The Line Choices We Make and Why

I remember when, as kids, my brother and I would accompany Pop to the local Western Auto store (or once in a while, the local Firestone store) to buy new fishing line. You didn't have a lot of choices back in those days. It was just a matter of picking up a spool with the strength you wanted. My brother and I would circle the display table of line in Western Auto with Pop until he found what he wanted, and when he had paid for it, we'd be headed home to respool our reels.

Sometimes today, line strength isn't even the primary consideration. Anglers often are more concerned about getting the right kind of line to use for certain techniques or conditions.

Fluorocarbon, for example, has low visibility, low stretch, high strength, and it sinks, but some brands are stiffer than monofilament and are more difficult to cast.

Braided lines, on the other hand, are extremely strong and abrasion-resistant but have no stretch, and because they float, their high visibility makes them a poor choice in clear water. Monofilaments are just the opposite; they have low visibility and high stretch, and they also float.

According to one source, older monofilament products account for more than two-thirds of all fishing line sold yet today. The suggested reason for its continued popularity is its cost. One factor all mono users should bear in mind, however, is that cheaper brands usually don't have the same quality-control standards as premium-grade lines. Tensile strength, limpness, abrasion resistance, and knot strength in cheaper brands may be lacking. In short, you get just what you pay for. The best advice anyone can give a hard-core mono user is this: Test several brands and stick with the one that gives you the most bang for your buck.

Before lines made with such fibers as Spectra, Kevlar and Dyneema came along in the 1990s, braided Dacron was popular. It's still used by some catfishermen today, and a few big-game anglers use it for trolling. Anglers who experimented with the early "superlines" were frustrated by low knot strength, backlashes (similar to what you see at left), poor coloration, damaged equipment (I can't tell you how many rods I broke early on and how many reels I had to get repaired), impossible snags, and more. For some, these disadvantages outweighed the benefits of strength, small diameter, and ultra sensitivity, especially when you considered the added costs. However, manufacturers have made giant strides in overcoming many of those early disadvantages.

Lures dive deeper and faster with superlines, and because of their smaller diameter, are less visible to fish than monofilament. The little to no stretch of superlines means more positive hooksets when fish strike. Another benefit is longer casts. Their high breaking strength and low stretch make superlines the choice of many when it comes to manhandling big fish.

Fluorocarbon is nearly invisible in water because it has an almost identical refractive index (an indication of the degree at which light refracts or bends as it passes through a substance). It also resists deterioration by sunlight, gasoline, battery acid, and Deet (a common ingredient in insect repellents). Another positive characteristic is that it doesn't absorb water.

Fluorocarbon fishing leaders originated in Japan, where anglers are known to be particular about their bait presentations. American anglers started using fluorocarbon leaders for the same reason as the Japanese--low visibility. Their popularity grew when the anglers reported catching more fish. While the original fluorocarbon leaders were stiff and very expensive, new technologies have produced more flexible fluorocarbon at more affordable prices.

Fluorocarbon shines in clear-water situations where fish are heavily pressured or slow to bite. Because fluorocarbon doesn't absorb water, it won't weaken or increase in stretch like nylon line. Added density makes fluorocarbon very abrasion-resistant, so it's ideal for rough conditions. Added density also makes fluorocarbon sink faster than nylon lines, so lures dive deeper and faster. And because fluorocarbon stretches slower and less than nylon, especially wet nylon, it's much more sensitive.

All these points only can lead to one conclusion: You might just grab a spool of line off the tackle dealer's shelf and be lucky enough to get one that'll work right for you. But given the many types of line available today, you'll be better served to study each one and its characteristics before deciding what you will fight "bubba" with the next time you have him on.

For the purpose of this discussion, I recently asked all the anglers who fish the Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourney series what lines they use and why, as well as whether those who fish braid also use leaders. I have to thank my kayaker friend, Charlie Bruggemann, for the motivation to do this article.

Until recently, Charlie had been using 30-lb. braid with 3 feet of 12-lb. fluoro leader connected with a double uni knot, then a uni knot to the lure, on his heavy rods. In similar fashion, he had been using 15-lb. braid with 3 feet of 10-lb. fluoro leader connected with a double uni knot, then a uni knot to the lure, on his medium rods. The problem with these two arrangements was that he kept losing big fish when they wrapped in bottom debris, causing the leaders to break. He emailed me, asking if any of the guys in our series uses leaders with braid. The overwhelming response I got when I shared his question with everyone was "no," with a couple of exceptions.

Charlie already has switched his fishing habits to a no-leader scenario and seems to be happy with this new setup. "I don't see any difference in what I expect to catch, so I'll stay with the new setup," he said.

