Home Forums Fishing Freshwater braided lines and ultra light equipment

I was screwing around last month and setting up a rod for a couple kids that are friends with my son. They don't have fishing gear and don't actually go fishing unless with me.

I decided that I might have less trouble with the amount of help they need if I used braided line.

This will pull free, and straighten the little hooks if they tangle, or just break off and pull in whatever they are snagged on. I use little Mitchell 308 reels and 5.5ft ugly stick rods for these loaner setup for the kids.

Those old mitchell reels were never designed for braided line but they hold a ton and work okay for them, on the small fish we target with ultra light gear.

Now........ I caught a SM bass on one of these rods about 5 lbs that blew my mind with the battle that took place with a light rod and a powerful fish. The hooks came out when that fish got to shore so I did not land it, but the equipment was probably not a factor. Just the way it was hooked.

The really was a great fishing experience. I have a newer Shimano Stradic 1000FJ that is a higher end reel. It's mounted on an older St Croix 5.5' ultra light rod. I'm absolutely going to load that with 100 yards of 15lb braid now. The line is no longer the weak link in ultralight fishing. Take that worry out of the mix and you can really have a great battle with a good fish on light gear.

The real problem is hook setting power with ultra light gear. However using a live bait with a circle hook on the meaty fleshy mouth of channel cats is no problem.

Probably not as easy to get a good hook set with a pike or walleye. Bass fall someplace in the middle. I've lost plenty of bass with heavy equipment having them shake the hooks loose. Probably more small mouths then largemouths, but the SM bass are out of the water so much the line goes slack quite often letting the hooks fly!

Braid dramatically increases hook-setting power, as there is almost no line stretch to overcome. Even in clear water, braid with a 4-5ft flouro leader gets it done. Braid's only downside that I can think of is the inability to "pluck" crankbaits loose that are lightly snagged like mono affords.

JJHack, I've used braided line on a light rig almost like you're describing for smallies in rivers. Works great and is a load of fun.


I use braided on everything anymore. It seems to last longer and doesn't get brittle and weak. Nice to leave those loaners set up for a few seasons and not have to worry about the line being kinked or badly degraded.

Ella

There is no question that braid sets hooks better, but the UL rod has no power to do it.

I wonder if measured somehow. Just exactly how much the braided line makes up for with lack of spine in an UL rod?

Using this UL rod and reel with the amount of line that gets ripped off the spool with the drag screaming almost mimics inshore fishing in the gulf for saltwater fish. Saltwater fish in general that are equal in weight to a freshwater fish are about 5 times the fight of a freshwater fish. However, you can almost get that saltwater fish fight, with a small mouth bass using an UL setup.

Do y'all fill the whole reel with braided or start with mono?

I fill the whole thing.

For me, the easy way to do things is best..... In this situation, I fill the whole spool. With this, I can replace a new empty spool on the reel and fill it from an old spool putting the unused line back on top and the worn line from the top on the core or bottom of the new spool.

Just reeling in the line from one spool to another. Of course this assumes a guy has a spare spool. I fond this a great way of using all the line from the core to the top and getting is used equally.

That's a clever approach.

The circle hook is on the right track. Keep them SHARP! With circle hooks, you don't need to set the hook, just tighten the line and you will have them. Hard to break the old habit. Works wonderful on crappies with their paper mouths. hook sets in pike and walleye are not an issue - they usually inhale the bait!

I share your opinion of the smallmouth as the fightin-est and biten-est fish in fresh water.

If you're dedicated to fishing smallmouth with an ultralight rod, the big ones are gonna frustrate you, unless you make alterations to your tackle.

Problem is, the standard treble on a smallie sized lure has a gap that *fits* the mouth of the small to medium fish, i.e., the hook clears the hard cartilage forming the "lips" of the fish, and sets in the softer cartilage surrounding that area.

When you get the occasional big one, the hard cartilage area is wider, and the smaller hook is unlikely to be driven through with ultralight tackle. You'll drive the hook into the skin covering the cartilage, and will have the fish on for awhile, but it's likely to come off during a jump.

To stop that from happening, replace the OE trebles with trebles with a wider gap, at least 1/4" to 3/8". That gives you a better chance of clearing the cartilage with the point of the hook, and doesn't appear to deter the bite. I use the red colored hooks, but can't claim any scientific reason.

The bait for a SM can be huge. They will attack near equal sized fish.

I caught a 6-7" SM on a panther martin spinner, got it to shore only to have a 3 lb ish SM inhale that first fish and run my drag across the pond. He eventually let that smaller bass go and I just reeled that one back in again.

SM bass when hungry will eat giant baits. I feed the one in our aquarium which is about 5" long large goldfish. They are about 1/2 his length. He engulfs them and all we see it orange and silver glitter falling to the bottom of the tank!

Smallies are great. JJhack, one cheap way to stiffen the rod for hook set is to get a longer ultralight and saw it one section shorter. Ask me how I figured that one out. Works better than you might expect for harder mouthed fish.


Ella

I tried braided line on my 6-10# steelhead rod. Didnt like it at all. To many rock ledges where i fish and it proved to be not very abrasion resistant.. Back to mono for me. Izor Line. Just my limited experience last winter..

What braided line? Have you ever tried to cut Power Pro with the little nippers you cut mono with?

Lots of situations have me running braid with a 6' mono leader.

I have seen quite a number of guys struggle connecting mono to braid.

Tying Braid knots seem to give folks fits. Many still struggle tying braid to lures snap swivels and hooks. Braided lines seem to slip and come undone under pressure.

I'll admit I struggled with this on my first few outings too. Learning a few new knots and discipling myself to use them solved that problem.

Albright knot is your friend

I use a palomar knot or a double palomar if the braid is super slippery. I've never had a problem with knot failure with those two.

I like braid. Have it on all my casting setups and many of my spinning rods. I still have mono on my ultralight, but am considering setting up my spare spool with 6# braid just to see.

I run fluorocarbon or mono leaders up to 10' long - mostly to stretch out the length of time to replace the leader. I retie when they get down to 3' or less. I use a uni-uni knot with seven turns in the braid and five turns in the fluoro/mono. Have never had one pull loose.

+ 1

The uni knot is my choice for connecting braid to mono.

Rocky,

I tried 4 and 6 lb braid in my UL reel. The Shimano Stradic 1000FA

They would whip and wrap around the rod tip too much, also the wind seemed to play havoc on the limp thin line getting loops in it.

Switching to 10lb line stopped this 90%, switching to 15lb line was a dream on this reel not a single problem. Still the same size as 4-6lb mono line, but with enough mass to stop the wind knots and tip wrapping.

I still have 4 lb fireline on an Okuma UL reel that is pretty good, but gets those annoying tip wrapped knots too frequenly for my enjoyment.