Mono vs braid for drift fishing

G
Grant23
I am currently set up with 25lb mono for drift fishing for Salmon on costal rivers. I see that many fisherman swear by using 50lb+ braid.
What are the pros and cons of switching to braid for drift fishing?
Any personal experiences?
 
A
autofisher
While braid is very sensitive and the size of it makes it appealing, it has some down sides. It can be a pain to work with, it'll eat your reel, and at least for me it seemed like it frayed too easily. The mono works just fine. And a lot of people that I know prefer it. Most of the old guys on the coastal rivers and streams use it because they horse the fish in. Chances are, if it's a local (easily spotted due to the field goal mouth......Two teeth on bottom and a brown nasty one splitting the uprights on top) and they have a 6 foot or more leader with two decent sized corkies, they are wingin it out there and just waiting for the fish to swim into thier line.
 
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M
metalmania
Either will work, although I only run mono for drifting. It's more personal preferance than anything.
 
A
adambomb
I prefer braid because of casting ability, but I always tie on at least 24" on mono line when drifting. My favorite thing about braid is the super low memory. But like autofisher said, it has its downsides. As soon as I find a mono that meets my standards, I will probably switch. I tried 12lb P-line CXX this summer and hated it, way too much memory.
 
A
Anyfishisfine
I'm far from an expert, but I've used both. I love braid, it's awesome to fish with, but the problem I have with it is that it tends to float. It was for me almost impossible to get small spinners where I needed them, and when drifting I felt it took well into my drift to get my offering in "the zone".

I ended up keeping braid on my bait caster and using it for float fishing, and using P-Line on my spinning reel for spinners and drifting.

If it weren't for that one factor I'd never use anything else because it is superior in every way IMHO.
 
K
Kodiak
Anyfishisfine said:
If it weren't for that one factor I'd never use anything else because it is superior in every way IMHO.
I agree , It can also constrict your spool with superiority, to the point of crushing it, It has vastley superior ability to rats nest 4 or 5 layers down, eats eyelets, and lets guess what happens when 65# nook hits the end of a backlash of 90# braid with a full head of steam....I've seen it...it aint pretty...and you can see it better too...if I can see it than quess what else can too! About the only time I think braid is ok is bobber fishing or sturgeon, other than that its junk. IMO.
 
M
Mike123
For me braid is only for bobber fishing...
It floats.
It doesn't stretch.
If you break it off in a hole, I and many others will be !@#@!$.
You can see it under water.
Has a LOT of drag in the current.
Takes more weight to get down.

Those are my reasons I dont like it for drift or hardware fishing. :D
 
J
JSpencer
I very much like my 20# power pro braid for spinners. It casts like a dream and is very small in diameter.

However...its crap for drifting, the lead always gets tangled in the main line, which means im going to have to set up my spinning reel with mono again.
 
H
halibuthitman
I used to like braid... until this summer, moochin for silvers in kodiak... leanin back, lightin a smoke, cracked a beer.. finger resting on my line for feel... turned to hand my friend a smoke..... BLAM 75 lb lingcod gave me 3 stitches in 100000 millionth of a second, so I pulled the crap off and loosened my drag... haven't broke a fish off since. I still use it to drift with a bobber off my flyrod, it has never done any damage to the sage guides, and I like that I can see it in the water... thats just one of the reasons i use a leader.
 
T
troutmasta
I like braid. If visibility is an issue just run a nice mono leader.
I've done that for spinners and bobbers.
 
S
steelhead_stalkers
You don't have to swing for the fences when using braid! :lol:
 
L
luv2fish
Mike 123 is the only guy who practically reasoned it.

Braid is good for bobber or if your on a boat...pulling plugs or spinner...

for drift fishing...its the mono's weight and the point of breaking which keeps the monopoly of mono with thousand of anglers like us...it sinks faster than braid...and because of considerable diameter ( it can be thin..it doesn't matter but relative ratio to the test strength of line) the current allows mono to go in a straight fashion unlike braid which because of its very very thin nylon will not go as per the current...and sometimes coil up....

now since i'm selling fishing weights and swivels to some of the biggest names here in united states, i'm not gonna open the name cuz of my work exclusivity and confidentiality but the company official himself told me one time that it was designed for boaters mainly....

however there's always an alrternate or a lil improvised alternate which comes with the very tendency of adaptability....means its good for bobber and bank fisherman are very much benefited by this property of braid when using bobber...i myself use braid on a lil spinning outfit when using bobbers.

for drift fishing the nuisance of hung up is also very well handled by mono as compared to braid.

i never keep myself restricted to one kind and one should be readily adaptive when it comes to fishing...

my only reason i don like braid sometimes is that even mono seems much thicker the effects of braid on environment are more negative as compared to mono...mono polymer is very diffusable or breakable...over a certain period of time but braid...its practically undestroyable..
 
kirkster
kirkster
Im not here to say one is bad or one is better. I do know I switched to braid two years ago for drift fishing and I love it. The sensativity is awesome I've hooked a lot more fish due to that. And since I've switched I lose a lot less lead. I run a slider swivel on the main with a slinkie a couple beads and a barrel swivel and mono leader. Honestly I've fished hard for a ten hour day and lost maybe five slinkies most hang ups I will just lose the leader. And I have those pretied ready to go so its one quick knot and I'm back fishing. Thats just my opinion.
 
M
Mike123
kirkster said:
Im not here to say one is bad or one is better. I do know I switched to braid two years ago for drift fishing and I love it. The sensativity is awesome I've hooked a lot more fish due to that. And since I've switched I lose a lot less lead. I run a slider swivel on the main with a slinkie a couple beads and a barrel swivel and mono leader. Honestly I've fished hard for a ten hour day and lost maybe five slinkies most hang ups I will just lose the leader. And I have those pretied ready to go so its one quick knot and I'm back fishing. Thats just my opinion.

What size braid do you run for winter steelhead drifting?
I think I may try it just to see if I like it.
I just know that drifting 65lb braid is a PAIN in my arse.
 
kirkster
kirkster
Mike123 said:
What size braid do you run for winter steelhead drifting?
I think I may try it just to see if I like it.
I just know that drifting 65lb braid is a PAIN in my arse.

I run 50# XP if you decide to try it out its best to have it filled at fishermans than doing it yourself it ran me around 15 bucks to fill my citica and the last time I had them fill it they stripped off down to unused and tied in and that ran me about 7 bucks.
 
J
JeannaJigs
I have a reel with mono and a reel with braid...designated for floating jigs. Otherwise if I'm drifting, it's all about the mono. But braid in my opinion is far superior to mono in float applications, just because it creates no drag and you get a perfect presentation easier than with mono.
 
B
BobberDown
i like braid for float fishing particlerly 14 pound fire line hi vise and i like mono to drift fish with like sufix siege it is a good main line and maxima untra green leaders but sme times i like to drift fish with my jig rod in low water condishons like we had this fall i run a 12 foot mono bummper bye tieing it to the braid with a nail knot than i use a sliding slinky a bead than a barel swizle and so on. but i do love how it feels i will also run that same set up to side drift a lot the benifit is you get the streck of mono and abrashoin resitance of mono but the sencietivite of braid not to menshoin it cast and drifts so smooth for those cat clear acrose the river your mono bumper will stay down in the water and the braid will float or stay hight inthe water colum so when you set the hook the braid lifts up out of the water faster for a better hook set i also use that set up for useing small fixed floats with nothing but a jig it cast so good hope that helps
 

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