Here is what anglers from the Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourney series had to tell me about their choices in fishing lines:

From Bob Glass - I use PowerPro 65-lb. test with 5-0 superline wide-gap hooks (no leader) on everything I throw. Today (referring to our Sept. 14 tourney), for the first time in 8 years, I used mono on a popper rod--didn't like the stretch, though.

From Jim Bauer - No braid for me. I use an assortment of mono and fluorocarbon--12- and 14-lb. test on the mono and 15-, 16- and 17-lb. test on the fluorocarbon. If I'm slingin' plastics, I'm using fluoro. I use mono for everything else.

From Tucker Blalock - I use Spiderwire braid, 50-lb. test, on all my rods, and I don't use swivels on any.

From John Goodman - I use 10- and 14-lb. Excel monofilament, but 65-lb. PowerPro braid when fliping and pitching. No leaders, ever.

From Gary Coderre - I use 30- and 50-lb. braid with no leader and 12-lb. mono.

From Joe McDevitt - I use 15-to-20-lb braid, no leader.

From Paul Celentano - I use 12-to-20-lb. fluoro for bottom-bumping baits (e.g., worms, jigs, creature baits, etc.). Less stretch translates into better hookups, and it's invisible, so they say, plus there's good sensitivity. Because of the invisibility factor, I also use the same line for crankbaits and jerkbaits. I use 10- or 12-lb. mono for prop baits because the line floats. Because of mono's little extra stretch, I also use it for spinnerbaits. I personally like the idea of giving the fish more time to get the hook. I use 55-to-65-lb. braid when pitching and flipping thick cover, when I'm faced with dirty water, and for frog fishing. Its best strength is that you can feel a fish fart on your bait. Sometimes I'll throw a popper on light braid. When drop shotting, I use 55-lb. braid for the main line and 8- or 10-lb. fluoro for a leader--again because of the invisibility factor.

From Skip Schaible - I use Trilene XL monofilament--usually 14-lb. test. I use 10-lb. test when fishing sliders. I also like the Berkley Fireline fused crystal in 20-lb. test. However, I don't usually use a leader.

From Steve Bailey - I use braid, 30-to-50-lb. test, for everything but crankbaits, with no leader. For cranks, I use 14-to-20-lb. fluoro. I never use mono any more.

From Wayne Hayes - I use P-Line CCS 12-lb. mono, 10- and 14-lb. Fireline in smoke color, and 30-lb.-test PowerPro braid for flipping and frog fishing.

From Randy Conkle - I use PowerPro, 65-lb. test.

From Rob Powell - Until this year, I was pretty much all braid all the time. Now, I mostly use fluoro and mono for crankbaits and winch-cable-strength braid for frog fishing and flipping.

From Al Lemieux - I use 20-lb. braid for flipping and pitching, sometimes with a 3-foot-fluoro leader in 17-lb. test if the water is fairly clear. I don't use any leader if the water is very dark. I use 10-lb. braid for topwater baits, including frogs. If I'm casting worms and creature baits, I use 12-lb. fluoro. For crankbaits and jerkbaits, I use 10- or 12-lb. mono.

From Bobby Moore - I use 20-lb. braid on all my poles.

As for yours truly, I fished mono in my early fishing years. When superlines came along, I started trying many of them. I've been using Stren Sonic Braid for several years now--starting with 30-lb. test but up to 40- and 50-lb test more recently. One of the first braids I fished was white, which worked fine in the tannic water of my home waters--the North Landing River. As I learned the hard way, though, that line made for one very miserable weeklong trip to Lake Gaston. Let's just say I know for a fact fish can see a line that stands out underwater, and that white line stood out like a sore thumb. After the fact, I learned I could color 5 or 6 feet of that white line with a brown or black magic marker and fool a few of the fish. However, I ultimately shifted to using the green-colored superlines, but not before experimenting with some camouflage and other colors.

In the final analysis, nothing earth-shattering has been divulged here. However, the facts presented should steer you to the conclusion that lines are like every other aspect of fishing: It's a matter of finding what works best for you and instills the most confidence in your ability to go out and catch fish. If the truth be known, those "comfort" items for all of us have changed somewhat over the years. That's certainly the case with me. About the only thing that's still the same with yours truly is my Social Security number, and I wouldn't dare even trying to change that because I quite frankly have too many "senior moments" to remember a new 9-digit number.

Tight lines to all!

Epilog: I was digging around the Internet last night after finishing this post and found a related comment in an online forum regarding the use of braided line with fluorocarbon leader. The author said, "I have to be the devil's advocate here... why even bother with a fluoro leader? I gave them up several years ago and have never looked back. One less knot to worry about breaking at the wrong time with a big fish on." He went on to also say, "For those who think bass are line shy... look at the number of fish being caught on an Alabama Rig. It appears that bass are not too concerned about the heavy wire and the heavy pound-test lines used on it." It's just another opinion, which, as we know by now, is like bellybuttons--we all have one.