Changing out Mono

onthewater102 said:

Dunno if this is taking you off topic - but I have given up on Mono and switched basically everything over to 40# power pro braid (equivalent of 10lb diameter mono) and use an FG knot to tie on a sacrificial leader. Usually I am tipping it with fluorocarbon, but for topwater baits I'll use a 17lb mono. Only reel I have now that isn't braid to leader is a casting reel on my crankbait rod that's got all fluoro on it.

Braid last so much longer, and I can flip it around on the spool after a year or two and freshen it up. I'd be nipping mono with every lure retie and loosing so much material to knicks and dmg it's really saved a lot of $$$ in the end.

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I currently use 4# to 8# mono. I haven't entertained braid because 99% of what I do is trolling. I want the "stretchiness" of mono.

For some reason I thought braid did not stand up to nicks/abrasion very well. Not sure where I heard or read that but it sounds like your experience is different.

I switched to braid 15/20 years ago for my bait casters...first.

Then, after many years of frustration with the few spinning reels that I have, I switched them over to braid. What a great improvement over mono, using braid on spinners. I still have "wind tangles" but a whole lot fewer of them than I had with coiled mono. Not perfect, but better, IMHO.

I have learned to "drop my finger" when I have to reel line in with no tension on it. That little trick puts a bit of tension on the line and it goes onto the reel a bit tighter.

On my baitcasters, I have actually gone back to mono on a few of them.

I was fishing with a guide last year. He was hooking up often. I was pulling the hook out of the speckled trout's mouths all too many times. I switched to his mono rig, and my landing ratio went way up.

There are times for both.

I do A LOT of casting with spinning reels using stickbaits. Almost all of my reels are spooled with mono, I had Fireline on for 1 night and took it off the next day due to excessive wind knots, I have 1 reel spooled with braid and like it, but do get the occasional wind knot when casting and use it mainly for trolling.
After trying "MANY" mono lines, guess what, Stren original and Trilene XT are still my bread and butter lines, Suffix Elite worked well also and a few others, but some mono's I had tried were junk IMO!

The only mono I use is 4lb on my ultralights.
Even my "light" panfishing rods have 5lb braid. That's really because I like to bass fish with them too.
Everything else is 30lb braid on baitcasters and 20lb braid on spinning reels. The Power Pro is the best line I've used. The copy-cats don't compare.

I currently use 4# to 8# mono. I haven't entertained braid because 99% of what I do is trolling. I want the "stretchiness" of mono.

For some reason I thought braid did not stand up to nicks/abrasion very well. Not sure where I heard or read that but it sounds like your experience is different.[/quote]

Several years ago, a book was written listing the actual running depths of 200 popular crankbaits. This was in the days before braid so only mono was used for testing the lures. Trolling a lure 100 feet behind the boat, he used a depth finder in a second boat following behind to see how deep the lures ran. One important thing he found was that while performing the tests, they could see fish hitting the lure being tested on the depthfinder. With 10lb mono, very often, the person holding the rod, due to the stretch of the line, did not feel the baits being hit by fish. More hits were felt when trolling with less stretchy 17lb line. That was the first of many reasons I quit using mono many years ago.

Scott F said:

I currently use 4# to 8# mono. I haven't entertained braid because 99% of what I do is trolling. I want the "stretchiness" of mono.

For some reason I thought braid did not stand up to nicks/abrasion very well. Not sure where I heard or read that but it sounds like your experience is different.

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Several years ago, a book was written listing the actual running depths of 200 popular crankbaits. This was in the days before braid so only mono was used for testing the lures. Trolling a lure 100 feet behind the boat, he used a depth finder in a second boat following behind to see how deep the lures ran. One important thing he found was that while performing the tests, they could see fish hitting the lure being tested on the depthfinder. With 10lb mono, very often, the person holding the rod, due to the stretch of the line, did not feel the baits being hit by fish. More hits were felt when trolling with less stretchy 17lb line. That was the first of many reasons I quit using mono many years ago.[/quote]

Interesting. I can see that more hits would be felt, but were they getting more hookups? This is all just my opinion of course, but with a little line stretch, those hits might be more likely to become hookups. Additionally, if they have softer mouths like trout, the stretch might help keep em hooked. Like I said, just my opinion.

Looking at the various underwater footage on Youtube, it is kind of incredible to see how many times a trout will bump a lure or make short strikes.

If the lack of stretch is causing you to miss fish you're using too stiff a rod for your application. The rod should be flexing as needed to play the fish, if you're relying on the line to stretch you're stressing the knots, causing you to have to use heavier and more visible line for your presentatio s and thats likely costing you bites.

Switch to a lower power rod, either go from a med/hvy to a med or a med to a med/light, or use fiberglass rods rather than graphite (for trolling anyway.) The guys around here that troll for kokanee salmon (14" typically sized) seem to prefer ugly stick rods for exactly the reasons you've described.

onthewater102 said:

If the lack of stretch is causing you to miss fish you're using too stiff a rod for your application. The rod should be flexing as needed to play the fish, if you're relying on the line to stretch you're stressing the knots, causing you to have to use heavier and more visible line for your presentatio s and thats likely costing you bites.

Switch to a lower power rod, either go from a med/hvy to a med or a med to a med/light, or use fiberglass rods rather than graphite (for trolling anyway.) The guys around here that troll for kokanee salmon (14" typically sized) seem to prefer ugly stick rods for exactly the reasons you've described.

