Using Braid in clear water? 2024

hawgchaser reply :

First off, great forum and I am glad I found it!

My question is how many of you use braid, without a mono leader, in clear lakes? I have a place on Greers Ferry in Arkansas and have been using Power Pro and really like it. I am not sure that I have had less hits using braid over the usual mono or flouro.

What do you guys and gals think?

jrhennecke reply :

Welcome! I always use a fluro leader with my braid.

paul. reply :

use powerpro without a leader all the time in some very clear water. have outfished guys using straight floro or mono. i really think a lot of the "line visibility" thing is in people's heads. just in case though, i "camoflage" my powerpro with a sharpie.

Bassnbrett101 reply :

I don't know much about braid in clear water, i only have it spooled up on one baitcaster.

But a couple guys from my club have found fireline crystal. They use it up erie alot and from what they said is a good braid for clear water. I know its not the same as powerpro but I just thought I'd mention it

Wayne P. reply :

I agree with hawg caller, but I don't camoflage the line and don't use Power Pro.

Tin reply :

For the most part it is another one of those personal preference/confidence issues. Whatever floats your boat. :-/

hawgchaser reply :

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For the most part it is another one of those personal preference/confidence issues. Whatever floats your boat. :-/

I am not sure its that cut and dry. thats why i was wanting some experienced opinions.

Many people claim that fish aren't capable of seeing the line and some swear that they can't catch a fish unless they have a mono leader. I am not sure. My opinion is that it doesn't matter on fast moving baits like traps, crank baits, spinners, etc...

I haven't decided if it does on clear lake plastics....ie worms, tubes and lizards.

GitRDoneIke23 reply :

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Welcome! I always use a fluro leader with my braid.

Yep. Usually about 1-3 foot leader, depending on the depth.

Tight Lines 8-)

Tin reply :

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Quote
For the most part it is another one of those personal preference/confidence issues. Whatever floats your boat. :-/

I am not sure its that cut and dry. thats why i was wanting some experienced opinions.

Many people claim that fish aren't capable of seeing the line and some swear that they can't catch a fish unless they have a mono leader. I am not sure. My opinion is that it doesn't matter on fast moving baits like traps, crank baits, spinners, etc...

I haven't decided if it does on clear lake plastics....ie worms, tubes and lizards.

Just check out one of LBH's video's (The Fall Feed really shows it). You can see the super clear water we fish, about 15' plus. There has never been a consistant difference in fish catches with someone using braid vs. mono or fluoro. I think most people stay away from the braid in super clear water because most super clear lakes up here contain lots of rocks. And rocks and braid don't mix ;D

Tin reply : http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1145738498

Bassnbrett101 reply :

wait, how come rocks and braid don't mix? Do the rocks slice the braid up?

Tin reply :

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wait, how come rocks and braid don't mix? Do the rocks slice the braid up?

Cuts through like nothing. Atleast with Power Pro and Suffix anyway.

Who knows, maybe New England just has sharper rocks. :

Bassnbrett101 reply :

Ahh i see. that makes sense. lol i've never used either of those

low_pro reply :

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http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1145738498

great, thanks Tin.... I can't get that song out of my head

SLAM! dup du dup, dup du dup, let the boys be boys.....

David P reply :

I'm beginning to think less and less of the whole "Line Invisibility" junk. I've been using just plain braid, and haven't noticed a real difference at all.

The one thing people should always do, is if you're fishing rocks, tie on a leader. As someone listed earlier, braid rips on rocks, much more so then other lines.

RoLo reply :

When I first switched over to braid I used a clear leader. Today I never bother with a leader and haven't noticed any difference at all.

If I dared to plant the "line visibility" seed, I might be inclined to blame a bad day on my PowerPro braid.

Wiser by far is to discard that notion altogether and spend that same mental energy on tactical adjustments like location, speed, depth ~.

Hey, if you honestly believe that a fine thread is going to intimidate a feeding bass,

than you had better remove those two large treble hooks while you're at it ;D

Roger

hawgchaser reply :

Good info, I haven't had a huge problem with rocks since switching to Power Pro BUT it was bad with Spiderwire.

