Fishing techniques comes down to personal preference. Everyone has an opinion, and these are mine when it comes to the ins and outs of fishing line.
Choices in line vary just as much as vehicles anymore these days. The latest and greatest feature more color options than you can shake a stick at, and what feels like an endless supply of brands and varieties.
Monofilament:
Starting off the list would be monofilament. Old trusty. The line most of us caught our first fish on. Nightcrawler and bobber style fishing with grandpa’s ole trusty Zebco 33. You know, the one with the bent handle.
Monofilament can be very versatile across the board when it comes to techniques and styles of fishing. Anglers use it for flipping and pitching, burning a buzzbait, or even cranking a lipless rattlebait along a weed edge. It can do it all, for the most part.
There is a line that will far out-perform mono for punching heavy vegetation or throwing hollow body topwater baits. We shall get to that shortly.
Fluorocarbon:
Next on the list would be fluorocarbon. Fluoro is my personal choice for the majority of my battlesticks. It has less stretch, increased sensitivity, and better abrasion resistance, which are just a few reasons why I spool up the majority of my reels with it. While not as versatile as mono, the advantages gained from fluoro far exceed the cons.
For instance, fluoro will get your billed crankbait into its running depth faster and keep it there longer than mono. That’s because fluorocarbon sinks, unlike mono, which floats. Getting to the right depth faster and staying there longer equates to your lure remaining in the strike zone longer.
When you are bouncing a Texas-rigged plastic on fluoro, you will learn the different textures between a rock and a stump. With mono, you will just feel “structure.”
Lastly, fluoro is harder to see for fish that live in clearer water conditions. I’ve noticed this to be a major benefit over time.
The downside is that fluoro fails when it comes to topwater presentations for me. The prop of a buzzbait will pull up faster with mono than it will with fluoro. If a buzz bait is slower to rise up, that equates to less time in the strike zone.
Braid:
Braided line is the next major one used in fishing. When it comes to “jungle fishing”, braid will always be my first choice in my arsenal. Abrasion resistance on braid is second to none. Throwing frogs or hollow bodied rats into lily pads or weedy banks on braid cannot be matched by any other line. You could not have a more trusted item between you and your bait.
Braid also takes a top position for me in another form of fishing: Carolina-rigging. Making such long casts you need that lack of stretch and increased sensitivity to hook old bucket mouth in the lips to winch ‘em to the boat.
Summary:
In closing, this is simply how I run my set-ups. What works great for me might not for you, and vice versa. The most important thing at the end of the day is just getting out there and fishing with hopes of hooking into that new personal best. Along the way you’ll figure out what you like the most and develop a confident routine in your equipment.
Get out when you can, and as often as you can. As an old timer once told me “If you aren’t casting, you ain’t catching!”
Happy fishing and tight lines, friends!