Mono or Braid and why?

I'm pretty much a braid guy. Like MrB says: little/no memory and strength are why I like it. You can horse a fish right out of the weeds or whatever (being careful for the fish of course), and rarely have to worry about the line breaking. And if a lure gets stuck, you pull it back with the hook straightened!

I keep mono on the ultralight and light rigs though, for the true finesse situations.

I have to go for mono, today anyway. Tomorrow I will probably re-spool with braided. And back and forth, that's how it's been with me and the braided, I love it's pro's but when push comes to shove its just too visible and given the same situation I think as light a guage mono as you can get away with will always rule the day in terms of hits/catches. Plus, if you switch between lures and plastics (and bring one rig), and tie direct then the braided is just too time consuming IMHO and tough to cut. Yeah, braided is tougher and you don't have to worry about losing a big fish, but if you set your drag properly and play the fish you really don't have to worry with mono either. I don't think I've lost a fish simply because of mono snapping 'ceptin them thar weed sitcheations!

All said and done, mono is the way. At least today. Tomorrow???? :roll:

Lots of good points made so far for both. Keep 'em coming!

I use both in different situations. For true finesse fishing I like mono and use it a lot more than braid. When it comes to braid, I like Power Pro.

For me it's braided power pro line with a flourcarbon leader. It's the best of both worlds. Strength, lack of memory, durability of the braid and the lack of visibility of the mono. I'm really not yet good at this fishin thing so finesse fishing isn't a big part of my game. I've pulled enough birds nests off the spool with mono line to make this a pretty easy choice.

mono/flourocarbon will outfish braided all the time imho. with braided, yes, you have superior strength but like top said, setting the drag properly you can land even the biggest fish on 4lb line. i've heard of guys landing 40"muskies on 4lb line while they were bass fishing. i love the sound of drag screaming and peeling off line. now that's fun. 2 cents. :mrgreen:

btw, if using braided, would it qualify for any line class records?? how would that work out. is there a braided line class??

Augy said:

mono/flourocarbon will outfish braided all the time imho. with braided, yes, you have superior strength but like top said, setting the drag properly you can land even the biggest fish on 4lb line. i've heard of guys landing 40"muskies on 4lb line while they were bass fishing. i love the sound of drag screaming and peeling off line. now that's fun. 2 cents. :mrgreen:

btw, if using braided, would it qualify for any line class records?? how would that work out. is there a braided line class??

Click to expand...

Augy, Braids are rated the same as mono. There has been a little controversy in that department because braids breaking point is soemtimes stronger then what the manufacturer rates them. If you look at Fireline, their 6 lb. test has the same diameter as 2 lb. mono. That may be where some of the confusion comes in. Theroreticaly though, that Fireline should break at about the same point as 6lb. Vanish. The 6 lb Fireline is what I used for most fishing situations that don't involve big cats or esox. I have caught crappie, walleye, finincky bass.......basically anything in ultraclear waters with this line. I considered flurocarbon leaders but never committted. Why waste the time with them when to me at least the Fireline works fine without it. This is just my opinion of course, but the only mono I have used in the last 10+ years is for backing for my Fireline