Over the past number of years, there has been an influx of new products introduced to the fishing game. Lures, rods, hooks, reels and yes even fishing line have all been fortunate to feel the kiss of technology. With that, there is a lot of information anglers have in choice of what to spool their reels with. There seems to be a line category for every style of fishing you may choose to do. But basically, there are three flavors of fishing line you have access to. Monofilament, fluorocarbon and braid, and all of them, if you can believe it perform very differently.

Monofilament (mono) is the old campaigner of the three and is the most common for anglers. Mono is quite stretchy, it is nearly neutrally buoyant and is easy to tie knots with. Some of these properties can be seen as bonuses and some can be seen as drawbacks. Mono is great for anglers who are developing their craft as it tends to be quite forgiving (stretch) if an angler is slow on the hookset or fight.

Fluorocarbon fishing line, though looks similar to mono to the eye is comprised of a variety of different compounds and spun into a single strand of line. It is generally more dense than mono, stretches less and is a lot more abrasion resistant. It sinks faster than mono and is generally more expensive. You feel more with fluoro as it is more sensitive and can sometimes feel “stiff” coming off the reel. Fluoro is basically invisible under water which makes it ideal for leader material or as a mainline.

Braided line provides the most sensitivity of all three, it’s also considered the toughest as well. It’s a tightly bound group of fibres which are highly resistant to breaking and offer nearly zero stretch. This allows for the ultimate in sensitivity to the angler for bites as well as detecting bottom structure. Braided line is ideal for heavy cover situations and slices through weed like a hot knife through butter. Some considerations with respect to braid include decreased diameter per pound test vs fluorocarbon and monofilament, meaning a thinner line with more strength! It requires a special knot (Palomar) to tie hooks, lures and terminal tackle to, and it can cut you very easily. However, the functionality and sensitivity put braid in a class of its own. One drawback to braided line is its visibility in the water. There is no hiding braid.

So how do we use braid and manage to maximize our fishing? Great question! Braid, in my opinion works best sub-surface when it’s matched with a fluorocarbon leader. The properties of the braid and fluoro together maximize sensitivity as well as utilizing the disappearance properties of fluoro. An appropriate length of fluorocarbon tied onto the braid end, in many cases will keep the braid hidden from the fish, or at least at a safer distance so as not to spook them away. But what about attaching braid to fluoro? There are a couple of knots that will attach different kinds of line of different diameters, one is called a uni to uni knot and the other, the easier of the two is called a triple surgeon’s knot. I will use a uni to uni knot when the line diameters of mainline and leader are quite different, but will use a triple surgeon’s knot when the diameters are similar.

Fishing with braid has increased the sensitivity anglers feel when fishing, resulting in more action and more fish in your boat. It will take a little bit of time to get used to the level of feel you have when using braided line, but in the long run, you’ll be able to feel, hook and ultimately catch more fish.