6-8" swimbait line size

[WildDog3]

What size line are you guys using to throw 6-8" swimbaits?

[parker]

I know basically nothing about swimbait fishing but shouldnt you say if it is braid or not cus of the small diameter of braid??

[SethB]

That really depends on a number of things. What baits, Where are you throwing them? Realalisticly how big of bites is the water you are fishing capable of? Are there stripers in the area? All of these should taken into consideration when choosing line size for a particular bait. not trying to confuse anyone. Some baits run much better on smaller diamiter lines. I'm sure there are guys throwing hudds on 15# and 5"& 6" Mattlures on 25#. For the most part I use 25# for 8" baits pretty much any where. for the 6" baits I use anywhere from 12#-25# dependind on the bait and where I'm throwing it.

[Joe W.]

I know basically nothing about swimbait fishing but shouldnt you say if it is braid or not cus of the small diameter of braid??

Most guys throwing big swimbaits don't use braid. Everyone besides Fish Chris are using baitcasting reels. If you're throwing a 4-6oz bait and you backlash on a cast most likely you're breaking the bait off and it's going flying. Braid has no stretch. Also, it's really easy to pull treble hooks out of the fish using braid and the stretch of Mono helps the fish stay stuck once it's hooked.

And to answer the original question. I use 25lbs big game on my 8" baits.

[Cooch]

For plastic swimbaits on a jig head, I am comfortable using 20# Fluorocarbon. For the big hard, surface baits, I prefer to use 85# braid.

[Mike]

*NM*

[fishbonz412]

On Braid, it is thin enough that if you crank down on the drag like many people do, the line will be pulled down between the line on the reel. the next cast, that line will not come out and you get that sudden stop in the spool. it will do the same as the backlash deal.....bye bye bait.

I agree with other posters....depends on what bait and where, but typically no smaller than 20 lb mono, 25 for bigger baits, and consider braid only for wake baits....

[Joe W.]

I know basically nothing about swimbait fishing but shouldnt you say if it is braid or not cus of the small diameter of braid??

Most guys throwing big swimbaits don't use braid. Everyone besides Fish Chris are using baitcasting reels. If you're throwing a 4-6oz bait and you backlash on a cast most likely you're breaking the bait off and it's going flying. Braid has no stretch. Also, it's really easy to pull treble hooks out of the fish using braid and the stretch of Mono helps the fish stay stuck once it's hooked.

And to answer the original question. I use 25lbs big game on my 8" baits.

Learn to cast and you wont get a backlash and break off yor bait!

I've never broken a bait off on a cast. Why? Because I am not using braid. You go ahead and do what ever you want with your swimbaits, I don't care. You know as well as I do that the vast majority of guys throwing 8+ inch baits are not using braid unless it's a topwater bait. So why come in here and try to start **** with me? Oh and you have indeed backlashed before and you will again, if you say otherwise you are full of ****!

[Mike]

*NM*

[Joe W.]

I told you befor jack a$$ I dont use braid for swimbaits either, but its not because of fear of a backlash, its because it sticks out like a sore thumb! Big fish are ALLOT smarter than you!

Allot is not actually a word. A lot, is two words. Smart ***.

Keep this bologna in the lounge and not on this forum. I don't know what your problem is but you're starting to piss me off bringing your crap over here.

[Mike]

*NM*

[Joe W.]

*NM*

[brambo0311]

I use 65 lb braid hollow core. It doesnt bite into the spool like the lighter stuff. Then I just insert a few feet of mono or flourocrabon depending on if it is top water or a diver. Stuff is like a chinese finger trap the harder you pull the tighter it grips the mono. Just a dot of super glue or a overhand knot.

[BassManDan]

brambo, explain a little more, wont you....
Are you talking like what trollers do with lead core line (i.e. remove a bit of lead and glue in some mono) If that be the case, where in the world do you get hollow braid, I have never heard of such a thing (is it hard to find, or have I been living under a rock!

