[Topwater]

7:30-8:30pm, south spot, 70*, mild NNE wind. Tossed senkos, a few jigs, and the blue chatterbait w/o tail. Chatterbait got one real nice LM @ 2.5+ lbs that I lost as I was reeling him over the man made rip-rap :evil: He was a fighter until the end! Got him where? Casting west past fence and over/near a weed bed about 20 yards past the fence. Which is where nearly every fish has come from my summer at Opeka thus far. If only I could move that darn fence

 

[JasonN]

In tough situations like that, that's when I'm glad I use braided line - Fireline, Spidewire, etc.

If that fence and rocks are screwing up your of landing fish, the real braided line makes it easier to horse the fish in.

That sounds like a frustrating deal at Lake Opeka. Try the braided line, cast far past the fence, and land some of those fish.

 

[Topwater]

Yeah, I've actually gotten used to 'working' the fence...cast out over it, sweep my line over the end, and run the line back in on the fence post! Kinda annoying but so far this season I've had some ok luck at Opeka, and all on new baits/lures for me. So it's working out I guess.

The braided line, I used it last season for a bit. I didn't like the knot tying difficulty with it. I prefer to tie stuff direct to the line but find the braided to be tough to cut off and doesn't seem to keep a good knot. Any suggestions?

 

[MrB]

Palomar Knot, easy to learn/tie. I will never go back to mono

http://eaglespark.com/Knots/palomar.htm

Dont forget to wet the line when you pull tight! I used to use a mono or flouro leader for clear water. I dont even do that anymore too many fish losses with mono/flouro

 

[Rainking47]

I use braided line and tie a uni, have never had any issues. Tight, tight not, and easy to tie once you get the hang of it. I use a flourocarbon leader as well and the not "uni to uni" is used to splice the two lines.

 

[Augy]

you know, i've been staying away from braided line because of the heavy fishing pressure we face around here. i know using a leader would solve that problem but doesn't that defeat the purpose? right now i'm testing out 14lb vanish, it's heavy enough line and the undectability factor with fish can really mean the difference between catching and skunkeroo. so far so good, except it does have mucho memory. what are your thoughts? have you guys experienced any hookup ratios by switching to braided?

 

[Augy]

btw, palomar knot has done me well.