Braided Lines vs Monofilament for Kayak Anglers

Anglers continue to debate the virtues and issues with fishing lines. Starting with cat gut and linen, continuing through the development of Dacron, monofilament, fluorocarbon and various braid configurations, fishing line has changed right along with the rods and reels in use today.  There are advantages to each of these lines depending on the intended use and quarry. We just wanted to share our opinions.

The Dacron line on grandfather’s old bait casting reel produced beautiful “birds’ nests” before monofilament and the spinning reel were developed. At first, monofilament was stretchy and had a memory to rival modern computers. The spring-like coil extending from the rod tip to the lure made quick strikes a challenge. An angler first had to reel down to get a tight, straight line before setting the hook.

Newer lines such as fluorocarbon promise near invisibility with much less stretch and more abrasion protection. That’s why fluorocarbon is our favorite leader material. Both monofilament and fluorocarbon have excellent knot characteristics, but any knot should be moistened [spit] before snugging tight. The heat generated by tightening a dry knot can cut the line strength in half.

Our favorite over the last 20 years has been braided line. At first, it was tricky to use these lines. Early braided lines weren’t round and worked better on a bait caster than a spinning reel. As braids developed, roundness was achieved by using more strands with tighter braiding and the inclusion of a core fiber. These developments make braid a good choice for spinning reels these days. Braided line continues to improve with newer versions showing up every year.

The advantages of a braided line are its resistance to abrasion, small diameter, lack of memory and limited stretch. The fibers themselves, mostly of Dyneema®, Spectra® or Gore® material, are extremely strong and are used in body armor. The lines featuring 8 strands braided at 32 plaits per inch are consistently rounder than those with fewer and looser braided strands. Braided lines will let you know when to replace or trim them by getting fuzzy. This can be caused from abrasion or age as the bonding material separates from the braided fibers.

The most obvious advantage of braided lines is their limited stretch and small diameter. Having used both, after fishing with braid, going back to monofilament feels like fishing with a rubber band. For kayak anglers, the limited stretch with braids means better hooksets from their mobile platform. With braid, the hookset is almost automatic when using a laser sharp hook. Some guides using braided line around here tell their clients to forget the hook set altogether and just start reeling. The non-stretch braid and a laser sharp hook will do the job. In contrast, the “rip their lips off” effort needed with monofilament is because an angler must compensate for line stretch, memory, and the movement of the kayak.

There are two aspects of braided line newbies complain about. It’s subject to wind knots and they have to learn new knots that won’t slip. The first adaptation an angler has to make after changing to braid is to always close the bail manually while giving the line a little tug to clear any loops that form at the end of a cast. It easily becomes a habit. Light braid allows anglers to use very light lures that can contribute to slack line loops. Monofilament line will go back on the spool even when the bail is closed with a turn of the reel handle. As for knots, there are several that work with braid but due to its small diameter, most anglers double the braid when tying these knots. The basic uniknot is our choice for joining line to leader. For tying on a swivel, the Palomar knot is quick and easy. We use loop knots for the leader to lure connection.

Another issue with braids is they can spin on the spool of a reel. To avoid this and save money, just wind some monofilament or add a rubber band on first, under the braid before loading the braided line. Also, remember to rinse and spray any line after a saltwater outing with a line lubricant and a preservative like Real Magic® to keep it more flexible.

Braided lines with their small diameter can enable longer casts to spooky fish in shallow kayak water, and have almost no stretch making hooksets easier, plus, they have no memory which eliminates the coiling you see with older monofilaments. If you haven’t tried braided line yet, you should. We did and won’t go back.