New To Using Braid

[Lazza 0]

Hi all,New to the site. Have just bitten the bullet and decided to try using braid. Any hints and tips would be handy. Have heard good things and seen it in use but know very very little about it and what i should expect. At this stage I plan on only using it on spinning reels. Will be using it for anything from squid to snapper and everything in between. Looking at starting with a 20lb.Cheers

[Guest yogi]

Hi Lazza and welcolmI've used braid for sometime and don't really use mono at all these days, the main thing with braid is the sensativity, you will feel the slightest tap/nibble, there is no stretch and fine gauge compared with mono, the biggest problem people have is the knots to leader, but once you've found a knot that works for you then the skys the limit.Albright, Uni, Double Uni, Bimini Twist are the knots I use with good success, but it's all a matter of how good you are at tieing knot.Mike

[brenton 637]

Lure fishing only IMO and i wouldn't use it for squid or snapper unless i was using S/Ps.The lack of stretch is the issue and i know a few seasoned anglers who have gone back to mono on the reds. cheers brenton

[plankton 725]

When you put braid on a spool put on just enough to cover whole spool once or twice, then wrap it with electric tape and continue filling the spool. If you don't do this the braid will slip on the spool, some people also put a bit on mono backing on the reel and this works as well. Also, when filling a spool with braid you need to put it on with as much tension as possible otherwise it can dig in and cause problems when you're casting.As far as knots, I feel the best braid to leader connection you can get is to tie a bimini in the braid and then attach the leader with and albright. This works well in braid of 10 pound or more, if you use lighter braid I would recommend using a slim beauty knot. You should be able to find good diagrams of these knots online, practice tying them with some old mono until you get them right, and remember you generally need twice the number of wraps when tying a knot in braid.

[Ranger 48]

plankton wrote:

When you put braid on a spool put on just enough to cover whole spool once or twice, then wrap it with electric tape and continue filling the spool. If you don't do this the braid will slip on the spool, some people also put a bit on mono backing on the reel and this works as well. Also, when filling a spool with braid you need to put it on with as much tension as possible otherwise it can dig in and cause problems when you're casting.

Can I just suggest putting the tape on the spool first, then the braid over the tape as the tape will stick to the spool then giving the braid something to bite into preventing slip.I'd suggest the mono backing is better though, as this can also be used as a backing (filler) to pack up the spool, with only a top shot of braid, unless of course you are looking for the far greater line capacity which comes from using the thinner braided line.

[afishyfish 4]

I find using the Albright special works really well when connecting mono to braid.Check this out for some help http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.htmlAlso be VERY careful letting the braid run over your skin when under tension, it can cut thru skin and flesh very easily, and burn worse than mono :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :S

[afishyfish 4]

I find using the Albright special works reaally well when connecting mono to braid.Check this out for some help http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.htmlAlso be VERY careful letting the braid run over your skin when under tension, it can cut very easily, and burn worse than momo :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :S

[Moggy23 625]

afishyfish wrote:

I find using the Albright special works reaally well when connecting mono to braid.Check this out for some help http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.htmlAlso be VERY careful letting the braid run over your skin when under tension, it can cut very easily, and burn worse than momo :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :S

Good site there, put that in my favoritesI need to replace my braid as it's getting too old, 8 yrs maybeMoggy

[alfybabe 12]

hi and welcome to the world of braid and reading the replys i learnt a new thing as i neva heard of the first opinion with the tape ,although i8 had herd of the reply after telling to put tape on ya spool first but as also said use 20lb mon backing then useing the surgeons knot to connect to 30lb braid then once happy with amount of braid put on add 3 rod lenghts of 40lb leader connected with agian the surgeons now here is one of the best knot tying web pages around and every knot has an instructional video that you can watch and practise till you get it right www.videofishingknots.comabsolutly priceless site has ova 70,000 video'stight lines

[afishyfish 4]

alfybabe wrote:

www.videofishingknots.comabsolutly priceless site has ova 70,000 video'stight lines

But when do you find time to look at 70thou videos :ohmy: :silly:

[alfybabe 12]

afishyfish wrote:

alfybabe wrote:

www.videofishingknots.comabsolutly priceless site has ova 70,000 video'stight lines

But when do you find time to look at 70thou videos :ohmy: :silly:

simply priceless aff :cheer: :woohoo: but u only need look at the 1 knot you r after as they r in there own catogry eg joiners,loops ectand shows you each not step by step

[Del 245]

i run 8lb braid on all my small set ups. and use a albright to join braid to mono leaders. have also converted quite a few friends to it.

[afishyfish 4]

lol Alfy, the guy on that video site sounds a bitr liek Arnie Schwarzenegger. ( if thats how its spelt )Great site though! It was one I had looked for and couldnt find so many thanks

[MarsOne 137]

something I've recently come to learn with using light braid and ultra small lures...Often when retrieving plastics (ie unweighted flickbaits) you're picking up slack line, that has no tension in it at all. I reckon you can avoid heaps of tangles by retrieving with a bit of tension on there every dozen casts or so. Can't remember who gave me the heads up on that one, but seems to be working on the few sessions I've had with a new reel/braid.

[Piranha 76]

the best tip I can give to a beginner braid user that has'nt been mentioned is don't strike when you hook a fish, like you would with mono.still put on pressure to set the hook firm, but don't take the rod from horizontal to vertical.I find braid to be much better than mono for squid and snapper using bait or lures and see a lot of snapper guys who end up not liking braid don't do the above mentioned and end up riping hooks out of the fishes mouth sometimes with gills attached or they don't reduce their drag pressure to accomodate for the lack of stretch.Resulting in less fish and a poor opinion of braid.cheers wes