bay fishing braid question
 

Hey Guys, I just spooled up some reels with braided line for spottie fishing in the south bay. The line I have is 20lb in the moss green color. It's not as obvious as the white Power Pro I use for backing in LJ but it's more visable than I'd like. What's your opinions on using mono or fluoro leader Vs. just straite tieing the braid to the hook? Thanks, Mike

I like to use a leader myself. I too use 20lb moss green on my bay setups. The leader gives you a bit of stretch also nice when getting a fish next to the boat to be able to grab the leader instead of the braid. I mostly target halibut and bass in the bay.

I Tried used 20lb spiderwire for Spotted bay bass. Id tie it right to the lure, and I had only caught 1 bass with it.

I went back to the 4+ foot 10lb mono leader and caught more spotted bay bass than i could count.

These are my results for night fishing. I was suprised it made a huge differance when it came to using a leader or not.

I only like to tie straight to it for spinner baits in daylight. Night fishing I like it for plastics.

IMHO You def need a leader when bass fishing...braided line looks like rope to the fish. Mono or fluoro

I have always had a hard time casting braided line on a bait caster but love it on a spinning reel.

I don't recommend spectra for bass fishing like that. I do alot of fishing in newport and there's really no need for spectra like kelp. also, alot of the fishing you need the stretch (swimmies, crank baits, spinners, etc) of mono and I think it casts better in casting reels. it does this for no other reason than most small baitcasters don't have a synched levelwind and the spectra will end up getting crossed up and over itself, and will end up in a na-a-a-a-asty birds nest.

I fish straight spectra with a short top shot on in the kelp with the jig baits, and other slow plastics like zoom flukes. but alot of the strikes come on the sink and you're in free spool and can give a few feet of line to run off before you set the hook. and there I need the spectra as I toss it literally right into the middle of the kelp and let it work down. also use it on topwater suff like slugs and weedless jig rigged swimbaits (pour my own jigs and use heavy weedguard) which I skip across the top.

not everyone will agree with my sentiment on spectra here. but if you do go with it, use a softer, slower action rod. (by the way, i used to, that's used to, use spectra on my offshore swimbait rod until I kept missing hooksets) i'd basically say as a rule spectra for two things: a) kelp w/short topshot and b) backing with 50yds topshot.

I don't do a lot of bay fishing but I prefer lightweight spectra on my small spool reels because it does not have the memory that mono does. Maybe I have just been using the wrong brand of mono but whenever I have tried it on small reels, the line comes off all curled up in ringlets making casting very difficult. I agree that a leader is important but if you plan to cast, it cannot be too long.

Bob

Thanks for the replys. I fished out of 24th Street in south SD Bay this morning with one outfit set with strait braid and the other with a fluoro leader as a head to head experiment. So much for that good idea. The fishing was very slow for me and I only picked up one small spotty on a drop shot set up in the rod holder. Rob M I went to braid in the bay because I have been using more soft palstic jerk baits, zooms and sluggos, lately and I've been missing bites while fishing slack line with mono. Mike

I'm all about 6 lb Fireline. It's about as thick as 2 lb mono so I believe it to get many more bites. I'd ALWAYS catch more than my dad who always stuck with mono. I personally wouldn't use 20lb in the bay, since bay fishing's charm is catching a lot of fish, I feel it would diminish the numbers.

If you like the fun of actually fighting a fish dont use 20 lbs test in the bay. 10-12 lbs test is all you should need.

A Little Spectra Education
 

I haven't posted on the subject in a while, and it was always about larger tests of Spectra. I used to be the rep for the Southwest for one of the larger brands of quality Spectra. In freshwater and inshore saltwater Spectra in 30lb and below is intended to be fished more by diameter and not by strength. You are still fishing a 6-15lb. to 10-20lb. rods with freshwater reels. It is more about smaller diameter and lower stretch for sensitivity.

As for the comparison of Newport to San Diego, totally different fishing styles/depths. San Diego is deeper, has stronger currents, and more diverse species--making the case for Spectra. In my previous posts (years ago) about heavier test Spectra for Big Game, I discussed the issue of faster action rods possibly having issues with Spectra if not used correctly. For the lighter rods, don't worry about action, but set you drags appropriately - not to the line test but to the rods rating, no more than 1/3 of the rod's maxed out line test. If you go with too soft of a rod, then you defeat the purpose of the low stretch, thus loosing the increased sensitivity of the Spectra.

