# I hate braided line!



## grouper1963

I can't understand it - I have triedthree types ofbraided lines, and they simply do not perform. I've tried Spiderwire, Power-Pro, and Berkley Gorilla and they all fail. The Spiderwire outer liner cracks then the line weakens; Power-Pro abrades and breaks easily; Gorilla simply breaks. I tried braids for trolling (20lb dia), cast fishing (12lb dia), bottom fishing (80lb), andAJ jigging (50lb) - no joy. Considering how many people praise braided lines, I'm obviously doing something wrong. I tie the recommened knots, use mono backing, and rinse after every use.I've never had this level of issue from mono, and I consider myself successful at fishing. :banghead

The last straw was yesterday (Jul 3) jigging at the timberholes. 50lb Gorilla on Penn 550ssg with 6' floro leader - hooked a nice AJ well up in the column. After a goodrun - bam - the line breaks and an AJ has his lip decoration. I turned the air blue with disparaging comments about braid...:hoppingmad

Soam I alone? Is this a love it or hate it product? Any better reccs about brand of braids? Should the drag be set lighter than I would with mono?

BTW - Happy 4th to all and God Bless America :usaflag


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## First Catch

I personally have had no problems with power pro. However, my brother had a problem on two different spools where the coating had somehow been stripped off and the braid practically fell apart after a few times. He sent power pro an email about it and said they would replace it. I guess just make sure the coating is still on before you use it. Idon't know if that was a problem with you, but it couldhave been. That's really the only bad experience anybody I know has had with power pro.


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## lobsterman

I have had extreme problems with Power Pro and I have been told by the experts out west that if I would try Jerry Brown, Izorline or Sufix I could eliminate the problems. The man in Tech support said those are the premium braids with Jerry Brown being best and the rest are just standard and mediocre at best. So I am trying Sufix next and will go from there.


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## reelfinatical

Sufix is goooooooooooooooooood.


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## monsterflat

Power Pro has been nothing but good to me in the fresh and the salt. The hi-vis yellow color is great for the pier. You always know where your bait's sitting and less people throw over you - the yellow is much easier to see from far away. The green's perfect for drilling big cats and striper on the Coosa river which is full of rocks and timber to hang up in. I hear suffix is good too and in the past the 80 lb spiderwire has been a pleasure to use. The thing I like the most about the braid is you rarely have to replace it. I have my Penn spooled with the same Power Pro that I put on it over a year ago. Sorry you're having bad luck - maybe just check the line for coating consistency before you spool up.


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## captken

Hey Grouper1963. Check guides on your rod. A cracked ring is death on braid.

I use braid in3 applications: 1) when I need casting distance and 2) when I need capacity on smaller reels 3) for jigging.

I don't like it for bottom fishing even though I feel bites better. It is too slow to re-rig if you get broken off or hung. It is dangerous to grab to break the line. When bottom fishing, the lack of stretch causes pulled hooks and causes the rod butt to dig your gutt unmercifully.

The tiniest nick causes severe problems due to the tiny diameter or the line. Mono stretches and is larger in diameter so nicks are not so terrible. Additionally, braid is far less abrasion resistant than mono.

I was a member of the Berkley Strike Team and had to learn to use it and tie it well. I do not have a problem with line breakage.

My best guess on the loss of your AJ is that your line ran into another fish. Don't give up on braid because it is great for some applications.

If you want tough monofilament, use Stren Dura Tuff or Trilene XT. I made believers out of a lot of folks with it. There is not another line as abrasion resistant or with greater knot strength. I tested these lines for abrasion resistance using 30# against anybody elses 50. 30# XT will out last 80# pink Ande every time --- without fail. I use 30# DT or XT for my Tarpon leaders now instead of 80-100# Ande. 

I like braid and think flurocarbon sucks.

BTW, when I was chartering, I did not allow braid (Superbraid) on the boat.


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## true-king

Other than the guides being cracked, I can't come up with any other problem. The only thing is I doubt all of the rods he's used braid on have cracked guides.


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## Private Pilot

Cracked guides can definately damage braid! I had that problem a couple months ago. I would cast out with my 40lb powerpro, and it would snap everytime. I looked at tip and there was a nice sharp bur sticking out. Cut the tip offand it worked fine everytime.