The jury is still out for me with braid. I kind of have a love hate with it. I am however a big fan of Seaguar Fluoro!!! What to do what to do.

CWB reply :

I never use a leader. One more thing to fail when you get that lunker to bite. If water is really clear, try flouro. I use Power Pro for froggin' and buzzbaits and flippin/pitchin in slop. Open water I always go to Flouro.

Bassnajr reply :

You know, I was thinking about this today.....

As Power Pro (the braid I use) is used, it begins to fade color wise. I don't see how it would be any more visable than say, a green mono. Granted, I haven't used PP to much for plastics in clear water but as it fades, I can hardly see it out of the water.

ajr

Tin reply :

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You know, I was thinking about this today.....
As Power Pro (the braid I use) is used, it begins to fade color wise. I don't see how it would be any more visable than say, a green mono. Granted, I haven't used PP to much for plastics in clear water but as it fades, I can hardly see it out of the water.

ajr

You are wise grasshopper. 8-)

Catt reply :

To me it's one of the mysteries of bass fishing

One chooses braided line because of it's the strongest type of fishing line in relation to its diameter, almost zero stretch & highly resistant to abrasion. Then one chooses to attach the same monofilament they were trying to get away from in the beginning.

Kind of like an Oxymoron

low_pro reply :

Quote
To me it's one of the mysteries of bass fishing
One chooses braided line because of it's the strongest type of fishing line in relation to its diameter, almost zero stretch & highly resistant to abrasion. Then one chooses to attach the same monofilament they were trying to get away from in the beginning.

Kind of like an Oxymoron

I agree...

I only use braid b/c of the characteristics are like no other line... I can have a 20 pound strength line on a small spinning reel... also, it's a major confidence thing. There are trees and weeds everywhere I fish and I have no hesitation when pulling fish to the boat... no leader for me. and so far, I have seen no negative effect when fishing clear water. Even a wacky rigged senko in gin clear water still catches fish.

Tokyo Tony reply :

I've been thinking a lot about this lately since the other similar thread. After reading RoLo's posts, I have come to the conclusion that braid visibility is a non-issue.

However, there are other reasons to use a mono/flouro leader, and some have been mentioned.

Some that I don't think have been mentioned:

- sometimes, especially with the heavier braids (30lb), if you get hung up, trying to break off could seriously damage your reel (I think it was flechero who explained that to me). When I'm jigging without a leader and get hung up, I either pull the tree towards me or straighten the hook on my jig. No bass fishing reel is desiigned to withstand 30+ pounds of pressure on the spool mechanism.

- sometimes it's beneficial to have a shock absorber (Fish Chris explained that to me as one of the reasons he uses a leader with his braid)

Note - if you use a "stretchy" leader with braid, it's still much more sensitive and responsive than using a whole spool of "stretchy" line, so it's not really defeating the purpose.

Bassnajr reply :

I'm gonna add a question here...

I have some yellow PowerPro and have noticed the red PP for sale at BPS. Do these color braids fade as well??

I bought the yellow by accident and have it on a spinning reel that I haven't used yet. What do you folks think??

Tin...

I know you are only 19 years old and don't know anything about anything, but you can weigh in on this if you care to!!

ajr

Tin reply :

I know the red fades, I have never used the yellow before though. :-/

Tokyo Tony reply :

Red fades just as much if not more than the green. I use yellow 90% of the time now, and if it does fade, I haven't noticed it. I used one spool all winter and it looks as good as new.

RoLo reply :

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To me it's one of the mysteries of bass fishing
One chooses braided line because of it's the strongest type of fishing line in relation to its diameter, almost zero stretch & highly resistant to abrasion. Then one chooses to attach the same monofilament they were trying to get away from in the beginning.

Tom raises an interesting question, and I think the answer stems from a common misconception among anglers.

Years back, my wife & I vacationed at Dale Hollow Reservoir to wrestle with smallmouth bass.

