bay fishing braid question

[dsafety]

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

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

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.

[-scallywag-]

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 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?

[greenscales]

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.

[taggermike]

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

[JoeBeck]

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.

[1Flatfish]

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.