Other than that, I love using braid and have never had a problem with it. Just check your rod and make sure nothing sharp is touching your line. If you do find something, try steel wool to wear it down. It works pretty well.


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## bigruss

The only problem I got with power pro is that it catches me too much fish....


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## Dylan

When we offshore fish there is no braid allowed...but inshore i have had great luck with power pro, spiderwire ultracast and even fireline..I dont like the berkey gorilla..if you are going to fish that you might as well use dacron..If the power pro you have keeps breaking it might be an old spool you bought..We havnt gotten quite a few spools of bad braid..We have taken them back to Outcast and they have given us new better spools..


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## wrightackle

I couldn't imagine ever using mono again. The new Spiderwire ultracast is unbelievable. Berkeley gorillabraid is pure crap. On your bottom rigs [80]use the Tuff line in the salt and pepper or stren superbraid.I have been using the ultacast in 15 pound and the stuff amazes me. Not a fan of powerpro but a lot of people like it. Suffix is a finebraidalso. A rod with a softer tip like the new jigging rods are also a big help. I hope you don't give up on the braid.


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## Dylan

Mr. Karo you use the ultracast and fireline on your small vanstaals for jigging and im never seized to be amazed by the amberjack and black snapper you bring back...


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## grouper1963

Thanx to all for the feedback. I'll definitely exam my rod guides for burs, etc, :doh and I'll invest in a better quality braid for jigging (I love jigging - could doit all day). I was using 30lb Yo-Zuri and it worked really well, but working the large reel (750ss) was cumbersome. 

For my grouper puller, I already use dacron and it has performed extremely well, andI'll keep mono (YoZuri) on the snapper rigs as I have no issues there.

Tight lines to all. 

Happy Birthday America! :usaflag


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## Deeplines

As said, your guides. 

Run a q-tip on every eye. When cotton comes off that is your culprit. If not then I will send you an Email I sent the company about this issue. 

It's NOT the line no matter what anyone says. I posted it before and there were not any takers.


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## legalhookin

Ihad a big problem with the braid breaking also, it would fray and then cut loose on a fish. I was letting my egg sinker slide up and down the power pro like I did on mono. DONT DO THAT!!! that power pro doesn't like it at all, people here on the forum suggested splicing on some mono at the end of the braid and let the lead slide on it, then tie on the swivel and leader. I was loosing alot of fish by the braid poping and was about discouraged. the spliced on mono about 5' of it solved the problem completely. dont know about your jig rod, did notice this though. when you store your rods on the boat and they bounce alittle, especially on the t-top, your weights bounce around up and down the lines and can weakin the lines or pound your knots if alowed to bounce, esspecially those verical jigs swing around like a knife and will fray your line. lost acouple of jigs and aj's that way before i figured this out. easy to miss the frays if you dont know about it. I use rubber bands tied to the rods and use them to secure the jigs to the blank.

This is all i can think of and hope it helps, I wouldn't give up on the braid foryour bottom fishing, when you solve the fray problem you'll be happy.


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## legalhookin

forgot something, the knot i use for bottom fish is a double uni not, the single uni would sometimes pull loose on good fish and kinda looks like it just broke. the double uni with 5 raps holds fine for me and thats what i use on the splices to mono also with the mono just being a singe uni. good luck again!


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## User1265

Sorry for bringing up such an old thread but I am confused and I am hoping somebody can learn me. 

I am about to switch to braid for the first time (yea I know behind the times) so I have been looking up all the old threads on here concerning braid. In my research on braid from the internet everything has said braid is more abrasion resistant than mono. This is important for me because I mostly fish from piers and bridges. Then I come to this thread and people are saying cracked guides and slip weights will break braided line. I have never had this problem with mono so using my reasoning this doesn't make sense. If braided line is more abrasion resistant then it should withstand cracks and burrs in guides and slip weights better than mono. What am I missing?


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## Tuna Man

:banghead:banghead:banghead 80# braid (Tuff line in the salt and pepper), I'm sure that is what James had riged on the rod I used...4' 80# fluro...300' deep......Do you not think he/she worked on that braid?




























