Clear water doesnt always equal flourocarbon

Comment

Comment by Marc Marcantonio on April 15, 2009 at 8:15am

I'm a big fluorocarbon fan, but not for the traditional reasons. I'm also a fan of braid and of mono; it all depends on the application and geography.

I prefer fluoro for spring crankbaits and jerkbaits because I use a lot of suspending models this time of year. Fluoro helps to maintain the depth of the reaction bait and keeps it in the strike zone because it sinks.

I also prefer it over mono when depth is important on my reaciton baits because in addition to the line sinking, it is also smaller in diameter and I can reach deeper depths due to less line resistance.

Probably the biggest reason I prefer fluorocarbon for many techniques, especially for dropshotting and shakey head fishing is because I try to achieve keeping my fishing line as straight as possible between my rod tip and my lure. On a long cast and when using light weights, the straighter your line the better contact you have with your lure's action, feel for the bottom, and feel for the bite. This is one reason why fluorocarbon feels more sensitive to most people.

I use braid for specialty situations, such as fishing weeds that will contact my line, or fishing certain topwater lures because it floats (frogs for sure), and some deep water techniques where I am trying to get lightweight lures to the bottom in deep water (smaller line diameter and feel for the bottom). I also use it in a few cases with spinning rods where I need to make exceptionally long casts with flukes to avoid spooking fish in shallow clear water.

I prefer mono for topwater hard baits since mono floats, and I also prefer to use it in certain crankbait applications like using balsa square billed crankbaits around wood.

I will also match the line with the rod action to compensate for stretch, shock resistance, concerns for tearing hooks out of soft flesh, etc.

The line visibility situation is important to me in clear water with slow moving techniques in situations where bass are relying on their sense of sight to feed. When they are in situations where they rely more on vibration and lateral line sense, then I don't worry about how visible the line is.

ciao,
Marc

Comment by Roy E. Hawes on April 14, 2009 at 11:57pm

how did you know i like to sight fish...it is only my favorite thing in the world. and yes, self invented confidence, a term hardly mentioned in fishing magazines or articles, is I believe the most important tool in ones tackle box. I am going back out fishing tomorrow, what area are you from?

Comment by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on April 14, 2009 at 10:28pm

Roy you said it all self invented confidence. That is all you need catch fish. Some people dont have any confidence hence they don't catch any.
I bet your boat it awesome to sight fish out of.

Comment by Jordan Doucet on April 14, 2009 at 8:45pm

I agree tag,

I run 10lb flouro on my cranks, but I've heard the mono thing before.

Roy,
I think i saw you at the silver lake open. I will make sure to come day hi next time. Thats a sweet looking boat.

Comment by Roy E. Hawes on April 14, 2009 at 7:28pm

when I first started using braid believe me I was skeptic thinking I too would get fewer bites, but fishing tournaments against guys that wont use the stuff, I have held my own with the fish bite catch ratio. Mainly like anything in fishing, I believe it has to do what your confident in. If you have confidence that you will get more bites with a certain line, then you are going to be less likely to switch to something else, or when you do fish something else, you wont be as confident as you would be normally. Crazy how self invented confidence plays such a key role in anyones fishing success. I do and will continue to use my braid and agree with all the points everyone has made. I havent had a problem with it fraying or cutting on wood and rock, but the jigs do suffer some bent hooks for snags that dont want to come free right away. Then again retrieval of these same jigs with mono would be next to impossible. As far as crankbait fishing goes, I envy people that have that system all figured out. The right rod the right line the right running depth...I have a bit of "lack" of confidence in them, and in turn it becomes a weak point in my fishing. Oh and thanks for all the replies on this, I like to see what other people had to say. I fish as much as I can, and I bet I am the only guy fishing a flats boat from florida on these washington lakes. If you happen to see a white key west on the water, come say hello.

Comment by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on April 14, 2009 at 7:27pm

It doesn't matter what kind of line or what color you use, I bet i can catch a bass on 80 pound mono died red if I was so inclined to do so, but I can guarantee one thing I won't catch a bunch and Im not going to catch the biggest.

Comment by P.J. Koshi on April 14, 2009 at 6:05pm

I know of some guys that do everything with mono Jordan which I can't understand, but my fishing partner that taught me to bass fish got me hooked on braid and fireline and I run 10-20 lb braid or fireline on all my reels accept 1 baitcaster that has flurocarbon. I do agree that flurocarbon is amazing and it is the only leader I run when dropshotting and c-rigging 8lb P-line. I know this is very unconventional using braid main line all the time, especially for finess fishing, but it works for me and I dont break any fish off becasue of my little barrel swivel or extra knots. Haven't encountered any problems with it fraying because of wood or rock in any of the Washington lakes I fish either. I've even had some of my best days fishing a weightless senko on yellow fireline without a leader. This year I am even trying the pink fireline to prove to a buddy it works. I must just say I love good braid for the no memory especially on spinning tackle!

Comment by Tag Watson on April 14, 2009 at 6:00pm

Deuce-$,

I prefer fluorocarbon for my crankbait fishing. I like the abrasion resistance and because fluorocarbon is a sinking line, I can get some additional depth out of my lure. I disagree with mono giving a crankbait better wobble due to its stretch. From a physics stand point, that just doesn't make sense to me. Line diameter can affect wobble, however. Someone may have another explanation for this.

For crankbaiting, I will use a slightly softer rod to make up for fluorocabon's minimal stretch. The exception to using a softer rod is when I'm shallow cranking in and around heavy cover as well as deep cranking and making long casts with a lure like a DD-22.

Comment by Jordan Doucet on April 14, 2009 at 5:32pm

I agree with you Ron for the most part. I really think flouro may not make a huge difference, but it certainly doesn't hurt and if it gets me an extra bite or two than its worth the money IMO. I know there are people who prefer mono over flouro for certain situations such as cranking, where mono will strech a little, allowing the crankbait to wobble a little better. Any thoughts on that?

Comment by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on April 14, 2009 at 8:35am

I bet you can catch them on braid but I will still go with flouro on anything that requires a slower presentation. I am confident that I will get more bites than the guy using braid. Not saying you won't get bit, just saying I will get bit more. If using reaction baits or flipping super duper heavy cover were you have to flip you lure right on top of the fishes head in order for it to see it, yeah in this situation flouro may not have any advantages.
I think the only good use for braid is for fishing deep structure and fishing heavy vegetation. Braid sucks in wood and rock, it abraids easier than flouro and it will cut into wood and brush causing lost fish.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page