on real shallow banks for whiting whilst i was pumping yabbies and it was real good on the whiting .
cheaper too. cheers pete


----------



## Feral (Oct 18, 2008)

Fireline?
Use it as backing for a good quality braid


----------



## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

one of the advantages is that you can fit more braid onto a spool than you can mono. so on your 2500 size spool it should hold about 150-200 metres of 8lb braid but will only hold around 100-125 metres of similar strength mono. Therefore if you DO hook a big fish and it starts stripping line you'll run out of mono way before you run out of braid.

And as for Fireline - I use it in everything from 4lb to 50lb and think it's just fine. Horses for courses.


----------



## rocky (Oct 23, 2008)

Prefer to use braid for the feel but a problem I struck a couple of years back while fishing The Portals lake Eucumbene on a feezing June long weekend was the water on the braid freezing on the spool and in the runners limiting casting, actually stopping casts. I changed to mono as the reel had 2 spools one of each and only occasionaly had problems with water freezing in the runners. I caught a couple of 2kg browns on mono & SPs.
eace:


----------



## Garfish (Jun 2, 2006)

I use half mono backing, half braid with two metres of vanish at the end.

I used to hate braid due to the way it sits on the reel... due to the lack of line memory. I also hated braid because my usual knots were not as effective.

I've now overcome both issues, by reading my Geoff Wilson book and using mono backing.

Now I wouldn't dream of using anything else.


----------



## kayakity-yak (May 31, 2007)

Wannafish said:


> Do these newer braid orientated reels also go fine if using the standard old mono line?
> Do most of you guys prefer mono for bait fishing over braid?


Gday Wannafish,
Yeah all reels are fine with either as far as I know
I'd just go mono for bait, just because braid is expensive and I cant see any reason for it to be worth the extra cost. It's worth every penny for lures tho!


----------



## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

With my overhead I just use mono because there is plenty of space for the thick line. I use braid for my spin reels but only the cheap stuff. I prefer the mono on big, heavy outfits but braid works well with the smaller stuff.


----------



## widsa (Nov 26, 2008)

one problem i found with braid is the way it tangles around weed. Mono will as well but its much easier to get off. Braid can be a real bugger when you get tangles!


----------



## bigcatch (Feb 11, 2009)

you cant beat braid for bottom bouncing you use a lot less weight to get to the bottom the bites are sharper with my surf reals i have half monno half braid same thing less weight and it cuts through side current i only put the monno on just to fill up the spool. make shore your knots are good. as the others say you dont wont to loss the fish of you life on that knot if its done properly theres no problem. dont bye cheap braid pay a bit more its soooo much beeter


----------



## forbs (May 20, 2008)

I really like braid for bream and flathead and if money is tight then definately use mono for backing and turn one spool of braid into two reals worth. I mean in reality how far do we usually cast out of a Kayak 40 metres with a tail wind and a 3 gram lure? (I'm only guessing) So why not spool up with 75metres of braid and the rest as a cheaper mono backing. I mean 35 metres worse case to play your fish Bream/Flathead/Tailor. Of course bigger fish need a different strategy. Although if you catch a decent Mulloway on your bream rod with an SX40 you have other problems. Also people on this forum swear by there joining knots and have never had a line to leader knot fail (i have) so if you trust your knots use backing save money.


----------



## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

> and if money is tight then definately use mono for backing and turn one spool of braid into two reals worth.


I always do this with my reels. Most of the time the braid is so thin that half a spool can be hundreds of metres long worth of braid. I do it with my offshore reels too and a fish has never taking me down to my nylon backing.


----------



## Rissole (Mar 18, 2009)

braid is far more superior than mono in soooo many ways.
no stretch
no tangels in bait casters/over heads (not that i dont get bird nests at all)
and knots tied properly stay tied.

i use braided with almost everything. corse i use mono lead. but the smallest braid i have (and can't believe i went this small) is 14lb braid with 20lb mono lead,
rest of my kit is either 30lb braid and 60lb leader or its 50lb braid with 80lb leader.(north west fishing!)

always use mono backing on your spool though as some times (and i mean it happened to a friend of a friend of mine ;-) )
the braid will spin on the spool no matter how its tied on and drag tight as she'll go, plus it does fill up the spool if its a big one as braid is expensive, but you do get what you pay for with tackle i feel.

as for knots, practice practice practice. i've never lost a fish due to a knot. tackel have failed but not my knot


----------



## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

Rissole you took the works outta my mouth 

Braid for trolling lures from the yak ( Better depth )
Braid from the beach ( Less drag )
Braid for lures ( obviously )
Braid for bait ( better feel )
Diameter of braid less for the same strength = more line on the spool and more bites

This is only my opinion however ;-)

Cheers Micka


----------



## Feral (Oct 18, 2008)

I always get my braid in bulk spools from the states. Its a lot cheaper than buying it locally. (Usually between $80 and $100 for a 2000m spool delivered, but that was before the dollar dropped)
I always use only braid the first time I spool a reel. Then as the braid gets lost etc until its getting to low on the reel to cast well, I add mono, refilling the spool to the right depth, then turn it around on the reel so the mono is then underneath.


----------



## tryto2fish (Nov 14, 2008)

Feral said:


> I always get my braid in bulk spools from the states. Its a lot cheaper than buying it locally. (Usually between $80 and $100 for a 2000m spool delivered, but that was before the dollar dropped)
> I always use only braid the first time I spool a reel. Then as the braid gets lost etc until its getting to low on the reel to cast well, I add mono, refilling the spool to the right depth, then turn it around on the reel so the mono is then underneath.


same here!!!  i also tend to buy braid in bulk from the states as its true that they turn out to be cheaper than buying locally.what else can i say...................hes right on the money!!!.


----------

