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First id like to say Hi to all and thank you for the generous amounts of information i have pulled from this site. I have been viewing for a while and now that im fishing a bit more i thought i would ask a few questions.
First what type/rating line are you using? Ive used big game for a while and i either got a bad spool of it or its not as good cause recently its been having a wicked bad memory, to the point when i pinch the line to cast it begins to unspool. I was thinking of switching to either P line or Vanish. (this is on both a 10lb and a 30lb setup).
Second when you short fish with cut bait are you doing a typical fish finder rig or a carolina style rig for stripers?
Thanks in advance for any help!
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I use Seaguar brand line, 10 to 12 lb. I never go lighter then 10 mostly because i have a habit of casting into stuff that normally steals lures. This line has very little memory so you dont get the un-spooling. That and you never know what your going to hook into at mead.
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welcome aboard!!![cool] a lot of the anglers here use P-line, I use 20lb big game or stren hi-impact on my bait rods. and use 10-12lb on my lure rods, I use the heavier line on the bottom due to all the submerged trees and shrubs U can't see.
My normal setup is a "drop shot" or "bottomfish setup" with a 1oz bank sinker on the bottom and a 2/0 circle hook about 12"-18" above the sinker
I will also use a carolina rig, with a fixed upper hook #2 salmon/stealhead mooching leader if I'm soaking whole anchovies on the bottom.
either way will work, I've caught fish both ways.[fishon]
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Sounds like you may have over-spooled the line.
Anyway I fish with Pline 10-12 pound. Some times with the traditional Carolina rig or with just a baited 1/4 oz jig head.
If you want more info come to one of our club meetings or to a weigh-in and ask/listen for information. You can also check out our website.
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What type of reel you have makes the world of difference on line selection.
Open face reels I refuse to go higher than 8lb Trilene Mono and I refuse to use Fluorocarbon on them. 8lb Trilene XL for easy management on spinning reels and cast ability/distance. Plus the stuff just plain works good! Best and more or less most available Mono on the market. You can get it anywhere. Plus I have been using Trilene since I was a wee little one. I have tried every brand of Fluorocarbon and none of them are manageable on a spinning reel. At least to my taste. Just not worth the hassle on a "normal" sized spinning reel. Several of my daughters rods are spooled this way and she has yet to ever lose a fish due to a broken line. 10lb Stripers on down are on her list of catches. This also makes these rods multi-species rods. ie; I don't have to do anything to them when we go trout fishing. Good for squarebills, lipless, topwater, etc. You don't get super depth due to the fact that mono floats. (7' medium spinning rods.)
The spinning rod she uses for deeper cranks I have 12lb Berkley Nanofil. More or less the ultimate in spinning reel line. It is on the spendy side... 12lb Nanofil has the same diameter as 6lb Trilene Mono! It doesn't like line twist so why I don't I have it on the two rods above since we use them for trout lures, etc. Plus it has zero stretch which doesn't fly with fast and hard hitting Rainbows (I get a much higher hook-up success rate on Rainbows using Mono). This line is extremely knot sensitive. ie; there is only ONE knot that works with Nanofil (double Palomar). Use it only. This stuff is thinner and slicker than dental floss. Great for 3XD cranks (10-12ft divers). Killer casting distance. I was initially concerned about how well I can see this stuff under water due to it being a pure white color but I guess fish can't see that color or something to that affect. She has no problem catching well beyond her share of fish on this rod... lol (7' medium rod.)
If I need more strength and for whatever reason I am stuck to a spinning reel then braid is the answer with a Fluoro leader. ie; my daughters primary rod for spinnerbaits/swimbaits which gets cast back into the nasty areas I use 20lb Fluorobraid with a 15lb Seaguar Fluoro leader (7' MedHvy rod). 15lb would be fine here but I had the 20lb laying around and didn't want to waste it.
