Tonight while fishing with Throwing Timber we located quite a few fish in the surf that wanted light colored bomber's. To the point where we were getting strikes almost every cast.

The problem we were having was every fish was either never getting hooked or would pull off at some point during the fight.
My conclusion was this was all caused by the braid having no stretch!!

Anyone else have this happen?
I even had one decent fish strip off quite a bit of line only to stop and run again only to pull off!!!

If you have experienced this. Have you thought about going to a 8-10' leader tied with an albright?
And if so did this help?
Otherwise I am going back to mono for this application from now on?

:af: :af: :af: :smash: :af:

How sharp are your hooks? Sometimes a little file work can be all that it takes.

You are right, braided line is great for sensitivity and hook set, but if you tighten the drag too much the hook will wear a hole in the hook area, then as soon as you slack the line you run the risk of dropping the fish, I use leader on braided all the time without any of the problems you are describing, also try to keep your drag set a little less, don't put the boots to him.
A lot of the guys using braided for tuna are using 25 yds of Flouro Leader material, with the tuna as well as any fish part of the drag system is in the stretch of the line as well as the action of the rod. Just look at a fly rod, the rod itself is a big part of the drag on the fish.

I lost 2 fish in the high 20lb class this year because of braid... But on the flip side, when I use mono I miss alot of hooksets. I think the Yozuri Hybrid is the perfect tradeoff between the two-

I think the advantages of braid outweigh the advantage of stretch in mono. I started using braid this season and I can now feel the slightest hits that I could not feel with mono. Line capacity is a lot greater and distance on casts is greatly improved. I did have a lot of missed hits one time this season but I think that was more they would hit it and drop it quickly being fussy nothing to do with using braid.

I had the same problem when I started using 50# PowerPro.I now use a six foot mono leader and set the drag a little light. No more misses. If I'm near structure that I don't want a fish to get into, I set the drag back to normal (heavy), and take my chances on missing the hookset. No problems on that end either. I like braid, unless it's very windy. Then I use the mono spool.

Originally posted by bud8fan
Tonight while fishing with Throwing Timber we located quite a few fish in the surf that wanted light colored bomber's. To the point where we were getting strikes almost every cast.

The problem we were having was every fish was either never getting hooked or would pull off at some point during the fight.
My conclusion was this was all caused by the braid having no stretch!!

Sounds more like a case of the fish hitting short, not whether you're using braid or mono.

They're only tagging them lightly trying to stun. Did you drop your rod tip and let it drift a bit? (Problem with that and bombers if you're fishing them below the surface then they float up and the fish does a :confused: half the time)

In the issue of hooking them short right in the lip is whether its braid OR mono, you're probably gonna drop the fish regardless unless you get lucky.

Fish hit short sometimes, change up your technique of fishing the plugs/lures to piss em off and get em to strike harder.
ie: short jerks to get the bomber to dig and dart, work em right on the surface, fish em fast/slow/fast/slow/fast/slow. Something will drive em to SLAM the lure. :D

Got them to commit after you left:laughs: :bshake: :hihi:

:laughs:

when i fish bombers, i set the hook like a maniac. try that.

Its all about the drag!! You will have to fight the fish to get him in!! No horseing him in like with mono!!

I agree Maco!! I have set my drag very light on my canal setup with 50# Spiderwire and have only lost 1 fish due to a break not sure on what, I suspect maybe the knot I tied came undone.:(

i fish in alot of rocks i fish rough stuff what braid would be good for me

thanks

TT/Bud8... was it where I saw you??
B

This is what ive concluded about braid so far...

Power pro is great but youre gonna lose a lot of fish when fishing around rocks. It seems to have the least amount of strech of all the braids. I think spiderwire stealth is a MUCH better braid for around the rocks than power pro, its much more abrasion resistant, and seems to have a very slight amount of strech to it.

As far as the fish coming unhooked I've had it happen too, but all on eels this year. I'm pretty sure I just must have barely hooked the fish in the first place, or hooked it in the wrong place in the mouth. When the fish is hooked in the wrong place braid or mono probablt wont land it after a long fight.

Now with a treble hook and plugs... i guess you sometimes get the short strikers or small fish. As Christian says "setting the hook like a maniac" works. I think some of these better fish, which have very powerful mouths hold onto the plug so tight that the initial hook set might not even puill the plug hard enough through the fishes mouth to hook it. I konw it makes a difference sometimes to give the fish mulitple hooksets. Jsut because the fish hits the plug doesnt mean it can be hooked in the right place while doing so.

The part about wearing a hole in the fishes mouth... Depending on where you hook the fish it could happen, like inside the mouth. But any big fish thats hooked in the jaw... i dont think any holes get worn in it big enough to rip the jaw. Those bigger bass have the toughest mouuths around. I know some guys who use upwards of 100# test braid that have taken many big fish on it and their #1 concern is always break offs from the rocks. They winch their drags down, and none are concerned with wearing a hole in the fishes mouth if its hooked well ot begin with. The mentality is that those monster basss are so powerful and strong, you need to try to keep them from breaking you off. Even with the heaviest of tackle the monsters still usually win the battle.

RIRockhound,

Yes it was!

I use braid only for 7 years now and no problems. for everywhere but the canal its 35 pb cortland Spectron on an Abu BG6500CL. Sometimes a 6500CS Mag. Yopu definitely need a leader. I think at least 3 feet and better about 6 to 8 feet.

I never have a problem. Landed some fish that were hooked by lip skin only.