Braid choice

[Stu_000]

Ok I've been reading threads until my eyes bled and still the choices are baffling. Need some imput from people using the various brands out there. Most of the threads are a bit stale now anyway.

To be frank;

1. I'm off fireline
2. Bass hard etc - no way I'm paying $60+ to spool once (5 reels, 10 spools - you do the maths)
3. Leaning toward the Fins PRT or the new suffix

So thoughts on braids priced reasonably?

[BIG PETE]

i spooled up my stradic with suffix a few months back been very happy seems to cast a bit better than fire line and has kept its colour well to

[Doc_Hollywood]

STu i am with you with the cost of line systems. Saying that most guys i know that use it get the 150 meter spool halve it or even into thirds. I have yet to see a bream pull 50 meters of line. Plus i reckon a 30 meter cast is an exception, so i think you would be right.

[Angel]

Stu I use both the fins and the bass hard braids and i like them both, I would probably lean towards the fins as i have had less trouble with it.

[Shane]

I'm still using the platy 2lb from prize packs. Very nice line till it decides it starts wanting to pull line from several layers lower during casts. Just need to more often whip out a cast to re lay the line. But I am in the same boat, looking for some nice braid to redo another spool so an interesting thread. I was actually thinking going back to fireline, I have less hassles with it.

[Stu_000]

Fireline has been pretty good to me but I'm over the wind knots and the fact that it fluffs up over time. After each outing you have to cut off a couple of metres at least to find some undamaged line.

Also after a braid with a rounder profile - another drawback for fireline.

Anyone else using the Fins PRT? I'm leaning that way

Pete do you have a pic of the packet from the suffix?

[Shortlite]

Well, i've been on the braid bandwagon for a while, not always fishing UL, but I've seen a few brands.

Stren Super Braid 8 lb: I must have been lucky, and gotten a good spool: heard nothing but trash about it afterwards. My experiences were quite good. Shed colour a lot though.

FINS 4lb and 10 lb: Good stuff, 'niff said. Sheds a lot of dye off the bat, but settles quickly. Loses colour a bit. Strong, especially in 10 lb and up. 4 lb was nice and thin cast a mile. Pretty strong, but low abrasion resistance.

Fireline 4,6,8,10,14,20: Used this before the true braids. Good once worn in, then fluffs dramatically, cutting casting distance. Loses colour big time. Digs in under load a lot more than rounder braids. 4 and 6 need a double to prevent cutting leader when tyine leader knots.

Nitlon 6, 8: Current line. Pretty good, pretty good. Colour is pretty fast. Good strength, abrasion and knot strength. I like it.

Next to test: Sufix performance braid.
Was debating whether to put in Fireline, but meh! Also used some old obscure stuff named Dynon 3000 way back in the day: a true braid, round, ahead of its time, in white. Responsible for my PB pike, a 21 lb FW shark. Very limp, tangles were a Beehatch.

[Superduperman]

I was very happy with my Sufix Matrix Pro...until a few weeks ago. I went 6 months without a wind knot, then managed 4 in one session and i'eve ben havng trouble ever since..I'm looking at 6lb Nitlon for my next line.

[Stu_000]

I've read a few threads re nitlon and most of the feedback has been negative

[Dodgy back]

Just to get slightly off the subject , but still relevent.

Quite a few have mentioned the dreaded "wind knot",

Do you feel that you get more wind knots with a Shimano ie: stradic 1000 as opposed to a Diawa.

I have only used fireline 2, 4 & 6 lb and don't have a problem with the fading or fluffing of it.

I just figured the constant use causes it.

To combat the "wind knots" in the Stradic I have under spooled it and found that the wind knots have reduced.

With my Diawas , they are fully spooled and only get the rare knots.

What are your thoughts ?

Cheers Mick

[Superduperman]

Originally posted by Dodgy back
Do you feel that you get more wind knots with a Shimano ie: stradic 1000 as opposed to a Diawa.
I've found it's more to do with the line and how you handle it. If you spend all day casting light plastics around then expect wind knots, if you give a big cast and wind the line back under tension every so often then you should be alright. Really soft lines like Matrix Pro are more likley to knot up because they are soo limp, whereas a 'stiffer' line like new Fins will not.

[Hooked]

Finn's PRT for me Stu...tested it for sometime now and cant fault it...my thumb's up.

Steve

[BIG PETE]

Originally posted by Stu_000

Pete do you have a pic of the packet from the suffix?

i dont sorry fella i had to chuck it out didnt want the cook knowing i spent more money on fishing gear

[cambo]

fireline similar issues to others ie wind knots,fluffing, and line cutting into the spool.

nitlon-was very limp and supple but tended towards the most evil wind knots, that were undoable, unless upmost care was taken. I was less than impressed with losing long sections of line on the occasions that I missed a slight loose loop in the spool, or the wind decided to gust at the wrong time. I also found, as have others that it tended to snap inexplicably mid line at the most inopportune moments! The two thumping skippy lost down south and lures lost to weed snags resulted in me having very little confidence in it.

Spooled up with 4lb fins recently-love it, strong,thin and casts a mile, the one or two wind knots that I thought I had undid themselves as I was reeling the line in. Stress free and thoroughly recommended.

[Stu_000]

Just to add another player I have been recommended Rapala braid (blue one) from an angler over east. Anyone have any comments on this? It has changed since it was Squidgy Braid a few years ago.

