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3 trips. I took my daughter and we went to Lincoln beach and fished the weedline around the Slough. It was slow at first and we ended up catching about 5, 2-3 lbs. Ended up on a good day. I changed all my lines last year with 8 lb flourocarbon line. We had 6 breakoffs losing 6 large cats. Couldn't believe it.
2nd trip - I took my bro and niece out, same place. The weather cooled and we spent 2 hours with nothing, Finally started doing better and ended up with 4. I changed the lines to 10 lbs stren. I hated that line - its bulky and has a memory.
3rd trip. - last week.I tried to find new areas unsuccessfully. I went straight west about 3 blocks from Lincoln, hoping to untap some larger cats not felt by the population pressure. I mudcat. Cooler 80 degree weather.
Seen carp, had my gig but couldn't get near them. I also forgot to putll my minnow trap in and lost that (the 2nd one I lost). Didn't get any minnows either. I failed to bring worms and whitebass meat, only brought carp meat and dough. That may have been the problem.
Overall, prob should've hit Willard or Yuba or Strawberry.
Any opinions on braided lines? Are you sold on flourocarbon. I think I'll go back to 6 lb.
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I use 20 lb braided line with 8 feet of 13lb florocarbon leader.
It casts great for still waters and rivers, pretty easy to get your stuff un-snagged, and vertical jigs like a dream.
Love it to death!
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For cats I use 12lb trilene xl. You can't horse big cats too hard just steady pressure till they tire. Cats have red muscle which has incredible endurance much like carp. Do a trilene knot. I catch males with a tube jig white bass size, 1 and a half inch tipped with carp, white bass or crawler. Yes I do jig it actively. I've also used 50lb spider wire with a 1/0 gamakatsu offset shank bass hook. This rig you can pull harder lol. Any bait works including bar s hotdogs lol. Got a 19lb channel this way one time when sight fishing lmb. This monster channel floated up and cruised around so pitched it some bait. Watched it slurp it in. 25 min battle even on 50lb braid.
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fluro is b s mono is the way to go....u got a lot more fish years ago,,dont fix it if it anit broke, i fish bass proshops excell thats trilene xl never had a problem its just a markiting scam
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It depends on the fluorocabon. Berkley Vanish is garbage. P-Line 100% pure fluorocarbon is awesome.
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Lots of questions......What brand of floro? Is it 100% floro? Is your line breaking at the knot? In the middle? Up close to the hook?
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Couple of questions !! Where do you store your reels ? in a cool dark place or where they are in sunlight and heat !! Mono and fluro carbon are susceptible to UV and direct sun and heat break them down. Braid does not have any reaction to the UV light, so it lasts longer. Braid is good on spinners, crap on baitcasters. Fluro has lots of memory and is stiffer than barbwire. Use a good mono, store in cool, dry, dark place. The refrigerator with foil around the spool is a good place. Fluro leaders on your braid will give you give you the best of both if you know how to join the lines ( double uni or blood knots ).
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That is expensive to spool an e tire real in flouro. I usually just use it as tippet material. The biggest downside to flouro is that it is prone to heat abrasion in your knots. You gotta spit in it before tightening you knot.
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In my opinion... unless you are trying to throw a very light bait (1/16 oz) go with braid. On the east coast almost everyone uses braid. It is incredibly strong. An egg sinker on the main line, bead, swivel, 10"-30" 15-30lb mono leader, and an appropriate circle hook.
I notice all of this talk about flouro... but is it really required to catch a cat fish? In my experience they are not any bit leader shy.
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I'm with altizerbd. I don't think catfish are line shy at all. I do use fluorocarbon leaders when fishing for trout thought.
Don't forget about copolymer lines as well. Very similar to mono but typically you get better abrasion resistance.
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All of the above. All I know is that I paid about $17 for the spool.
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I'll second the vote that berkley vanish fluoro is junk, never had a line that bad.
I use 10lb braid with 8' of a 10 or 12lb P-line Fluoro ( the expensive stuff) leader and have yet to have an unintended break off in 3 years of bass fishing.
The reason you want to use fluoro is because it's much less visible and incredibly abrasion resistant, much more than your standard mono line.
For cats in murky water though, you probably only care about the toughness of the line though.
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You've tried, Flouro, & Mono, now Try braided line I tell ya on a spinning rod Ill never fish Floro or Mono again braided line is the way to go.
Power Pro or Cabelas Ripcord you can always find either brand on sale and its not much more than a good name brand flouro. Whats great is a 20lbs braided line has a diameter of a 5lbs line but you get the strength of a 20lbs line. Ive bent hooks almost straight pulling them out of the rocks and you don't have to use a leader especially when fishing for Cats or Bass I tie the hook right to braided line.
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Because line is so expensive now, here is a tip to help lessen the overall cost. Get some cotton string, I use package twine, un waxed. On your new spool, wrap string till you are within 1/4 to 3/16ths of an inch of the lip of the spool. Then spool on your line. You should be able to put about 50 - 60 yds on your spool, which is more than enough for most freshwater applications. That way you will get 4-6 refills off of one filler spool ( 200 -300 yds). All the line at the bottom of the spool is wasted and putting that much mono/fluro/braid is a waste. The string also cushions the line, which exerts a great deal of pressure on the spool and can even cause it to split. I am old fashioned and still use mono for most of my fishing. by using string to arbor the spool, I can change my line 3-4 times a year, keep my line fresh, and not have to worry about deteriorating due to sun and such !!
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Braided is not that expensive to resort to cotton string, 150 yard spool of Ripcord Si+ is like 10 bucks. Power Pro runs 12 to 15. and if your buying 300 yard spools of mono your probably spending the same depending on brand. Plus there no need to switch your line out 3 or 4 times a year one spool will last you years with out deteriorating
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Check your guides. If there is a rough spot on one of them it won't matter what kind of line you are using. Also check your drag. You should be able to pull line off smoothly without it catching or jerking. Make sure you store your reels in a place where they are not exposed to sunlight. UV rays can quickly destroy line.Lots of line problems are really caused by something other than the line.
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[quote Therapist]Couple of questions !! Where do you store your reels ? in a cool dark place or where they are in sunlight and heat !! Mono and fluro carbon are susceptible to UV and direct sun and heat break them down. Braid does not have any reaction to the UV light, so it lasts longer. Braid is good on spinners, crap on baitcasters. Fluro has lots of memory and is stiffer than barbwire. Use a good mono, store in cool, dry, dark place. The refrigerator with foil around the spool is a good place. Fluro leaders on your braid will give you give you the best of both if you know how to join the lines ( double uni or blood knots ).[/quote]
I don't think UV breaks Fluorocarbon down. In fact nothing does but many many years. If the Fluoro is not 100% then maybe.
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I tried the new Berkley NANO line on my spinning reels and have fallen in love. I use a little mono or flouro for a leader and have had alot of success. Casts amazing!!
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I use 50lb power pro braid with 40lb mono leader never lost a fish here yet...but then again im used to going after the big cats. Nice thing is if you get snagged on a tree with that stuff you can just pull the tree down ![[Image: happy.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/happy.gif) .
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As I get older and cheaper I started recycling my line. I use bait casters for cats and cycle the line from one to the next so I'm only paying for line for one reel. The first 50yds is used up and stretched from snags and rocks but the other end is brand new no UV nothing. Kind of like a double taper fly line just turn it around. In this case reel it off one onto another. Works great saves money.
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