This might seem odd to some but works extremely well for me. My dropshot rod is a medium light 6'9" rod and I use 10lb Fluorobraid direct to the hook (10lb is so thin I reallllly doubt a fish can see it and if he did I doubt it bothers them since I catch a ton of SMB and LMB visually on this dropshot set-up). I use VMC Spinshot hooks that have a place to tie a line above and below the hook assy. Then a 8lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon line to the sinker. If I get the hook hooked up on something "usually" I can get it out w/o loss. If the sinker hangs up then it typically breaks fairly easy and I only loose a "semi-cheap" dropshot sinker. Extremely sensitive set-up. I can almost feel a fish looking at it. lol
All but one of my Baitcaster reel set-ups have 15lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon on them. I won't fish with anything else on them. Stuff is goooood. Can be a pain to use sometimes but worth it to me. Expensive (~20 buck for 200yds). Semi knot sensitive line. To get the most out of the strength one has to play around with the knots to find one that works well with it. The line is only as strong as the knot... (ie; I don't use a Palomar knot.) Also it is very "bend" sensitive. ie; you put a 180 degree bend/kink in this line you might as well cut everything off past that bend because it will break at that bend. So if you are just learning baitcaster reels not a good choice. If you constantly backlash and make messes in there you will cause lots of 180 degree bends. Not good on this line. I should be using 12lb on my deep diving set-up (15-20ft divers) but to keep things simple in the boat I use 15lb across the board plus there is just too much crap to get hung up on the bottom of this lake so why I stuck with 15lb to keep spendy crank losses down to a minimum. #1 main reason why I use Fluoro is that it sinks and this fact makes a HUGE difference. I know going from 15lb P-Line CX to 15lb Seaguar Fluorcarbon I can get 20-30% more depth out of a crank. #2 is nick resistance. I can toss spinnerbaits into the brush/nasty stuff and drag them out all day and not have to re-tie due to line nicks. Same with dragging cranks up and over rocks, etc. Highly nick resistant.
All of my baitcaster set-ups have a backing on them. Mostly 20lb P-Line fluorocarbon since I hate the stuff and had it laying around from a experiment. lol I put 20-30 yards or so on the reel then tie the good stuff to it and onto the reel. Typically I put 70-80 yards or so of Seaguar Flourocarbon on my reels. It makes a spendy spool last a little longer plus I can't cast that far and I can always chase down a big one with the boat if he ran and I couldn't stop him. 70-80 yards is plenty imo to last one a decent amount of time large and small mouth fishing. At least until the line has done it's time and time to be changed out. Plenty to account for multi lure changes a day for many many months of fishing.
I do use 15lb P-Line CX on my topwater rod set-up. This line is as strong as most 20lb rated lines and it floats which is necessary for topwater baits. 12lb would get me more distance in casts but just haven't gotten around to stocking up on line lately/re-spooling this rod/reel.
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Now with that long one out of the way...
Shore bait fishing and a spinning rod.
Braid (15-30lb) and a fluoro leader. Simple and effective. Strong but no memory issues. Braid lasts and lasts and lasts which equals cost effective. Small line diameter which equals longer casts...
What I would use especially if one was Carolina rigging it. You get hung up you only loose the leader and hook... (Most of the time anyways.)
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I have 3 main rods i use, a lighter 10lb spinning reel, a trolling reel with a baitcaster, and a long plugging rod with a spinning reel. The baitcaster and the plug rod i usually have 25-30lb berkley big game but this last time i had too many line snaps on the casts and the spooling issue. The 10lb worked great, i might just get another batch or try some of the brands mentioned above.
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hey yz , i agree with everything wolfs4evr said , but i don't use anything over 8lb test . striper are a "dead catch" meaning once they are hooked they just don't put up much of a fight , i try to get em un-hooked & set free before they die as quick as possible . to me 20lbs & 30lbs is for fish that just don't live in Lake Mead . your idea on using several poles is the way to go ! good luck bro's !
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Yea I think I forgot to mention the 30lb rods are mainly for casting AC plugs at willow. So I'll stick to the lines I have now. Thanks for all the info!
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