Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Braided Line in Texas Gulf Coast Saltwater Fishing

By Captain Kyle Tomek

While some people hate it and others love it, spooling reels with braided line is a trend that is growing in popularity in the saltwater fishing scene.

Braided line is very hardy and has more strength packed into the smaller diameter, contrary to its stretch cohort, monofilament line. Braided line holds up especially well in the bay systems that are usually full of shell obstructions and submerged rocks. In these areas, monofilament often comes up short.

Greg Bagby, an experienced plugger in the Matagorda Bay system, switched to braided line for saltwater fishing several years ago. "I used to use braided line exclusively for fishing in freshwater for bass," says Bagby. "It's really hard to beat braid when your fishing for bass and have to horse them through thick weeds." "It's a lot easier to work a topwater, which is the main reason I use it, especially in high winds and at the end of casts".

Greg Bagby is just one angler among many that have taken a liking to the 8 diameter-30 pound test. "I always rig my line with no leader and use a small clip or a connector. This works really well when you need to change out lures quickly." Loop knots are another great connection choice.

First-time users will quickly learn how easily they can lose a fish when the drag is set incorrectly. "Remember to loosen the drag lighter that you would with monofilament," says Bagby. He states that the lips of speckled trout are soft and a no stretch line with a tight drag will likely result in lost fish.

The line offers durability and strength, but he has found the line to bury and knot in the spool on occasions. "Backlashes may be less often, but those that occur will have you trudging back to the boat." However for Greg Bagby, the pros of braid outweigh the cons.

"I don't nearly need to change my line as often, the sensitivity is much better, and the slack in my line has drastically decreased since I started spooling braid instead of mono," says Captain Bubba Simons, a middle coast bay and offshore guide. He claims his favoring of braid during his trout and redfish charters grows by the day. "I'll be switching all of my offshore reels soon."

If you've already checked the fishing reports and are ready to go, remember that braid works very well when using live bait and spinning reels. While it's critical to keep the slack from the line, Simons says that braided line will be less likely to create slack.

When rigging a 10 diameter-40 pound test braid, he chooses a fluorocarbon leader at the end of the line. "I have seen the fluorocarbon bring a lot more strikes," states Simons. "One time last summer when the surf got real clear, I was fishing beside an angler that was using the same lure as me, but he didn't have a fluorocarbon leader. The fish were definitely biting my lure a lot more often than his.

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