[BIG PETE]

a few weeks ago old boy Nifty came over my place showing off some new line he had just bought it was the Rapala braid looks great very thin for its wieght and very soft not like some braids but it wasnt real cheap

[Stu_000]

This the one Pete? If so it's $30 for 130metres not yards so it's not so bad. Called Rapala Titanium Braid

[BIG PETE]

thats not the one mate it was a really flash blue and silver packet i think will see if i can find a pic

[Hooked]

Used this one alot too Stu.Was strong ,cast well but the fibres spread a little to much for my liking and the colour you can watch disappear after a couple of session's.The blue is soon white.

Steve...

[breamonfly]

Seem to hear mostly positives about Fins, but not for sale (or i can't find it ) n breammaster shop.

Where abouts can you get this stuff?

Andy

[Stu_000]

If you can't get the Fins from the online store or anglers paradise (they will probably get it for you anyway) try here

http://www.campbellsprotackle.com/store/product.asp?ID=3972

Things seem to be leaning toward the Fins atm.............

Thanks for all the input guys. That's why I love this site - plenty of guys willing to help out ;)

[SOL_LADY]

Using Firline for just about every kind of fishing these days.

"No Problems" at all so far ;)

Gae.....100% Happy :D

[Noddy]

Have recently spooled up with Yamatoyo PE Braid as I wanted something different from Fireline which I have always used.
To say I'm happy with it would be a massive understatement. I really wasn't expecting to notice much difference but I certainly have, from the extra casting distance to the way it lays on the spool so much nicer than Fireline which has eliminated any wind not problems I had with the Fireline.
Sure it was $65 but I've spread it across two spools and I think it was worth the money.

[Brad Y]

Started with fireline and found new fireline to be bad. When i got a spool of it to last a while it got better but went white.

Moved to sufix hydrofine which was basically the same.

Then went to sufix matrix pro and loved it in the 10lb. 8lb was getting a few knots.

Since switched to sufix performance braid which is identical to bass hard.

LOVE IT

I get the occasional knot but every now and then when im done fishing, I will let the line right out behind the boat and wind it on under a bit of tension. That helps get some twist out of it.

The truth is about breaming is that we are casting some really light lures. Think about fly casting and waving the loose line about in loops to propel the fly forward. If your casting really bad at that you get knots in your leader. But if you make the loops too tight the casting turns to slop and it doesnt work.

I have found the same in lure casting for bream. The harder i flick the worse it gets. Especially when doing overhead casts. Now I will only do side arm casts and make the lure do a windmill of the rod tip to make sure the line is always under some tension so the lure itself can be propelled. Otherwise you may be propelling the rod forward to cast when actually the lure is still in a backward motion. Basically imagine a whip cracking. I have been doing a bit of work on this at home with a esky and its been good so far. A well known tournament angler taught it to me and it makes perfect sense.

Im unsure of what to put on my two new diawas. I was thinking of trying the Team Daiwa so for different colours for marking whats on what outfit but apart from that i will stick with sufix performance braid and just use different coloured rod wraps.

[Acanthopagrus]

This probably sounds pretentious but a wind with line pressure between the fingers every half dozen casts reduces wind knots for me down to virtually nil.
The stradic appears to get the odd cast with a little tangle. That maybe the line? 5 hours casting SPs Sat night without any weight into a south wester didnt produce one wind knot or line bite applying pressure with fingers when things started to loosen up.

[Brad Y]

Yeah again maybe its the tension factor that helps take some twist out of the line.

What size reel is it? A few people around the traps claim a 2500 shimano knots less than a 1000. Interesting it all is...

[Madeye]

another for Suffix performance braid.
I read about it around 6 months before it got released in Aus. I was gonna get some shipped over and then was informed it was being realesed here.
All the bass guys in the US rave about it. Also was reading a topic on Tackletour forum about a guy who works with some hitech microscope and measuring equpiment. And he found that it is the roundest of all braids he tested. He found that since fireline is flat they mesure the diameter of the line on the flattest part hence why it is proffesed to be the thinest.

Either way the bass guys rave about it and their market is WAY bigger than ours.
I have had no problems with it at all. The thing i love about it is how well it ties knots.
On a previous topic some guy driveled on about lines dont effect knots but this is not what i have found to be true. i have tried all the leading brand name lines: power pro (another awsome line), fins prt, fireline, fireline xtd, firline cyrstal, sufix matrix pro, suffix perfomance, bass hard. and i can honestly say that in my opinion suffix performance makes the best knots.
I guess that the rounder profile helps the knots slide together better and prevents the line cutting in but thats just me guessing.

Well that just me. But it would take somthing special for me to change lines now. Now i just gotta keep saving so that i can replace all my spools with the stuff

[Acanthopagrus]

What size reel is it? A few people around the traps claim a 2500 shimano knots less than a 1000.

That one is a 2500. Light line baitcasters have incidence of line lap and bite also casting small lures. Line retension between the fingers is more so noticable on the casters. Every so often even with 2 kilo platy pretest stripping out the line off the boat the first 20 metres and retension with fingers reduced the birds nests. 2kg platy pretest was the best baitcaster mono because of the virtual nil memory and supple.
Other lines would form memory rings and birdsnests when casting lures like small nilmasters and rap countdowns.

"If" some people dont already do line retnesion. Give it a go.

A braided line will always twist more than a fused line,it's simple physics.Since de-voluting to 2kg Fireline a few months back,I've had zero "wind knots".