Question re Braid

[goldnugget]

Hi all, hope everyone can get out and enjoy the brief occasional pockets of fishing weather over the holidays.

I have a question regards to braid lines.

In Aldis last fishing sale I managed to pick up some of their braid and spooled it up. This is my first experience using braid, and I think overall I am happy using it over mono. Yesterday I picked up some braid on low tide that someone had snapped off on rocks, and compared it to my braid.

The braid I found looks thinner in diameter but seems more stiff than the Aldi brand braid. The Aldi braid seems very ...supple?....sort of like dental floss, and I am finding that when flicking plastics it seems to knot itself for no apparent reason here and there. Sometimes the knots are so subtle that the only time you know there is a problem is when casting out and sometimes it catches on the guides or on the spool, then I have to cut it out and re-rig.

Is this a comon thing with all braids or is the soft supple Aldi braid more prone to this sort of thing?

I like the feel of using braid..feeling taps on the bait through the rod without seeing the tip move is an experience I didnt expect, but if other braids do the same thing (self knotting) then I can see it getting expensive really quick.

Wondering your thoughts on braid in general, as well as experiences with Aldi braid. I am using a regular spinning reel.

Thanks in advance,

Jay

[Joel Eadie]

hey mate its possible that you picked up fireline. its alot stiffer im not a fan of it though. what colour was it? and could you seperate the strands?

[dassa]

Hey Jay,mate I have never used the aldi brand braid but have heard people say it's not worth the plastic its spooled on.

There are time's when even the better braids(fins or fireline) will get wind knots from trying to get a long cast in when using light weight jig heads or lures.With braid the diamiater is smaller then mono and that is why braid fells like cotton, just have a look next time you are in your locial tackle shop at see what the 2lb feels like.

Mate if you can strech the budget I would go for a trusted name in braid for me I have never had fins fail on me YET and I have been using it for about 4 or 5 years good luck and merry xmas.

cheers dassa

[goldnugget]

I did a reply but seems to have been lost in transit...oh well..

The line I found is yellow, I dont seem to be able to readily seperate it, it seems tightly wound and consistent in diameter. The Aldi braid seems loose in comparison, even developing flatspots, if I can call it that, when its wet it seems to loose shape and flatten out.

Also holding both strands up to hang out, the Aldi line seems to drop almost straight down where as the line I found travels down more gradually over maybe an inch, indicating to me that maybe a change to this sort of line may alleviate some of my problems.

[Do$tylz]

hey mate.. you're getting the inevitable "wind knot".

What helps cause wind knots?

- Cheaper braid (more memory, less knot resistence, inconsistent diameter etc)

- bad leader knots (using heavier leader (4lb braid to 8lb leader) and then not tying a good thin knot will cause wind knots and guide wraps during a cast)

- cheaper gear.

- wind

- loose line while winding in

What can you do to alleviate the issue (you will never fully stop it)?

- better braid. I've found fireline is sufficient for the majority of people. I've found Frog PE to be the best that I've tried... but at close to $90rrp a spool of 150m its a bit exxy.

- take your time tying good leader knots and try not to have a large jump between braid and leader size. The smallest bump in the line causes the line to slow down as its going through the guides and catch at that point but the braid directly behind will continue moving forwards thus causing a knot... terrible explanation of that but thats the best I can do in a short space.

- better gear means better line management. A better rod with better guides help the line exit quickly and smoothly. A better real manages the line better. Even line lay across the spool and the bail arms control the line better as well.

- wind.... be very aware of your line during each cast and retrieve in higher winds. Or just avoid windy days

- loose line while winding in - try and minimise that as much as possible. Again better gear will handle loose line better, but you can play a part yourself by trying to keep the line as tight as possible each time you retrieve. You'll find more knots during plastics fishing than hard body fishing (well at least thats what I've found).

Hope that helps you a bit mate.

[rosstralia46]

unfortunately mate the good gear costs money but there is some helpful info from henry but the aldi stuff is probably $#!t and theres probably no point using it find some nice braid and you dont have to fill your whole spool put half mono uni to uni knot and then braid

[fishingfon]

hey gold nugget, if you want a good braid for as little as possible then go on to ebay and type in power pro, and set it to would wide search, i have got 300m of 5lb braid on there for about $30 inc postage, i have been using it for about 2years and it is grate stuff

Cheers Corey

[goldnugget]

Thanks for the tip, will keep an eye out. I wasnt worried too much about paying more for a better line, I guess more so wondering if those pesky little knots will appear at the same rate or level as the Aldi braid. I have nboticed though that even at even parity to the US dollar, our imports havent really come down in price have they?

[tangles]

Good advice from Do$tylz there. One more thing I would add to that.

My spin reels all fall into the medium price range and I've noticed they have a tendency to lay a loose loop on the spool if I use the automatic bail trip. That is, if I make a cast and simply wind the handle to flip the bail back, that first revolution of the bail will occasionally lay a loose loop on the spool that will come back to haunt me later on.

I have now aquired the habit of closing the bail manually. I also give the line a quick tug with my free hand to snug the line on the spool and seat it in the roller before retrieving. I know that sounds like a pain in the butt, but it takes a split second and I don't even notice I do it now. I can't recall the last time I had a wind knot, they're rare for me now. I use fireline on most of my spin reels.

I also bought some of that aldi stuff when they had it marked down to $10 a spool. It appears to be a 3 strand weave which gives it that flat ribbon profile. Haven't used it on a spin reel, but I have it on a baitcaster and its not the worst braid I've tried but far from the best.

The worst braid I ever tried, I think was called Berkley Gorilla braid. It had a core of fibres bundled together with a casing woven around the outside. The slightest abrasion would cause the casing to part and slide up the line exposing the inner fibres. I don't think they make it any more, and for good reason.

[daveylad]

I tried the Aldi braid last year, seemed okay fishing in the Noosa river with the odd tangle since then i've replace it with better quality and I cant honelstly say its been any differenct for tangles or knotting, I've had tangles and nests in my good stuff too. I've caught bigger fish but thats probably because I've been in open waters, I guess you get what you pay for, last one I bought was on Ebay but I bought a BerkeleyFireline Braid really fine and rounded from now on I'm sticking to more well known brands or what others recommend on the site.

[goldnugget]

Thanks Tangles for the tip. I always manually flip the bail (I hate crunching it), but a good tip to keep the line tight on the spool and will try and get into that habbit. Overall I think I am happy with the braid (compared to mono anyway), the only main thing that bugged me were the wind knots. I have the 20 lb line which has good strength on weight and sensitivity, but slices so easily on rocks (when I stuff up a cast now and again).

Thanks to everyone for their input on this matter, I have a couple of ideas on the loose line issue, will report back if I succeed.

Have a good Chrissy everyone, and stay safe.