Any questions to russ@reelfoto.demon.co.uk

Yet the old favourite monofilament still reigns supreme for most of our fishing, in spite of all the bells and whistles at the time about how the days of monofilament were well and truly numbered because of this new kid on the block!It is true to say that the Superbraid-Spectra-Dyneema lines, call them what you will, are very gradually grabbing a larger slice of the fishing line market. However, what has become very clear, is that this slice of the total line sales is very much a niche market, where anglers such as myself have found it to be superb for deep water wreck fishing, inshore light tackle fishing and in some instances spinning or plugging with fixed spool reels, when instant contact and the hard playing of fish in restricted rocky areas is called for. But, as was pointed out to me in words of one syllable by a long term fishing buddy, we managed quite successfully for many years to fish the deep sunk wrecks and reefs with monofilament, so why change??What is immediately obvious is the difference in the diameters between the two lines. Braid lines are one third the diameter of the equivalent breaking strain nylon monofilament. In deep water this translates very quickly into the use of lighter sinkers, which if say, a two pound sinker has to be used with monofilament, often half or even less than that can be used with braid and hold the depth or bottom just as well. This means that lighter, more sporting rods can be used, whereas in the past we have had to use heavier outfits just to cope with the use of the heavier sinkers. A typical case in point is when fishing inshore over the Skerries Bank where the tidal flow is as savage as you are likely to find in European waters. Standard tackle with 15/18lb breaking strain monofilament were 20 pound class rods, just to cope with a 12 ounce(or more) sinker without the rod folding over like a warm stick of liquorice! With the advent of braid loaded onto smaller reels such as the Abu 7000 or the delightful Shimano Calcutta, a 12 lb class rod using 15lb braid is ideal to cope with the four, five or six ounce sinkers which will easily do the job in these same waters. So in these circumstances not only can more sporting tackle be used, taking into account the weight of the fish likely to be cought, but the actual fishing is that much more pleasant because of the lighter tackle used. A perceptible side effect is that more anglers choose to hold their rods all day, the minimal stretch with braid lines will telegraph the lightest of bites, so a direct consequence is that more fish are cought.Whilst on the subject of catching fish in fast water, it should be pointed out that a boat-load of anglers with some anglers fishing braid line and the others fishing monofilament is a sure fire recipe for bloodletting! Because tangles are almost inevitable and monofilament tangled with braid are the worst of the worst tangles you are ever likely to encounter. It is best if the whole boat uses braid or the whole boat uses monofilament. If it is inevitable that a mix of lines is going to occur and there is not much you can do about it, put the braid anglers nearest the cabin and tell them to use an ounce or two more sinker than they normally would and keep all the monofilament anglers in the stern of the boat. This way there is a good chance that the lines will be kept separate – but truthfully, even this is wishful thinking.So having made the decision that you are going to equip your 12lb class plaice/pollack/bass rod with 15 pound braid, what should you be looking out for and how should you load it onto your reel?First braid is not cheap so it needs looking after, but balanced against that is the fact that, properly looked after, it will last at least twice as long as monofilament. Now take a magnifying glass and examine your rod rings. If they are cracked or grooved get them replaced, because £25’s worth of braid is an investment that you do not want ruined on your first fish.Contrary to some opinion, level wind reels are best for braid lines. The line is so thin that if it is not packed hard onto the reel it will bury itself amongst any soft laid coils and the spreading action of the level wind helps prevent coils from “burying”. I will hold my hand up and tell you that this is a lesson I learned the hard way. I had not used any form of braided line for many years when this superbraid came out and I had forgotten the lesson about packing braided lines on the reel as hard as you can get them. A shark took off on a very fast run and I cranked the clutch lever up to its pre-set – the line promptly buried and locked up. Fortunately it wasn’t a big fish and I was able to bully it back to the boat where we shook it off. But it took me the rest of the day to unpick that expensive spool of line. So lesson learned, pack braid hard onto the spool. It’s okay to do that, because braid has virtually no stretch like there is with monofilament. Hard packed monofilament can exert tons of compressive force which can distort light aluminium spools and even break plastic spools into a hundred pieces. If you take off the first hundred yards of last years monofilament, a 250 yard spool of braid will often sit right on top, so that your reel is topped up to just below the edge of the spool and again, the level wind will keep it that way. Once you have loaded the braid onto the reel join a 25/30 yard length of monofilament to the front of the braid when fishing deep water. If you are fishing shallow water make the monofilament shockleader two rod lengths. This monofilament shockleader is there to take all the wear and tear that this section of the line experiences. Also it make it easy to fasten booms, pirks, lures etc, with reliable, familiar knots.One of the problems with braid is its knot strength, because of its inherent “slipperiness”. braid knots tied with doubled line are the most reliable and when joining the shockleader to the braid line with back to back uni or grinner knots, a small dab of superglue just before snatching the knot tight will give almost one hundred percent breaking strain. The only other knot combination to come close to the glued knot is a fifty turn Bimini hitch to provide the loop doubled line, then fasten this doubled line to the monofilament with a multi turn Albright knot. You might have to look these knots up, but they are worth learning if you are really serious about using braid.Beware of using braid for Light Tackle club or IGFA record attempts because braid will inevitably overtest. The manufacturers make the braid lines maybe a third stronger than the breaking strain stated on the spool to compensate for the poor knot strength. So when these lines are tested without knots they overtest big style.Many anglers regard all this with more than a jaundiced eye and choose to stick with reliable monofilament which is their choice. But if you are truly serious about your angling, braid has its place. I will get emails by the shedload asking which brands I use personally so I will nail my colours to the mast and tell you now. My first choice is Power-Pro followed closely by Berkeley Fireline. For preference I use the pink Power-Pro and the Yellow Fireline so that I can see where the line is in the water.

Any questions to russ@reelfoto.demon.co.uk