All the best,
BassManDan

[BIG DADDY BLUE RANGER]

25# Big Game most of the time.....

on something like a fish trap I'll drop down to 20,, possibly 15..... on Mission Fish I stick w braid

[SethB]

To all you guys that think you will never cast off a swimbait. I hope you don't but I am willing to bet you will. When I first started throwing 8" and 9" baits I was reading anything and everything I could find about throwing big baits. I wanted to know what Rods, reels, lines, and baits everyone else was using. I kept hearing about guys casting off $30+ baits. I thought to myself "That will never happen to me. How in the world do you break 20-25# line on a cast." I've been fishing my whole life and really thought there is no way I would ever cast off a bait on 25# line. Well I was wrong about 2 years ago I casted off a Brand new hudd.Brand new owner hooks on brand new 25# line. I was in disbeliefe. I didnt lash. I just put to much into the cast heard a pop and watched $30+ sore a 100yrds and slash down in 40' of water. My partner laughed. A week later he did the same thing. Everyone I know that throws swimbaits has done it at least once. Throw them enough and it could happen to you. All I'm sayin' is it does happen be careful.

[BMX Bassin]

Honestly I just started bass fishing again this spring and got about 50 days on ClearLake and never threw off a swimbait. I mostly throw a baitsmith but also a Hudd is the spring. I use 50lb braid. Dark green. I know guys frown on braid but i still caught several fish up to 9.5lb on the swimbait/braid. Never broke a fish off and never a swimbait. I have seen my back seaters do it several times(sometimes with my bait). I was gonna start a poll Swimbaits- mono-braid or flouro. what do you guys think?

[snapitoff2002]

I just bought myself one of those cool Wag Tails by Blackdog-- I am throwing it on 25# CXX. I can tell you right now, that the bait will be flying off if I don't check my knot and retie every hour. I would almost use 30# for that one.

[bassindon69]

I like to think that it's not the size of line I need for a bait, as much as the need for a size of line for the fish that may hit that bait.

Don.

[dockboy]

I use at least 15lb. mono on my smaller swimbaits, usually. I throw a Mattlures on 20lb, and do the same with most of my stuff 5" or over. Really small stuff, like the small Castaic soft baits or the Hudd shad, I use 15 in cover conditions and 12 in open water. Then again, I use a stiff MH for the Hudd Shad and like, so the rod has the right line class to handle lighter line.
But for my 8" or larger baits, its almost always 25lb. Maxima. I've had good results with Triplefish and P-Line CXXX too. I don't like the braid thoguh. I fish a lake down here that is like a mini Delta as far as cover goes... still don't use the braid. Seen too many guys accidentally launch their Hudds into outer space as the result of a backlash in the braid. Believe it or not, once you get into the right casting motions with the big baits, you start sending that bait at velocities much higher than one might think. If that braid so much as even backlashes a bit.. you can almost always count on that bait being a goner. Even 65lb. And the only applications I seem to keep fish on when I'm using braid is flipping, lipless, spooks, and other topwater stuff. With the no stretch in braid, its just too much of a risk at losing a fish or breaking the bait in its mouth too take. The only applications I could see for braid is the 85 that Cooch uses for the Punker ( the braid stays on top of the water better, just like Spook fishing), and Chris with his spinning reels.

[bassindon69]

LOL!!! I was thinking Chris is going to get on this one. Then at the end you put him as one of the applications for braid LOL!!!

Don.

[dockboy]

Yeah, I thought he would come on here too Don. Too bad.. there ain't a lot of things as educating as a talk with Fish Chris.

BTW, anybody wanting a good site for swimbaits and a lot of expert advice, check out the Calfishing forums. Rob and the guys there are some of the best Cali has to offer as big bait fisherman.

[jsoregon]

In actually use 12lb to 15lb Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon for my socal lakes. Nothing for the fish to hang up on so you don't have to worry about anything and the water is super clear.

Around cover I use 20lb Sunline Shooter or braid around real heavy cover.

(795ML swimbait rod gets'er done most of the time too... )

[Mattlures]

I use Maxima Fluoro for all swimbaits except floaters. For my baits I generaly use 20. for 8in baits I use 25. when I bedfish I use at least 25 and sometimes 30. Little baits like shad etc I will go down to 17 or even 15. I hate braid and I would almost rather not fish then to have to use that stuff. Fish Chris will argue that he still gets bit and he uses braid. Its hard to argue with success but I think he would get more bites on fluoro.