Casting reels & braided lines

[parker23]

I use conventional casting rods/reels 90% of the time. I have 3 Shimano Calcutta’s . In the spring/summer I used 50# Power Pro on all. One morning I was making a lot of short casts and before long all 3 had the nastiest rats nests. The only time I have this problem is w/ short casts.

So, I went home and ripped all the PP off the reels and replaced w/mono. Same issue, short casts resulted in rat nests galore. After a few weeks using mono, I switched 1 of the reels back to PP braid and realized how much I missed casting and fishing w/ braid.

I learned how to fish w/conventional gear as a kid and all we used was mono. Most of my fishing was done from the beach, so short casts were not a real issue. However, I took 18 years off to do the fly-fishing thing and now I am re-learning conventional gear.

Am I doing something wrong? Is PP a good braid? Is there a better braid for plugging? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Spring is just around the corner!

[fcap60]

I tried a lot of combinations and now I primarily use mono on my conventional reels. You may want to give Ande Backcountry a try. I started using it this year on the advice of others and I really like it.

[numbskull]

Calcutta 400 does well with 20lb fireline. More likely, however, your backlash is related to the short cast. Probably the lure is landing before the loosened line from the inital acceleration hasn't all run off the spool, so each cast results in further loosening of the line beneath what has been cast.

[Tagger]

I'm giving it one more try with fireline .. I've cut brand new PP off my spool twice when I had a break-off, after line dug down in the spool on the cast . I think its me .. I was taught to wind the line (mono) as level as possible and that would help get distance on the next cast . I think with braid you might have to cross it more ,,not lay it next to itself . Tough unlearning though .

[t.orlando]

65 PP on all my conv. No probs

[Tagger]

Originally Posted by t.orlando

65 PP on all my conv. No probs

You thumb wind ? throw plugs ? throw jigs to 6 ounces ? Serious .. this is what I plan on doing .. Throwing 6 puts alot of pressure on spool .

[parker23]

Thank you for the feedback. I will try the heavier 65# PP.
Unless someone can shed some new light on a better braid.