FISHING JIGS WITH BRAID

[Phil]

It seem to me that since I have fished my jigs with 20 lb. green braid, the strike ratio has not changed much because of visible line. The difference to me seems to be, my braid breaks more often than did my Trilene big Game green 15 lb. line. Set the hook the other day and came back with no jig.

1. Does a person really need the invisibility of floro. or mono lines?

2. Are my break offs because of rocks in the lake ?

3. I have tried floro, and seems to me it has no knot strength, always breaks at the knot. 14 lb, seems to break like 6 lb line ?

comments please; I like the feel of braid tied direct to jig; but has no abrasion resistence. Spell Check !!!

JIGS

[mark poulson]

I would think you need to go to at least 50lb braid. There is too much impact on the knot with braid to go to anything less, and it doesn't make a difference as far as visual, unless the water is clear.
If you're fishing rock, then it will eat the braid. Tie on a 15lb flouro leader, with an Albright knot.

[drew]

Braid has less axial compliancy then mono-filament. The braid will absorb less of the shock from the hook set (lower energy storage). This will set the hook better, but will also increase the shock load at the knot.

For example if you set the hook with a 20# force on15# mono by the time the load reaches the knot it might only be a 10# force. Technically whats happening is the line is storing some of the force/energy from the hookset and releasing it over a longer period of time. Similar to suspension on a vehicle. Line length is a major factor as well. The longer the exposed length of line, the more energy storage and vice versa.

My recommendation is to use a heavier braid. I prefer 50# braid for lighter cover and 65# for the heavy stuff. If you prefer a thinner braid you might try a lighter action rod or move up to 30# braid which is still many times thinner then 15# BG.

It seem to me that since I have fished my jigs with 20 lb. green braid, the strike ratio has not changed much because of visible line. The difference to me seems to be, my braid breaks more often than did my Trilene big Game green 15 lb. line. Set the hook the other day and came back with no jig.

1. Does a person really need the invisibility of floro. or mono lines?

2. Are my break offs because of rocks in the lake ?

3. I have tried floro, and seems to me it has no knot strength, always breaks at the knot. 14 lb, seems to break like 6 lb line ?

comments please; I like the feel of braid tied direct to jig; but has no abrasion resistence. Spell Check !!!

JIGS

[Nitro5150]

from my experience, line visibilty doesn't really come into play this time of the year. I have been using 25# Trilene floro and my partner is using 65# power pro and getting the expected number of bites from the back of the boat. I use the florocarbon because the females often bite very lightly during the spawn. At least at the Delta, clearer water hasn't dropped his bite count. However, after the spawn, it does seem to make a difference. I fish all my reaction and flip baits with braid, but i go with 20# big game, or something with a little stretch, for my Delta jigs. Most of the other lakes I fish, I stay with the lightest florocarbon line I think I can get away with, often times only 10# or 12# test, because heavy line changes the action of the bait, and summer/fall fish will inspect the bait closely before the decide to eat.

[Mark Pollard]

If you like braid and the feel of it, go with braid and then a Floro carbon leader, its a win win. I personally yous floro for everything except Top Water, then its braid or mono.

[cib11b]

I also recommend the heavier braid.. If you prefer the braid with mono leader use a very small swivel small enough to reel through the eyes with no problems.

I have never personally had my knots break with flouro.. What knot are you tying? Try the polomar knot. It is 100% knot strength and that knot will not break on you if tied properly.


I have noticed a lot of people when using braid think it is indestructable.. and therfore not retie as often as they should when fishing heavy cover. Check your braid ragulary as you would with mono.

[aNNieNsaLTIE]

JIGS,

Use a 4-6' leader! A must especially with that thinner braid lines!

Steven

[12lblargemouth]

I Flip / Pitch braid exclusively, 50# minimum! Like someone said above it is not indestructible and needs to be checked at the knot regularly, whether you are throwing heavy topwater (punker) or flipping jigs in rocks, and wood, it does break down at the knot and should be retied if there is any question! IMO

[Rod Martin]

*NM*

[adman]

The only thing I didn't see mentioned here was the question of what knot(s) you are using with your braid and flouro.

I use the uni or palomar exclusively with both. And flouro seems to be VERY sensitive to the quality of the knot. In other words if you tie a sloppy uni or palomar they will fail, if you pay attention to how you draw them tight making sure the loops are even and not "messy" both knots work very well.

Also with braid in particular you may have to recalibrate your hookset. As has been mentioned, the stuff DOES NOT STRETCH! so every ounce of pressure you exert will be transferred to the bait. Think about scaling back to 75/80% of your old mono hookset.

[Nitro5150]

I will tell one of my secrets from braid. I use a palomar knot for all my braid. I tie a knot first, very tight, then cut both the tag and the main line. I slide the lump of braid to the side of the eye where the eye metal meets the shank. We call it a cushion knot. Then I tie another palomar, obviously just trimming the tag. This prevents the braid from slipping around the eye, and getting cut where the metal meets. I had lost flip fish on the hook set until I learned about the cushion knot, now I don't. simple as that.

[Phil]

Palomar

[Tony Lain]

I've had very good results with lighter braids with a fluorocarbon top shot leader. I also recently started using heavier 65 lb test braid (TORAY hollow braid) with the TORAY fluorocarbon shock leaders in 25 lb or 30 lb test for flip'in and punch'in heavy cover. I'll put it to the true test later this year at the Delta and Clear Lake, but so far it has worked great. No break offs and more bites then the guys fishing in my boat with straight braid. Check out the Blackwater TORAY web page for tips on knots and connecting leaders. EZ tips with photos..

[jwick22]

I am with T. Lain on the TORAY. I have not used the Hollow braid yet but I have been using the Toray Bawo Finesse Braid with somewhat of a short leader(Flouro Upgrade)....Personally I would not use a swivel.....I would learn a good knot and try to perfect it.....I am using the DOuble Surgeon and have not broke off one fish at either knot...The line to line or the line to jig....

Also I was not sure if you were referring to flipping jigs(shallow) or casting jigs into deeper water???????

John

[Phil]

Lakes

[acm95301]

I emailed Phil I while back on this but now that signed up here I'll repost.

On North American Fisherman a show called Knot wars review knot strength and found that the knot itself is the weakest part of the line, and that frequentlythe problem is that the knot unties itself. By using heat to sear the line or superglue to create a bead, the line is unable to pass through the knot. This increaced the knot strengthy by 30 percent.