Billy Westmoreland, who was still alive then, was the local expert who started a cult-like following for the use of 4-lb line.

Ask anyone why you need to use 4-lb line and nearly every reply will be the same.

They will explain to you that bass can see 8-lb and even 6-lb line in that gin clear water.

Well, mom & I used fine diameter line too, but that wasn't the reason why.

In my view anyway, bass don't even care about our line, they've got more important things on their mind

like lure action, lure size and lure speed. Crystal clear water makes it very easy for bass to detect unnatural action.

The difference may be subtle to us landlubbers, but to a bass it may be the difference between a living creature and debris.

Line Drag

Try to imagine the cumulative area of all your fishing line in the water, by visualizing a perfect square with the exact same area.

As an arbitrary example, let's suppose you end-up with a 1-inch square (close enough).

Although fishing line is measured in thousandths of an inch, that 1" square acts like a planing board,

and encumbers the action of the lure. When we reduce the line diameter from 0.013" to 0.008",

we reduce the 1.000" planing board to a 0.615" square. Any fly-fisherman will tell you about the critical importance of line-drag.

Downsizing to lighter line reduces line drag and enhances lure action, but "line invisibility" will usually get the credit.

Roger

Cory N reply :

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I'm gonna add a question here...
I have some yellow PowerPro and have noticed the red PP for sale at BPS. Do these color braids fade as well??

I bought the yellow by accident and have it on a spinning reel that I haven't used yet. What do you folks think??

Tin...

I know you are only 19 years old and don't know anything about anything, but you can weigh in on this if you care to!!

ajr

My black sharpie thinks it would be fine

0119 reply :

Field and Stream had an article about a young guy in Penn. who was an expert on smallies. He snorkeled while his partners fished with various lures and line. He concluded that smallies could detect and avoided all superlines. But he also said they avoided mono over 8lb test too. And he never fished unless he wore camo when on shore or some kind of blue white camo when on the boat. Im glad the bass and snook arent that sensitive where I live!

Tin reply :

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Field and Stream had an article about a young guy in Penn. who was an expert on smallies. He snorkeled while his partners fished with various lures and line. He concluded that smallies could detect and avoided all superlines. But he also said they avoided mono over 8lb test too. And he never fished unless he wore camo when on shore or some kind of blue white camo when on the boat. Im glad the bass and snook arent that sensitive where I live!

Any idea where this article could be found. :-? ;D

Bassnajr reply :

That camo stuff sounds like Doug Hannon. Isn't he a proponent of mute colors and camoed boats??

ajr

Wayne P. reply :

That young guy from Penn really knows some stuff. I guess those pros that catch 20#+ limits of smallmouth bass while wearing their bright red-blue-white-yellow- green- purple- shirts in boats with corresponding colors and 20# line don't know what they are doing. They don't fish from shore, so that may make a difference.

Bassnajr reply :

I swam with the largemouth once.....

I got my mask and snorkel, dove under.....but then I got scared!!! They are much bigger under water!!!!!

Plus they ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich!!!!

ajr >

0119 reply :

Tin, I wish I did. It was in print about 3 years ago. Ive looked on their website to see if any archived articles were available, but nope. I dont recall his name either. It stayed on my maind because I was very much the finesse fisherman. But I have found more success power fishing the last 2 years or so. There is something to be said about camo when fishing from shore though, its worked for me while inshore flats fishing.

telecaster reply :

Rolo was making some good points.I dont use braid,but was thinking about spooling up a heavy cover rod this season with it.I'm thinking now I may try it in other situations.

island bassin reply :

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I know the red fades, I have never used the yellow before though. :-/

yellow fades as well

kms399 reply :

I had an instance where i was fishing in a boat with a guy in very clear water, we were both using a black and blue 3/8 ounce jig in very clear water. I was using 20# power pro and he was using like 14# flouro or something like that he caught all the fish. I switched after about 30 minutes of this to my rod spooled with 12# gamma clear and bam! I started catching fish we ended up just about even as far as numbers go but he beat me by catching 3 snapping turtles.

3400

Using Braid in clear water? 2024

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