Thread: Anyone use Braided line on spinning reels?

From what I've experienced, most pier rats use mono - when braid get tangled, you have a mess. If you tangle with a couple of other lines, you will be cutting free, especially if someone has a hook-up. I have braid on a couple of my reels, but if there are many folks fishing for Spanish or Kings, I use mono on the pier. Even free-lining, if someone casts over you with braid, it can be a nightmare to get untangled. Maybe during the week, but on week-ends, braid gives me lots of headaches.

I use braid with mono backing and 10 yards of mono or flouro topshot.

Given my limited opportunities to fish - my line spends most of it's useful life hanging on the wall. For the sake of economics, I used to spool every rod with braid because it would not suffer from spool memory, and could be fished for years with out issue. We hardly ever ventured to the sacred Octi, and did not have many issues with tangles or cut lines.
A couple falls ago, my wife accidentally, lol, hooked into a huge jack about half way between the tee and the Octi. She did well until the big jack realized he was hooked, and immediately headed south - in a hurry. She was spooled with 20lb suffix and that stuff cut through every line in the water like a weed eater. The only ones that were spared were the ones that reeled up and got out of the way. "COMING DOWN" means nothing to some folks....especially the youth more interested in his phone than fishing. I rescued his rod just as it flipped over the rail. He had braid too, and as soon as both lines got tight - my wife's popped.
Lesson learned. we now back all spools with braid, just in case. 50-60 yds hi-Vis suffix mono connected with a FG knot. Another 10ft or so of FLOUROCARBON at the terminal end to trick the line shy ones.
The economics now work, and disasters are usually averted.

I fish for flounder from a boat and use only braid.i can feel the lightess bite and know its time to catch em up but mono will stretch some and easy to miss the bite.
Now on the pier it's mono all the time.Easy to untangle and cut and re-tie.

I use braid on 2 of my king rods, the main thing about braid and being on the pier is being courteous, be aware of your line and dont let it drift down into everyone else's, and use a bright colored braid easily seen, i use a bright blue that the fish seem to ignore but everyone can see