Thoughts on braided line.

[Earl W Story]

 I'm looking for advice and opinions on braid for BG fishing. The main reason I've been considering it is for my wife. This poor woman can get hung up fishing in a 5 gallon bucket. On an average 4 hour fishing trip I spend half of it re-tying her rigs. I'm wondering if some strong, small diameter braid will make it possible for her to straighten out a wire hook instead of breaking off. And how will the braid affect her casting with a vintage Zebco 33 and will it shy fish away.

[jim cosgrove]

do not use braid in a closed reel.having raised and fished with 7 kids i am an expert at field stripping zebcos,use at least 10 lb mono.and not the soft limp stufflook for an old johnson,much better spincaster IMOi only use braid on spinning reels.took it off all my baitcast reels.braid is great tho .i use 6lb fireline crystal.smaller trhan 2 lb mono and tough to break off even when i want to.0 stretch and casts a mile;downside is expensive but does not dry rot or develope memory like mono.can tangle around the reel as it is so light and thin.i ALWAYS flip the bail by hand with braid.if you don't you will see why pretty quickly.i use soft rods as braid does not stretch and does not require much of a hookset

[Earl W Story]

 After all the input I think I'll go with 10lb Triline for Ma. The lakes we fish have almost no pressure for BG so they shouldn't be line shy. Also our favorite state lake is full of 13-18 in. Channel cats so she won't be breaking off when one of these hits. I'll just continue to be her personal butler for baiting and untangling. It's a pretty good trade off for having my wife go with me. When it comes to just fishing without interruptions I've got my time out on the big river. Ma won't go there due to the flying carp and what she calls " That gross boat full of slime and stink." She doesn't like me out there alone in the dark but texting me every 30 min. keeps her anxiety down some.  

[Walt Foreman]

Earl, I'll weigh in with a little different recommendation - a spinning reel with 6-lb. Trilene XL and #8 Aberdeen hooks on the business end. 

 

My mother used only spincast all her life, and was initially reticent about trying spinning.  But spincast reels these days are so poor in quality across the board, even the expensive ones, that I got tired of constant breakdowns and problems and convinced her to try spinning - and she got the hang of it pretty quickly, and now consistently casts better than she ever did with spincast.  If you use a quality spinning reel, such as a Shimano (even their bargain-priced models are in my opinion superior to the higher-priced models of other manufacturers), and have her close the bail manually rather than by retrieving, she should have far fewer equipment problems than she does now with spincast reels.  Spincast reels these days are utter garbage, all of them.

 

I use 4- and 6-lb. Trilene exclusively, and especially with the 6-lb. I would say that at least 70% of the time I'm able to get the hook back when I hang up because I use thin-wire Aberdeen hooks that bend easily.  I have landed channel cats up to twelve pounds on six-pound Trilene with no problem (using spinning reels).

[Earl W Story]

 I suppose it's worth a try. I agree spinning reels are better than spincast. If she can get the hang of it that is. Still the thought of the potential bird nests will give me nightmares. Just thinking about now makes me want to go lay down and rest a while........ 

[Walt Foreman]

A quality reel makes all the difference.  I had a Shimano AX, their $20 reel, for twenty-five years and it performed better, with far fewer tangles, than more expensive reels I have owned by other manufacturers.  The version I had didn't even have a ball bearing.  Their Sienna models can be had for $30 and they're great reels.  One other tip: don't fill the spool all the way to the lip like they do at Bass Pro when you let them spool a new reel for you.  Stop when the line is 1/8" from the lip of the spool.  This will eliminate most instances of the line coming off the spool in big loops. 

 

A better-designed spinning reel wraps the line onto the spool more evenly, which cuts down drastically on the frequency of bird's nests. I rarely ever get them - can't remember the last one I had with my Shimano. 

[JBplusThuy]

It could be worth having her try an underspin (AKA triggerspin) reel if that eases her learning curve. The only drawback is that they don't usually come at the quality end of the market; they tend to be cheapo. Like Walt says, a quality reel helps. +1 about the fill level, too. Every spin reel I've ever owned had instructions (some were really cheap lol) specified filling to 1/8 inch from the spool lip.

[Allen Morgan]

Earl, my wife is like yours; scared to death of me going out by myself.

I've been thinking about getting "The Spot".  It's a little electronic gadget has an "I'm Fine" button, and a "Send Help" button.  Every time you press one of them, the unit transmits your GPS coordinates with the appropriate message to a satellite.  That message gets relayed to whomever you designate.  I can't remember if it's done through a website, or a text message on a cell phone.

More expensive models have more functionality.  I think the most expensive one allows limited text-messaging to and from via the gadget.

This is also a service, so there's a subscription you have to pay for.  Not sure if it's something you want, but might be something to think about.