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Rod/line rating

Good Choice

Danny Payne said:
I was going to use a 15ft prodigy vx float rod for river trotting this may be my best option on the still water to!
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Danny

The float rod you mentioned will cover most trotting situations and species you will find on most rivers.

Couple it with your pin with lines up to 8lb and you wont look back !

Enjoy :cool:
 
Andrew Boyne said:
Anyone? :p If you are the type to run 25lb braid through a rod ideally suited to lines of a maximum of 10-12lb and you happen to break a rod - don't mention what line you were using when you take it back to the shop! :D
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There are huge numbers of anglers on here and throughout the country who, like Crooky said, use 20/25lb braid on rods of that sort of rating, purely because they use the line that best suits the job they want it to do, and the braking strain is irrelevant in those circumstance. I might add that this includes some of the top rods in the country....ask Ray Walton for one.

Cheers, Dave.
 
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Terry Banks said:
Danny

The float rod you mentioned will cover most trotting situations and species you will find on most rivers.

Couple it with your pin with lines up to 8lb and you wont look back !

Enjoy :cool:
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Cheers terry that's what I was hoping to hear!
This line thread has caused quiet a stir I tought it was a bit of a silly question thanks for all the replies and opinions guys!;)
 
David Gauntlett said:
There are huge numbers of anglers on here and throughout the country who, like Crooky said, use 20/25lb braid on rods of that sort of rating, purely because they use the line that best suits the job they want it to do, and the braking strain is irrelevant in those circumstance. I might add that this includes some of the top rods in the country....ask Ray Walton for one.

Cheers, Dave.
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Yes, i know Dave. There are also many 'top rods' who don't use braid. The breaking strain may be considered irrelevant by the user but the fact is it still has a breaking strain of 25lb - experienced anglers, fishing a pin, will no doubt experience very few problems using such a line - but in the hands of a novice it could spell disaster. You can probably tell i'm not a fan of braided mainlines for Barbel fishing and no one will convince me that a 25lb breaking strain line is suitable for catching fish that on average weigh less than 10lb - that's just my opinion of coarse.
The reason i don't like the stuff is because every season i see great swims ruined by anglers using heavy braided mainlines - all well and good until it snaps. Once a length of such braid is left trailing in a swim it becomes impossible to extract fish from and on several occasions i can recount tales of friends who have been playing good fish only to have them become tangled in a length of lost braid. The only solution is to not fish the swim until a big flood comes along and clears the snag. You may argue that such breaks don't occur very often, but only last season i fished alongside a fellow BFW member on the Ribble who normally fishes the Trent. He came over with the usual Trent tackle which includes 30lb Power Pro braid and after half a dozen cast was rather shocked when it parted on the strike just below the tip ring - leaving 30yds+ of heavy braid in what was a banker swim. Obviously he did not intend that to happen - but it did - and i ask all users of such heavy lines to consider 'what if'.
Appologies to Danny for going slightly off topic but as Ian said - all healthy debate! :)
 
On the other hand Andrew, a 25lb b/s braid is (in crude terms, just for arguments sake) two and a half times less likely to snap off than your 10lb mono....so that means you are two and a half times more likely to leave trailing line in a swim than a braid man :p

The fact is, I used braid for carp fishing for years, and I can honestly say I never once had a crack off. The only time that will occur with braid (unnoticed damage apart) is when you are giving it the big one and you frap up round your butt ring....and that usually only happens if you fail to wet the braid before casting.

Braid has gained a bad reputation among certain anglers (usually those who have never used it as it happens, but that's another matter) and in my opinion it is undeserved. However, it is as you say, a good debating point....and everyone has their views on any given subject, and rightly so. I might also add that I have yet to use braid for barbel fishing myself :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Andrew Boyne said:
Yes, i know Dave. There are also many 'top rods' who don't use braid. The breaking strain may be considered irrelevant by the user but the fact is it still has a breaking strain of 25lb - experienced anglers, fishing a pin, will no doubt experience very few problems using such a line - but in the hands of a novice it could spell disaster. You can probably tell i'm not a fan of braided mainlines for Barbel fishing and no one will convince me that a 25lb breaking strain line is suitable for catching fish that on average weigh less than 10lb - that's just my opinion of coarse.
The reason i don't like the stuff is because every season i see great swims ruined by anglers using heavy braided mainlines - all well and good until it snaps. Once a length of such braid is left trailing in a swim it becomes impossible to extract fish from and on several occasions i can recount tales of friends who have been playing good fish only to have them become tangled in a length of lost braid. The only solution is to not fish the swim until a big flood comes along and clears the snag. You may argue that such breaks don't occur very often, but only last season i fished alongside a fellow BFW member on the Ribble who normally fishes the Trent. He came over with the usual Trent tackle which includes 30lb Power Pro braid and after half a dozen cast was rather shocked when it parted on the strike just below the tip ring - leaving 30yds+ of heavy braid in what was a banker swim. Obviously he did not intend that to happen - but it did - and i ask all users of such heavy lines to consider 'what if'.
Appologies to Danny for going slightly off topic but as Ian said - all healthy debate! :)
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Andrew, anyone fishing braid on the Ribble deserves all the trouble they get, the simple fact is that you do not use braid on a rocky river full stop as it has next to no abrasion resistance, same applies to most stretches of the Wye. The problem there is not people choosing the wrong BS line to fish with but the wrong line completely. If I were fishing alongside said BFW member I would have pointed this out from the off......
 