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What you say makes sense to me -- a lot of sense. Right now I use Ugly Stiks with 8# mono on down riggers and I sometimes wonder if they are too stiff. If I stack a 3rd rod it is an UL with 4#. I'm not sure that I'm missing a lot of fish. I was just commenting on why I think I prefer more flexible mono for trolling vs line with no give. But, I try to keep and open mind and like reading other techniques & tackle preferences.

A lot of the people around here who target Kokanee use glass rods with a lot of flex. Kokanee fishing has developed quite a following and a whole new line of specialty gear. I like chasing Kokes, but use the same equipment I use for trout.

BTW, I'm still trying to figure out why more fish are caught on the starboard side of my boat. Switching gear doesn't matter. Seems the driver's side always gets more action. Crazy! I need to start keeping some stats just to prove it is a real thing as opposed to perception.

I realize I’m dredging up a slightly older thread, but I’m gradually switching all of my reels to braid except for my ultralight gear and my only big surfcasting spinning reel. For mono, I stick to Trilene. But I find braid so much more sensitive that it works better in the dark and I can feel a lot more in terms of lure action etc.

A big turning point for me was learning to tie the FG knot which is quick and easy, and that runs through guides and levelwinds like it’s not even there.


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Love the FG knot - nothing better IMO.

Word to anyone trying it for the first time - if it's failing it's because you're tying it wrong. It took me a number of break offs & re-watching YouTube tutorials to get it right - being neat and keeping it tight as you tie it are very important, as is how you tie the half hitches to terminate - alternate them going over and under the mainline. I tie two (one over one under) over the fluoro leader and another two (again one over one under) on the mainline alone. Once I started that I haven't had another failure in 2+ years using it.

Not sure if braid has changed much since I switched back to mono years ago, but I had issues with the abrasion resistance of braid. I fish for smallmouth in a rocky river and 95% of my fishing is bottom fishing with soft platics and jigs. I found that braid didn't stand up well to being constantly rubbed against and pulled through rocks and hard bottoms. I now use Yo-Zuri Hybrid and love it. But I still use braid on a round reel I have for froggin' and top water.

I learned to tie the FG knot from this video: https://youtu.be/pjzUb5QRKuk

With a follow up tip from this video: https://youtu.be/LD1gWbp9zKo

Those two together made it pretty easy to learn.


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BigTerp said:

Not sure if braid has changed much since I switched back to mono years ago, but I had issues with the abrasion resistance of braid. I fish for smallmouth in a rocky river and 95% of my fishing is bottom fishing with soft platics and jigs... I now use Yo-Zuri Hybrid and love it...

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Hybrid is great stuff, but try it as a leader on a braid mainline sometime and you will get th3 beat of both worlds, sensitivity of the braid and durability of the hybrid at the end of your line. FG knot the hybrid on and you dont have to worry about passing the knot through even microguides on the cast.

Onthewater....what Hybrid, please.

Years ago, BB (Before Braid) I used to have to switch out the 6lb mono from my spinning reels sometimes twice a week when I was on a trip and fishing 12 hours a day. Spinning reels twist line and mono does not like being twisted. It would just get to be too much to deal with. I am 100% braid (never with a leader) these days but even though I fish rocky rivers, I've never had a problem with abrasion.

Scott F said:

Years ago, BB (Before Braid) I used to have to switch out the 6lb mono from my spinning reels sometimes twice a week when I was on a trip and fishing 12 hours a day. Spinning reels twist line and mono does not like being twisted. It would just get to be too much to deal with. I am 100% braid (never with a leader) these days but even though I fish rocky rivers, I've never had a problem with abrasion.

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What he said, and I've never used any kind of leader. I mark hi-vis yellow Power Pro (40#) with a black sharpie and go on......tag end, three feet.

By using a leader you keep the wear & tear of changing lures to the sacrificial tip - but you can also play with the leader material to better fit the lures you're presenting. Other than topwater presentations I don't use mono at all.

Hybrid - I was referring to Yo-Zuri Hyrid line - a co polymer blend of mono and fluoro that is tough as nails. I use 10lb test leaders of that stuff when salmon fishing in Pulaski NY, pulling 25lb salmon out of a rocky as hell 300 CFS flow river with water no deeper than 16" in many places. I've never had it break while fighting a fish. Great stuff.

Just ordered some. Thanks

onthewater102 said:

BigTerp said:

Hybrid is great stuff, but try it as a leader on a braid mainline sometime and you will get th3 beat of both worlds, sensitivity of the braid and durability of the hybrid at the end of your line. FG knot the hybrid on and you dont have to worry about passing the knot through even microguides on the cast.

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This was another issue I had with using braid....the leader. I switched to a flouro leader because of the aforementioned abrasion issues but had issues with my leader to mainline knots. Don't remember off the top of my head what knots I was using, but I know it wasn't an FG knot. Might give the FG knot a try if I ever get the desire to go back to braid.

onthewater102 said:

Hybrid - I was referring to Yo-Zuri Hyrid line - a co polymer blend of mono and fluoro that is tough as nails. I use 10lb test leaders of that stuff when salmon fishing in Pulaski NY, pulling 25lb salmon out of a rocky as hell 300 CFS flow river with water no deeper than 16" in many places. I've never had it break while fighting a fish. Great stuff.

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Yo-Zuri Hybrid really is good stuff!! More sensitive than mono, great knot strength (I've never had a knot fail), excellent abrasion resistance, more sensitive than mono with some nice stretch/shock absorption, strength to diameter is great and a very castable line. It's priced right as well, IMO. So even though it's not needed I probably change my line out twice a year since it won't break the bank at $15 for 600 yards of 6# test.