Flipping/pitching -- braid or flouro?

[jazzwannabe]

Which kind of line and do you guys prefer for flipping and pitching around moderate to fairly thick cover -- trees, weeds, limbs, etc. (not punching mats or fishing real heavy timber)?

[froteur]

Braid

[Kelly Ripa]

Braid

[Jason C.]

If your flipping to rock walls or there are rocks on the bottom, go with flouro. Anything else, braid. Them rocks just chew through braid somethin awefull.

[HawgCatcher]

20lb Flouro

[ricky]

Rocks or trees=floro
grass or tules=braid

[ash]

Rocks or trees=floro
grass or tules=braid

Pretty much sums it up for me as well, I have one flip rod that I punch with that uses Braid and my jig stick and two other flip rods are 20lb flurocarbon - For wood and rocks I want fluorcarbon.

[flipit]

Rocks or trees=floro
grass or tules=braid

yep, thats my choice

[Cooch]

I use 20 & 25# Fluoro exclusively. When I pitch and flip, I do so with a lot of slack line to allow the bait to fall striaght down to my designated target zone. There are those who will claim braid is more sensative than fluoro, my experience says this is ONLY true when ya have a tight line from yer bait to rod tip. When braid is limp, I have ZERO sensativity and that cloth like material does not jump or move when a bass strikes. With Fluoro and it's density, I feel those strikes that are telegraphed up thru the line to my rod, slack line or not. And when a fish strikes, that fluoro will jump indicating a strike. The abrassion resistance, and visability factor are also big advantages over braid. I also don't feel comfortable with the feel and sound of braid on my reels and running thru my guides, it's kinda like the fingernails on the chalk board thing.

I use Yamamoto's Sugoi in 20 and both the Berkely & Stren 100% Fluoros in 20 & 25. I probably have more reels spooled with the Stren and Berkely, due to cost is less.

[ScottyJ]

How bout braid with fluoro leader. That way you can switch it up and adjust according to where u are fishing

[Ceaser]

Braid except around the rocks. Infisherman did a show on line visibilities years back and showed mono flouro and braid in a multitude of water conditions, side by side i was surprised at the results. Green mono did not blend in with the weeds like I thought it would.. the clear was less noticable.. the flouro is always faint but the braid, when in an enviornment around reeds tules verical stringy weeds and brush, it blended right into the background. I jumped off my dock with goggles to see if it was true and it was, changed of how I looked at the "visibility" factor of braid. It was a good informative episode.. maybe some of you seen it.

[Delaney]

Regarding visibility of lines underwater. I used to be in plastics and know about optical properties of things. Gloss is how much light reflects or bounces off an item. Light transmission is how much light passes through an item. Mono and fluoro have a higher gloss level as more light would bounce off, making it more visible. When I use braid I don't use a fluoro leader as I feel the braid is less visible, because it reflects less light. When I started tourney fishing, there was no braid, and I always chose the mono that was the dullest looking, and reflected less light. There is a big difference in this, sometimes, even in the same manufacturer.

[Andy Lippert]

Regarding visibility of lines underwater. I used to be in plastics and know about optical properties of things. Gloss is how much light reflects or bounces off an item. Light transmission is how much light passes through an item. Mono and fluoro have a higher gloss level as more light would bounce off, making it more visible. When I use braid I don't use a fluoro leader as I feel the braid is less visible, because it reflects less light. When I started tourney fishing, there was no braid, and I always chose the mono that was the dullest looking, and reflected less light. There is a big difference in this, sometimes, even in the same manufacturer.

It actually has nothing to do with gloss or how "shiny" the line is. It has to do with the refractive index of the compound in which the line is made out of, whether it's glossy, dull, or in between has no bearing on visibility underwater. Flourocarbon line has the closest refractive index to that of water, of any line available publically today, therefore it is the least visible.

I myself use braid-to-flouro on everything I use unless I'm rippin' or crankin'. It's just a confidence thing for me, regardless of whether or not the fish can actually see the line. The braid gives you the best sensitivity of any line out there, and the flourocarbon is the least visible and most abrasion resistant. I drew Dee Thomas on the Delta for a BASS Western open about 7 years ago, and he was flippin' with 80 lb braid and catchin' fish, but I really feel it depends on the type of cover that you're flipping, be it grass, rock, bushes, wood, etc etc. To me, the braid-flouro combination gives you the best of both worlds, while being extremely inexpensive because you're only using a few yards of flouro and keeping your braid mainline on for years at a time.


Andy

[Delaney]

Reflection is light bouncing off the surface, and refraction is light bending while passing through an object. I believe the Infisherman article showed that the braided line did not reflect light. Braided line has an irregular surface that doesn't reflect, while mono and fluoro have a flatter surface that can reflect.

[bayscotter]

How long should the flouro leader be? I assume Uni to Uni....

[ScottyJ]

Try 6-8' of leader. Uni uni works fine other people like other knots like the blood knot or tony pena.

[Eric Ocampo]

I havnt had much luck with the blood knot on braid to fluro, it always slips for me.. The uni to uni works great though. Ive been itching to try some hollow core spectra and serve fluro into it, then just keep a needle and some servings in the boat just incase.

[Kelly Ripa]

I have always used a dbl. uni and have had no issue with it. The general rule of thumb for the length of the leader is to keep it short enough that the knot is not in your reel when you make a cast.

[Steve Perkins]

Jazz, For the medium cover your talking about...
Here at Clear Lake when im pitchin down the bank or around docks i use 15lb McCoy Floro 100 or Mean Green in 15lb.
For the thick stuff i will step up to 20lb Floro 100.

I like the way the 15lb comes off the reel with a light Jig, much less effort and smother.

I know it might be risky to use 15lb in some areas, but i always have fresh line unless im just fun fishin.

Plus, I always have a flipin stick with 20lb Floro100 tied on so i just switch if i feel it is getting to thick.

.

[jazzwannabe]

Jazz, For the medium cover your talking about...
Here at Clear Lake when im pitchin down the bank or around docks i use 15lb McCoy Floro 100 or Mean Green in 15lb.
For the thick stuff i will step up to 20lb Floro 100.

I like the way the 15lb comes off the reel with a light Jig, much less effort and smother.

I know it might be risky to use 15lb in some areas, but i always have fresh line unless im just fun fishin.

Plus, I always have a flipin stick with 20lb Floro100 tied on so i just switch if i feel it is getting to thick.

.

Thanks for the info everyone. Keep it comin'.