David Gauntlett said:
On the other hand Andrew, a 25lb b/s braid is (in crude terms, just for arguments sake) two and a half times less likely to snap off than your 10lb mono....so that means you are two and a half times more likely to leave trailing line in a swim than a braid man :p
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Except the braid mans 30lb braid will part if a stone so much as looks at it, where as my 10lb big game mono will not! :D Most of the barbel rivers i have fished have rocks in ( not all as many as the Ribble admitedly ) which makes braid generally unsuitable IMO. The fact these men feel the need to step up to such a high b.s. to stop it parting so easily says it all for me.

Ian - i wish those who advocate using the stuff would stress the fact it is unsuitable in rocky/snaggy rivers, but try telling that to the Tidal Trent lads! :)
 
The problem I have found with braid as has been mentioned it that the abrasion resistance of it is awful. I'd much rather use a quality mono knowing that should it rub against a snag I still have a chance. The other thing I've noticed with braid is its a lot harder to see when it is damaged. Ok sometimes it's obvious fraided etc, but I've also seen it go for no reason with no obvious sign of damage. Least with mono if you run your fingers down it you will always feel if it's damaged. Many moons ago when braid first came out I was fishing next to a tree and went to reel in only to find my hook had looped round a trailing braid just below the surface attached to this tree. As I started to pull it back in to remove it to my surprise it started pulling back and I found out attached to the other end was a 9lb barbel. Anyhow after a rather tricky tussle I managed to net the fish cut the braid as as close to the tree as I could get. Looking at the hook when I removed it, it had started to go slightly rusty and was well and truly embedded in the fishes mouth. After a good amount of klinik and having to stand in the river with the fish for a good 10+ minutes I did manage to get it to swim away strongly. But the problem with braid is that it takes years for it to breakdown that fish would never of managed to break the braid and free itself. Since then I only use braid for lure fishing.
 
Hi Ben,

A few questions regarding your post.

If you really do feel that braid is so dreadful, why do you carry on using it at all? Why is using it for lure work any less risky in your eyes?

Are you saying that the fish you rescued had been hooked and attached to that braid long enough for the hook to go rusty....and was not only alive, but and in fact well enough to 'swim off strongly' on release?

So braid takes longer to break down than mono. Whether or not that is true, are you seriously claiming that a fish hooked and tethered on a mono set up will survive long enough for the mono to naturally break down and thus release it? Really?

Cheers, Dave
 
I personally don't use braid as a mainline just because I don't like using it as a mainline but personally If braid wasn't meant as a mainline they wouldn't sell it as a mainline at all that's my ten pence worth lol. :D
 
Hi Dave, don't get me wrong if it were heavy mono I doubt the fish would of been able to get. However braid has a longer shelf it's widely known people recommend changing mono every season or so I've heard many people leave their braid on for years.

Don't get me wrong I'm not anti braid can't understand why you question me for using it for lure fishing as we all know the anti stretch benefits when working lures. Besides when lure fishing I'm usually using a minimum of 40lb braid and I'm happy as I'd be devastated to have my line go on me when playing a pike on a lure as that could easily be a dead pike and when lure fishing I stay away from snags I'm much to tight to risk losing an expensive lure to a snag.

Going back to the barbel ok the hook may not of been rusty but it definitely was not a fresh hook and had definitley been in the water a fair while. Whether it had snapped and the barbel had later picked up the bait I don't know but the hook was well and truly in. As mentioned it took a long time for it to swim away when I released it and several times I had my doubts. I'm guessed at 10 mins we are talking 10+ years ago all I can remember is being stood in my boxers in the flow several times I tried to release it only for it to turn on its side and me to right it back up and hold it there longer.

I have no problem with braid I have friends who use it but I don't like it's all personal opinion.
 
A similar thing happened with me on the Trent caught a barbel was out of water a maximum of a 1 1/2 minutes the fight wasnt very long and when I went to release the barbel it turned on its side it took a good 4 minutes to get its energy back for some reason it then gave the famous flick of the tail and went but I noticed it had surfaced so I chucked the rod on the floor ran to the next peg with the net netted it and revived it again for a further 3-4 minutes and then left the net in the flow with the fish in it for 10 minutes at least until it was swimming freely in the net and let it go and didnt see it again was a very strange encounter but all been well the fish survived and lift happily ever after :).
 
David Gauntlett said:
Hi Ben,

A few questions regarding your post.

Why is using it for lure work any less risky in your eyes?
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Not sure about Ben's eyes but in mine the difference is whilst fishing lures you don't have your mainline laying on the bottom. Whilst ledgering for Barbel you often do - particularly if fishing the 'bow' method on a larger river, several yards will be laying on the deck behind the lead or feeder - since the flow is constantly changing the mainline will be slowly dragged back and forth across the bottom, even in what appears a steady flow there will be small changes in flow direction, meaning the mainline is much more likely to suffer damage. I would have thought backleads and braid are a similar no-no.
 
I can only presume that some of the anti-braid doom mongers have never considered the prospect of using rig tube or some kind of leader?:confused:

As ever, the problems are not the fault of the inanimate object, (braid in this instance) rather the way that someone might use it.
 
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