I often pay more attention to the breaking strength of the leader over the Spectra. Definitely use a leader, even just a few feet. If you use fluorocarbon, go with a good quality leader material, not from a 200yd. spool of fluoro line. Better abrasion resistance and can handle the shock better. If you go straight Spectra, then you will have a hard time busting off if you get you lure snagged, causing even greater problems. Likewise, don't buy cheap Spectra, the good stuff costs money to make but will last years. I don't mean to step on toes and just trying to provide some accurate information--hope this is helpful.

Greenscales,

Since you seem to be the resident expert, let me ask you a couple questions.

First of all, without turning this in to a commercial, what brands of Spectra do you consider to be "quality" vs. the "cheap stuff"

Next, I have 60# Powerline on my bait rod and have had two issues in recent months. Last fall, I was hooked up to a decent YT and the line just snapped during one of the fish's runs. It was not a drag issue. My guess is that the line had a nick or some other kind of flaw. Is this common? If so, how do you check Spectra to make sure it is in good shape.

Similarly, I have noticed a little fraying on the line in some places. Is this normal? Should I cut off this part of the line. It has not been used that much.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Bob

I fish the deeper water in SD bay a lot and I can tell you that using braid is a huge advantage to feeling the somtimes subtle bites and every movement of your lure.It also helps you get a good hook set when you may have a lot of line out dealing with the current. I use a leader of 6lb-10lb mono usually about 15 feet. Low profile baitcasters, like a Curado or Core, are the best for this.

I always use flouro leaders connected via barrel swivel when I use spectra.

Bob,
I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all the fish I've lost to nicked or frayed 65#+ spectra (i have no experience with the lighter stuff). I'm pretty sure the failure you had was from a small nick in the spectra. Where you using a egg sinker when you :farmer: the YT? Spectra frays and nicks easily so you have to be diligent about checking your line. I usually cut off the first 10 ft of spectra and retie/inspect everything before each trip, and as a general rule I don't use spectra for a carolina rig (sliding egg sinker) unless i feel like checking/retying the line every couple minutes. I for the most part hate spectra, but I use it on my flyline bait rod in the summer and fishing the kelp in spring. I always use flouro leaders #20-40 connected via barrel swivels.

Does anyone have tips or tricks for using spectra with a sliding egg sinker, other than checking and retying all the time?

To DSafety - Regarding nicks and brands
 

For the lighter line tests, I have always liked Power Pro. They seem to have the best weave pattern. In heavier test both Power Pro and Izorline seemed to be pretty good. Now that Shimano has Power Pro, I would watch to see some innovations in both the line and tackle-rod, reels, etc.

Spectra doesn't really fray worse than most co-polymers, it cuts faster against hard/rough items because it is both thinner and when tight, is not going to flex around the object. Good fluorocarbon has better abrasion resistance than either (Seaguar seems to have the best options and is the inventor of fluoro). BUT WATCH YOUR GUIDES WITH SPECTRA. If you have SiC or other inserts in your guides, a small nick will shred the fluoro faster than anything else. I ruined a kayak trip to the East Cape when I lost 3 Dodos to Spectra getting shredded on guide. The problem wouldn't occur until their was line pulled out under pressure, so it wasn't noticed while reeling in or casting, it would just cause problems when a fish pulled under drag. If you see a consistent problem, run a Q-Tip around all of your guides and look for cotton fibers sticking. The quickly replace that guide.

I didn't think I needed 20lb for fishing the south bay shallows but I use the same rods for deeper bay fishing as well as for calicos in the kelp. Plus I figured with the braid on there I could adjust the leader weight to match the conditions. I'll be back in the bay again on Friday to try things out. Mike

I've used many brands for both heavy and light spectra. In my opinion power-pro is the best. I too cut off a good 10ft on all my lines after fishing since I find most damage to the line is usually close to the wights or the hooks.

20lb spectra is fine for the bay, you can even go up to 30 on the low profile bait-casters, I'm sure some go higher although for me 20-30 works the best. I typically use a 8-12lb leader.

Braid VS in the bay
 

I too used to use power pro braid in the bays too with seaguar leaders. My problem came when I would long line and the line just wouldn't sink very fast. Then a boat would catch my line followed by angry language and gestures. I have since switched most of my bay set-ups to P-line Halo. It's a fast sinking fluoro with minimum stretch (less then mono, but still some) and pretty good invisibility too. And, I don't have to tie leaders on all the time. This stuff is pretty tough and holds knots well. Yes, it's expensive, but nearly the same cost as Power Pro. I used to enjoy tying line to line leader knots, but setting up three or four for every fishing trip grew old pretty fast.
Like Bob said earlier, I like to use Spiderwire ultra cast on my small spinning reels with a fluoro leader. It seems to come off my reel smoothly when I'm bow casting between boats and docks. (Is Spiderwire considered a braid or a superline?) Those are my ideas.