Over millennia many materials have been used to make fishing line. For a long time, fishing line was made with silk.
Nylon was invented By DuPont manufacturing in 1938 and by the next year in 1939, DuPont was marketing nylon monofilament fishing line. Braided fishing line came soon after. One of the first types of braided line was Dacron
As the name implies, monofilament fishing line (mono) is made of a single strand of material. Most monofilament line is made from a type of nylon.
Today there is a plethora of different types of braided fishing line made with numerous types of materials to produce diverse products that are designed to meet specific fishing applications. Braided line is also just as its name implies. It is made of several strands of lines that are braided together to create a stronger line because of the additional strands used to manufacture the line.
As good as having several lines braided together to make a line that is stronger than equivalent mono line. Braided has very little stretch, virtually no memory, and has excellent abrasion resistance. However, braided line comes with some issues.
One of these difficulties is braided line is inherently very slick. Other concerns are that, because of its strength, braided line can be difficult to break if you become snagged. It can easily cut you if you allow it to rub across you hand or try pulling on it with your hands to get off the snag. If you try cutting it with a tool that is not sharp or not designed to cut braid, you are going to end up with an end that is frayed and will make it difficult to tie a knot with because of the frayed end. Some of the knots you have been using to hold and connect your tackle with monofilament might not work with braided line. You will need to learn how to tie a Palomar knot. Braided line will usually be a higher price line to purchase. Braided line’s outer shell is a harder surface that mono. For this reason, braid can actually cut into cheap guides.
Because of braided line’s problem of the outer skin or surface of the braid being slick, the line can be hard to hold onto your reel spool. It can “slip” under a hard pull and it will not allow the reel’s brake to work properly because of this.
To combat this tricky characteristic, you have to rethink how you spool your reel.
Here is what to do: use a cheaper monofilament, similar diameter sized, fishing line to begin spooling your reel. Attach the mono line to your spool with an Arbor knot. Put enough mono onto your reel to cover the spool surface, and then attach your braided line of choice to the mono line using an Albright knot. Now just fill the spool of the reel and you are ready to catch fish.
With the need to relearn some of your fishing line knowledge and problems to use braided line, you might think, why use it. There are many benefits to using braid that many people feel are worth making the jump to braid.
One of the many advantages of braided fishing line is that you can double dip. After a winter long hiatus the monofilament line that has been resting on your reel will have a load full of memory. The mono will come off your reel in bunches of round slinky like clumps. Braided line has no such bad behavior, as I stated, braided fishing line has no memory. But a year of fishing can take its toll any type of line, even braided. Yet the braided line at the center of your reel spool will still look and act like new. Pull all the line out until you get back to the original Albright knot that you are using to connect the braid to the mono line. Attach the braided line that came off the reel first, the weathered end of the braid, to the mono line with an Albright knot and reel in the year old braided line. Now, the end of the basically unused braided line that was at the center of your spool is now the unweathered new looking line at the top of the spool, ready for this year’s fishing season. You added another year of use from your braided line, with no additional cost.
Every fishing application is different. There are many reasons and times when monofilament might be the optimum line to use. But there are also advantages and strong motives to use braid. Be willing to experiment and give braid a try. I am sure you will be very happy with the results.
Fish Big or Go Home
Bryan Mellage