Picture worth a 1000 words.


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## lobsterman

Tuna Man I have had the same problems with Power Pro myself. What braid do you use?


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## SheYakFishr

I might leave braid on some larger reels... BUT NOT on my smaller spinning ones.... going back to Andee...... IMHO... Power Pro SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & Spiderwire SUCKS!!!!!!.... knot.. knot... and more knots. End up untangling that crap ALL day instead of fishing... and people wonder why I brought several rods on the yak... who wants to fix knots all day.. when you can be fishing instead. Now that I think about it... my smaller Pflueger bottom rig knots up also... might change that one out too..... This weekend might be a GREAT time to change them out...... :doh :reallycrying


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## Tuna Man

> *SheYakFishr (8/29/2008)*I might leave braid on some larger reels... BUT NOT on my smaller spinning ones.... going back to Andee...... IMHO... Power Pro SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & Spiderwire SUCKS!!!!!!.... knot.. knot... and more knots. End up untangling that crap ALL day instead of fishing... and people wonder why I brought several rods on the yak... who wants to fix knots all day.. when you can be fishing instead. Now that I think about it... my smaller Pflueger bottom rig knots up also... might change that one out too..... This weekend might be a GREAT time to change them out...... :doh :reallycrying


Pam, on my freshwater spinners in lite weight (not on my ultra lites) I use 10# Power Pro, with 4#-6# mono leader. I have VERY FEW knot problems, the problem I do have and have to watch for is when my bail flips over, SOMETIMES the braid catches on the top drag knob. Then on the next cast it will knot up. No catch, no knot. Also make sure you have a little tension on the line before reeling it in, if there is slack on the spool it will knot up on a cast.. To combat both problems I cast, and I'll flip bail (and start reeling) only as I'm moving the rod tip from directly in front of me to the 3:00/9:00 position, and having slight tension on the line. I love Power Pro in this application...NO LINE MEMORY, which can be real bad on ultra and lite set ups.


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## SheYakFishr

Ron... I have a med size penn that I'm changing out... the last time I used it... I almost flung the entire thing in the water I got so aggrivated with it... no matter what I did. It did everything you said... got hung up... then I closed it instead of letting it close itself... hoping to stop it... but nope... It didn't matter how I reeled it in... with or without tension... it still knotted up... or even I'd look at the reel part after I've been winding it.... and there is a knot inside that I didn't even see it happening. I even took a bunch of line... thinking it was that part... (and of course.. sitting there.. not fishing) trying to figure it all out. With mono... I can get it out there.. and fish... with no more problems.


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## P-cola_Native

> *SheYakFishr (8/29/2008)*I might leave braid on some larger reels... BUT NOT on my smaller spinning ones.... going back to Andee...... IMHO... Power Pro SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & Spiderwire SUCKS!!!!!!.... knot.. knot... and more knots. End up untangling that crap ALL day instead of fishing... and people wonder why I brought several rods on the yak... who wants to fix knots all day.. when you can be fishing instead. Now that I think about it... my smaller Pflueger bottom rig knots up also... might change that one out too..... This weekend might be a GREAT time to change them out...... :doh :reallycrying


I had the same problem when I started using it, but once I got one of my small reels with power pro "broke in," I didn't have any problems with it. It seems like once most of the green coating wears off that it becomes less sticky and doesn't knot up every time you cast. I like it because I can cast so much farther and feel so many more bites, but you have to get the hang of using it.


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## reeltime

Anyone try Spiderwire Stealth? 

PowerPro is pricey.


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## Tuna Man

> *P-cola_Native (8/29/2008)*
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> *SheYakFishr (8/29/2008)*I might leave braid on some larger reels... BUT NOT on my smaller spinning ones.... going back to Andee...... IMHO... Power Pro SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & Spiderwire SUCKS!!!!!!.... knot.. knot... and more knots. End up untangling that crap ALL day instead of fishing... and people wonder why I brought several rods on the yak... who wants to fix knots all day.. when you can be fishing instead. Now that I think about it... my smaller Pflueger bottom rig knots up also... might change that one out too..... This weekend might be a GREAT time to change them out...... :doh :reallycrying
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> I had the same problem when I started using it, but once I got one of my small reels with power pro "broke in," I didn't have any problems with it. It seems like once most of the green coating wears off that it becomes less sticky and doesn't knot up every time you cast. I like it because I can cast so much farther and feel so many more bites, but you have to get the hang of using it.
Click to expand...

