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Braids (hooklengths)

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Steve Lewis

Senior Member
Anyone used Sufix Feeder Braid (6lb), Drennan Gravel Braid (8lb) and/or Kryston Silkworm (8lb)?

I typically use Korum Powerbraid in 10lb and have found it to be excellent, although quite easy to fray and knot itself, so I've bought the above three as a trial pack and am just after some opinions.

Appreciate a lot of you are thinking that 6 and 8lb is a bit light (some of you are probably even thinking the Korum 10lb is light), but I'm fishing the Bristol Avon where BIG barbel are very few and far between these days and there's more chance of getting into a chub (i'll also be using them for other, smaller species).
 
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Yes,you read my mind-6 and 8lb braid is too light for barbel.The diameter of braid is so small that there is not much difference between using 6 or 8lb and 10 or 12lbs.They're not tackle shy and I don't think it will make any difference if you use 12lbs tbh and if you did hook into one of the bigger barbel there would be a better chance of landing it.
 
I agree totally with Steve (above). I see no point whatsoever in using braid below 10lb for barbel. A 3lb barbel could snap 6lb braid with a shake of its head. 6lb, 12lb braid, mono, (and fluoro!) are all visible to fish.. and 12lb braid will be thinner than your main-line (hopefully!) I can see no advantage, but plenty of disadvantage. N.B. if you want 'fine' braid, look at Drennan Micro.
 
I use braid mainline almost exclusively but wouldn't ever use it as a hooklink. Quite apart from the tangles it can severely damage fish mouths and cut into the body too.
A practical diameter for hooklink would almost certainly be stronger than any nylon mainline so definitely a no no in my book.
Braid mainline around 30lb b.s. with 8-12lb nylon hooklink for me.
The thinner the braid the worse the damage problem.
 
I use braid as hook link quite a lot also use braided mainline a lot and to be honest the braid cutting in thing doesn't seem to happen at all in my experience. Perhaps in the old braids where there were less strands which was bumpy on the weave almost like teeth on a saw

What I do find a rip of though is the cost of braid hook length materials compared to reel line.

I know just use 0.16 j braid x8 in olive green for all my speci fishing both hook link and main line and just dob a few bits of black marker on the hook link to break up the colour.
 
I’ve used coated braid with the last inch or so above the hook stripped back for a few years now,caught plenty of barbel and never had a problem with cuts or damaged mouths.Used the ESP tungsten last season and Sufix Camfusion previous to that.
 
Trevor Brown said:
I’ve used coated braid with the last inch or so above the hook stripped back for a few years now,caught plenty of barbel and never had a problem with cuts or damaged mouths.Used the ESP tungsten last season and Sufix Camfusion previous to that.
Click to expand...

I also use coated braid. Never had any fish damage either. The coating definitely helps prevent fish damage.
 
I've used braid for hook links for both Carp and Barbel for years and I've got to say I've not seen any damage to Barbel or Carp caused by braid(hook links). I now prefer coated braid for most of my fishing namely ESP Tungsten Loaded Semi Stiff it knots well,doesn't need steaming,sinks well and strips easily.
 
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Paul Collins said:
I use braid mainline almost exclusively but wouldn't ever use it as a hooklink. Quite apart from the tangles it can severely damage fish mouths and cut into the body too.
A practical diameter for hooklink would almost certainly be stronger than any nylon mainline so definitely a no no in my book.
Braid mainline around 30lb b.s. with 8-12lb nylon hooklink for me.
The thinner the braid the worse the damage problem.
Click to expand...
I've been using braid hook lengths for years now and have caught hundreds of Trent barbel with it,none of them has suffered mouth damage or any other damage.If it had caused any damage whatsoever I wouldn't still be using it after all this time.Don't have a problem with tangles either when using a combi link hook length.
 
Paul Collins said:
I use braid mainline almost exclusively but wouldn't ever use it as a hooklink. Quite apart from the tangles it can severely damage fish mouths and cut into the body too.
A practical diameter for hooklink would almost certainly be stronger than any nylon mainline so definitely a no no in my book.
Braid mainline around 30lb b.s. with 8-12lb nylon hooklink for me.
The thinner the braid the worse the damage problem.
Click to expand...

Paul - I take it you were using braid that's been manufactured as hook link, specifically, rather than braided main line all the way through?
 
Paul Collins said:
I use braid mainline almost exclusively but wouldn't ever use it as a hooklink. Quite apart from the tangles it can severely damage fish mouths and cut into the body too.
A practical diameter for hooklink would almost certainly be stronger than any nylon mainline so definitely a no no in my book.
Braid mainline around 30lb b.s. with 8-12lb nylon hooklink for me.
The thinner the braid the worse the damage problem.
Click to expand...

Braided mainline can cause more damage than braid hooklinks, a lot of waters allow braid hooklinks but not mainline.

Having said that I have used braid for mainline and hooklinks for over 20 years and have never seen a fish damaged by it.
 
As Steve Walker said, a 6lb braid is too light for barbel fishing. 10lb plus IMO.
The older I get, the less and less I see a genuine reason for using any braided hooklength, ever!
It only helps increase the number of tangles and......sorry, can’t think of anything else it helps with!
 
http://www.tacklebox.co.uk/pdfs/line_tests_issue11b.pdf

Majority of mainline braids are tested as breaking lower than their stated strength. Some achieving only half. I don't think its too wild an assumption that hooklength braid would follow suit. So your 6lb braid could potentially break at 3.

Having said that, last year I caught one of my best pike on spam on the Trent using a Suffix Camo Fusion 10lb coated braid hooklength which although was pretty shredded by the end, it landed the fish.
 
I use a braid hooklength pretty much all the time. I find it more durable than mono - both coated or otherwise, depending on the riverbed characteristics. I also use 30lb mainline braid, which has the same diameter as 8lb mono. Thus, if it breaks at 15lb (potentially), that's pretty good.

Each to their own, however. Line choice is a personal thing.
 
Thanks for the link Jason. That’s an interesting article.
I mostly fish the Trent so I use both braid and nylon on my spools dependant on swim. I always use a leader when using braid mainline and sometimes when using mono. I use 0.26 braid and 0.3 mono and will use braid if I feel it will give me an advantage depending on the situation in front of me. I quite often use a combi link hooklength and will not use a braid less than 20lb, for some reason diameters are not provided possibly due to the fattening of loose woven braids, to lessen any chance of mouth damage. The main advantage braid offers is a reduced line diameter not extra strength so judging what material to use comes down to more than just breaking strain , tested or not. The advantage you get from braid in a hooklink, I feel , is it’s suppleness and not strength , again.
I’ve just read this back it might be seen as a dig at you Jason, it’s not. I just feel that quite often line, in all it’s forms, is judged by virtue of breaking strain alone. Braid,mono and flouro are different beasts and should be judged differently.
Simon
 
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