Is braid absolutely necessary for soft plastics?

[skronkman]

I like and use braid for SP and hard bodies. I like to go as light as possible (that I'm confident with) for the target species and then use a length of appropriate mono for shock leader and abraision resistance. I'm not a firm enough believer in fluorocarbon at its price to justify its use. I do have have some and use it sometimes but I don't buy it anymore.

Braid is absoluteluty NOT necessary for lure fishing of any kind. Plenty of people caught all the same fish we catch today on lures before braid even existed. It's a preference thing. Braid comes with its own problems, issues, costs to go along with its advantages.

As you become more advanced in technique and finness you may decide to try braid and possibly prefer it (as I and many others have found on this thread) but if you are just starting out then braid is not the weakest link in your chain between catching and not catching fish on artificials.

Check a few YouTube channels for the basics of SP retrieve styles, this will help an SP beginner catch more fish without question.

Now go and tie on a curl tail grub and get flicking.

[bowl]

fishing soft plastics with mono/fluorocarbon is like eating a porterhouse with chopsticks

Soo almost impossible ?

[Kimtown]

fishing soft plastics with mono/fluorocarbon is like eating a porterhouse with chopsticks

Soo almost impossible ?

Idk I just wanted to say an analogy too lol

[Basti]

braid is necessary for bite detection in my opinion. you're not relying on feeling the fish take, though you will most of the time. you're looking for abnormal ticks and behaviour in the line. it's less of a contact form of fishing than hardbodied luring where braid can be a disadvantage.

[Paul Foot]

Braid is excellent, very thin, light and casts soft plastics brilliantly. Given up flurocarbon leaders though and just use mono now as fluro seemed brittle and not worth the money.

[dazz999]

braid is the way to go better casting distance feel every hit you know when your got weed on i use sunline flurocarbon leader went back and tryed a mono leader not for me more hookups on fluro

[davek]

I don't have any trouble using mono with SP's, it's all in your heads, cheers davo

[ratbag]

I guess I'm the blue ray chopsticks and steak man!

I use both braid & fluro for plastics. I have some light rods with small guides & the fluro is best for them. there is no requirement to use braid, as others have said you do get a better feel for bites, I believe I get a better hook up rate with fluro in the areas I fish. tested many times when out with others in my tub. I also fish lite lines - 3 & 4lb fluro so I enjoy a longer fight on the large flatties, pinkies, bream & eps.

Its what you make of it.

you can have your steak & eat it with chop steaks! A lot of ppl do

[Truedogz]

I don't have any trouble using mono with SP's, it's all in your heads, cheers davo

Braid is absoluteluty NOT necessary for lure fishing of any kind. Plenty of people caught all the same fish we catch today on lures before braid even existed. It's a preference thing. Braid comes with its own problems, issues, costs to go along with its advantages.

Lots of wisdom there in those two quotes - and I have witnessed first hand just how masterful Davo is at catching redfin on sps.

I think to some degree it depends of the line weight, types of lures, whether using a spinning reel or baitcaster etc.

For what it is worth I grappled with the same problem a few months ago and had a thread about it. I went from braid to mono on my spinning reel for trout/reddies and hated it due to stretch and loss of sensitivity - with the braid you could really feel the blades turn on the spinner. The stretch really peeved me off.

Mepstas suggested a couple of lines including Flourokote which I purchased from the USA - I haven't given it a good workout yet. From a bit of research I came up with a flourocarbon line well suited to spinning reels and lower stretch than mono - Seaguar invizx. I have been using 8 lb on my spinning reel and have been very impressed - not quite as sensitive as braid but way better than mono with low visibility. I have got some 17 lb and 6 lb which I haven't really used yet.

I'd rate the invizx as quite good for the light sps I have been using such as strike tigers with good casting ability and few wind knots (don't overfill the spool). The advantage of course is you don't need a leader knot but you do have to well test each knot tied to a hook. It is supple enough that blood and improved cinch knots hold as well as traditional palomar for flouro.

I will trial the 6 lb in the coming weeks and if it performs as well as the 8 lb I'm converted. Perhaps not quite as good as braid for sensitivity but still pretty good!

What sort of fish are you targeting? If it is trout, redfin, bream or bass in the 3-5 kg line class then the invizx might be a good line to look at.

Best Wishes

Truedogz

[Stumpjumper]

Braid is excellent, very thin, light and casts soft plastics brilliantly. Given up flurocarbon leaders though and just use mono now as fluro seemed brittle and not worth the money.

My thoughts too mate. I just use a quality mono leader these days and won't be going back to fluro at all. A lot of new types of monotex lines showing up these days too.