Braid vs Mono

I use mono on my trout 
rods.

 I get asked a lot what is better braid or mono fishing line. While I have my preferences I try to explain to people that both have their advantages and disadvantages. In the end, which fishing line to choose is really your decision. To make that decision easier, here are some facts.

   Monofilament

   It surprises me when I talk to people that they don't even know the difference between mono and braid. If you fished as a kid, the line you used was monofilament. It is what we called line or string. It is/was usually clear. Braid on the other hand looks like really thin rope that looks like it is made of cloth or wool (it is not but it does look like a fabric material)

   Mono is much cheaper than braid. It can cost as much as one third the price. Mono stretches. If you've ever gotten hung up on a rock and tried to break your line, you know how much stretch is in the line as you walk it backwards after it gets tight.

Braid

   The biggest disadvantage of braid is the cost. As I said, mono can be as much as three times cheaper. The other disadvantage is what are called wind knots. Wind knots can form when you reel in your line while it is slack. This usually happens when the wind is in your face. You'll go to make a cast and the line that you just reeled in will blow out of your reel in a birds nest. Not fun. These knots usually take many minutes to untie if at all. Usually you cut the line and restring. There is no question that wind knots happen far more to beginners than to people with experience with braid.

   Another disadvantage of braid is it is not not abrasion resistant. If you nick it on a rock while bringing in a fish, it looses almost all of its strength. Chances are you will loose the fish. This is another reason to use much heavier pound strength than mono. Countless times I've brought fish in on mono as the fish was rubbing against rocks, when I felt my line I could feel it all chewed up. I'd cut the line and retie but I got the fish in. With braid, if your line gets beat up, it is going to break.

   The advantages of braid are many. First, it is much thinner than mono. While I could only use twenty pound mono on my saltwater reel, I use thirty pound braid. Because braid is thinner, it casts much farther than mono. Braid doesn't stretch, so this means you will get a solid hookset. It also can mean you are pulling the lure away from a fishes mouth.

   Another advantage of braid is it does not deteriorate like mono does. Mono is only good for a year, sometimes less if you beat it up. A combination of the sun and line memory will ruin your mono. I would never go out in the spring without changing out last year's mono line. With braid, if I cut off the last ten yards or so,  the rest of the line is as good as new and I may get two years out of it.

   Braid is much more sensitive than mono. You can feel a piece of seaweed bump into your line. This is due to that lack of stretch. The vibration just carries right up to your fingertips. 

   As I said, braid looks like a rope or thick thread. Because of this, you do not want to attach your lure directly to it. You want to add a leader. The leader usually mono or fluorocarbon is attached to the end of your braid and usually a swivel which you use to change lures. This means that a fisherman has to carry leaders with to attach to the end of their line. While this sounds like a pain, it is something I no longer think twice about. With mono, you can just tie a lure directly to the line as you always have.

   My choices-

   So after reading all of that, the next logical question is what do I use? The answer is both. I use thirty pound mono for saltwater fishing. I use a leader about two and a half feet long made out of 30 pound mono leader material. At the Cape Cod Canal I will use forty pound mono. Some guys at the Canal use 50 or 65. I am a little confused by the guys that fish bait on the bottom with sixty five pound braid.  When they get caught on the bottom, and they will, I can't imagine how hard it must be to break their line. So for me, thirty is plenty. But I do use braid one hundred percent of the time in the ocean. So for me, saltwater fishing, braid one hundred percent of the time

   Carp fishing I use twenty pound mono. Always have, If you talk to carp guys, fifty percent use mono, fifty percent use braid. Their isn't a concensus. For me, 20# mono one hundred percent of the time

   Trout fishing I use six pound mono. I don't see any reason to use braid trout fishing. I tie directly to my line unless I'm using a casting bubble then I use a six pound fluoro leader six feet long. Mono one hundred percent of the time

  If you are just drowning worms or shiners from shore six to eight pound mono will work fine. Save your money.

Bass Fishing with lures

I could have written a whole post about what to use bass fishing. I'll try to keep it short. With a baitcasting rod, most guys are using braid. The reason is they can use heavier line. Baitcast reels are made for twelve to maybe fifteen pound mono, but they can easily cast thirty pound braid. Some guys use really heavy line up to sixty five pounds to fish frogs and jigs in heavy cover. This might be overkill for three pound fish, but a lot of guys use it. I have two baitcasters. One has twelve pound mono, the other with thirty pound braid. I really haven't fished enough with braid to have formed an opinion. When I go pike fishing, assuming I ever catch one, I'll be using the thirty pound braid and leaving the other rod at home.

   As for spinning reels, I think it comes down to preference. I use two spinning rods for bass. One has eight pound mono. The other has ten pound braid. The braid rod is specifically for Smallmouth. I bought it so I can fish the deep, clear New Hampshire lakes. I attatched a six foot leader of fluorocarbon to ten pound braid. I've used it a couple of times around here and really like the feel of the braid. That said, I've always used mono on my bass rods and they all work just fine. My experience is needed with the braid to see it  I will/would switch all together.

For me, mono about 75% of the time. Braid on one baitcaster and one new rod that I haven't formed an opinion yet.

Brands

These are my personal choices. No one is giving me a penny or a free roll of line for my opinions. 

  For line on my spinning reels for freshwater I use Berkley Trilene XL (extra limp). This stuff casts a mile. It is soft and flexible. It holds up well to the abuse I put it through.

   For Carp fishing I use Berkley Big Game twenty pound. Big Game is a tough abrasion resistant line.

   For all saltwater I use Suffix 832. I mostly use it in the thirty pound weight except at the Canal. I am easily outnumbered by guys that like  Power Pro. However, I always had bad luck with Power Pro  getting wind knots almost every time I fished. Since I switched to Suffix 832, it has been so long since I've gotten a wind knot that I no longer think about them. 

Any questions, please leave in the comments and I will get back to you