Green coating...Whats that:banghead:banghead:banghead Mine lost all the green and looks grayish/white. Ummmmm that might be the reason.:doh


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## P-cola_Native

> *Tuna Man (8/29/2008)*
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> *P-cola_Native (8/29/2008)*
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> *SheYakFishr (8/29/2008)*I might leave braid on some larger reels... BUT NOT on my smaller spinning ones.... going back to Andee...... IMHO... Power Pro SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & Spiderwire SUCKS!!!!!!.... knot.. knot... and more knots. End up untangling that crap ALL day instead of fishing... and people wonder why I brought several rods on the yak... who wants to fix knots all day.. when you can be fishing instead. Now that I think about it... my smaller Pflueger bottom rig knots up also... might change that one out too..... This weekend might be a GREAT time to change them out...... :doh :reallycrying
> 
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> I had the same problem when I started using it, but once I got one of my small reels with power pro "broke in," I didn't have any problems with it. It seems like once most of the green coating wears off that it becomes less sticky and doesn't knot up every time you cast. I like it because I can cast so much farther and feel so many more bites, but you have to get the hang of using it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Green coating...Whats that:banghead:banghead:banghead Mine lost all the green and looks grayish/white. Ummmmm that might be the reason.:doh
Click to expand...

That is what I mean. Once the green stuff wears off and it turns white, it seems like it is easier to work with. When it is new on the spool and still green, I seem to have more problems with wind knots and such.


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## biggamefishr

i've switched over to braid (stren super braid)on all my inshore stuff....I love it and will never go back to mono. time after time i've had reds or trout pull into the pilings, only to pull them back out again, theres noway mono would ever do that.

I think the original question was about abrasion resistance of braid....the reason a cracked guide does more damage to braid than mono is because the braid is smaller, so it'll fit into the crack as opposed to just riding on the top of it like the thicker mono.


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## Linda

As far as tangles and such,the quality of reel helps alot with Power pro. If the line bunches and doesnt lay even on the spool , you willrun into problems like casting off a slack loop, and line digging in.Stick with modern reels with features like shimano's dyna balance or Daiwas worm gears. 

Also, rods with fuji concept guideshelpby eliminating the slack brought back on the spoolwhile retrieving. The few extra small little guides at the tip , eliminate loop ocilation andprovide a little extrafriction needed to lay that line back on the reel smooth and taught.


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## Shiznik

> *Tuna Man (8/29/2008)*:banghead:banghead:banghead 80# braid (Tuff line in the salt and pepper), I'm sure that is what James had riged on the rod I used...4' 80# fluro...300' deep......Do you not think he/she worked on that braid?
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> Picture worth a 1000 words.




Pretty impressive pics there! Did that one make it for dinner?


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## Tuna Man

No 9 1/2' Shark is coming in my boat let alone someone else's. Besides we didn't that I know of have a HMS permit. Fish leadered to the side of the boat. Scott on the leader, and broke line at the hook. He did a hell of a job.


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## User1265

> *biggamefishr (8/29/2008)*i've switched over to braid (stren super braid)on all my inshore stuff....I love it and will never go back to mono. time after time i've had reds or trout pull into the pilings, only to pull them back out again, theres noway mono would ever do that.
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> I think the original question was about abrasion resistance of braid....the reason a cracked guide does more damage to braid than mono is because the braid is smaller, so it'll fit into the crack as opposed to just riding on the top of it like the thicker mono.


Thanks man I was wondering if that was the case with the cracked guide but I wasn't sure. 

Thanks for sharing those pictures Ron. 

I actually answered my own question Friday night. I spooled up two rods with 20# PowerPro (used to have 10 and 12 mono on them) and headed to the Sikes. I had a nice size Mangrove Snapper wrap me around the bridge piling real good and I didn't lose him. I thought for sure he was a gonner because he wrapped around twice but with some patience and the braid I got him. I'm sold.


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