Is braid absolutely necessary for soft plastics?

sloth
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Re: Is braid absolutely necessary for soft plastics?

Post by sloth » Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:37 pm

No one going to mention gliss ? :)

Braid isn't necessary but it does transmit vibrations better than fluro/mono so you'll get more feel - and it's not just detecting bites - it's feel of the bottom structure, if you're going through weed/sea-grass etc as well as any bumps/takes. With zero stretch it's also better at punching a single hook through on a strike - especially if there's a bit of line out.

If I'm doing an sp only session I'll take a braid outfit, but I often fish softplastic on straight through fc on my hardbodies outfit if nothing is happening on the hards. I do definitely feel a disadvantage though, but I can't say it translates into less fish just more it doesn't feel right and I don't like not being able to feel as much going on.

I should add a lot of my soft plastics fishing is dragging the lure along the bottom and feeling the terrain I'm fishing so I can target specific features - much much harder doing that on fc.

One massive benefit to not using braid is no leader knot. There's nothing that f_&# with my karma more than having to tie an fg knot on the bank of a river.

Braid casts further too in my opinion it's also better if you're fishing with some slack in your line - you'll see movement in that line much clearer with coloured braid than with a clear fc/mono.

So I guess it depends on how you like to fish :) no right or wrong answer. Try both - see what you prefer.

Stumpjumper
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Re: Is braid absolutely necessary for soft plastics?

Post by Stumpjumper » Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:17 pm

sloth wrote:No one going to mention gliss ? :)
Yeah I've used it and found it casts like there's no tomorrow and gives good feel like braid. I reckon knots are a bit suspect with a bit of use and it doesn't handle shock loads well.

skronkman
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Re: Is braid absolutely necessary for soft plastics?

Post by skronkman » Fri Jan 12, 2018 7:07 am

Stumpjumper wrote:
sloth wrote:No one going to mention gliss ? :)
Yeah I've used it and found it casts like there's no tomorrow and gives good feel like braid. I reckon knots are a bit suspect with a bit of use and it doesn't handle shock loads well.
I used it too once. It casts amazingly well but has next to zero abraision resistance and I kept snapping lines off for what seemed like no reason. Often 10/20/30 meters from the end. Very frustrating. I think I went 2 sessions with it before it went in the bin.

mikehammer
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Re: Is braid absolutely necessary for soft plastics?

Post by mikehammer » Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:11 am

Woah, thanks for all the replies!

piscateur
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Re: Is braid absolutely necessary for soft plastics?

Post by piscateur » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:52 pm

Braid is not necessary to catch fish. But I've found it helping me to catch more fish. As Sloth mentioned you can tell the difference in substrate you're fishing etc. What is critical on some occasions is telling the difference between a small fish bite and a large fish gently bumping/nosing your placcy, and then going on to converting this to a hookup by adjusting retrieves etc. You feel soo much more with braid that for me it makes it necessary for Placcy fishing.

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