Thread: Braid on surf reel?

Yes, it would work fine, for some reason it's kind of a pain for me to tie. The one Jose Wejebe showed, I find, is so much easier. But there are tons of choices out there to experiment with.

Originally Posted by barnburnerAU

Double uni should work ok right? Never done it with braid but works fine with mono. I believe the braid requires one more twist than the mono does.

I wouldn't go lighter than 30# power pro on that reel. 20# fireline would be best IMHO. Tie on a shock leader useing an Alberto Knot.

I would not put 10-15 lb braid on it. ! a 706 would hold about 600 yrs of 10lb braid and that would cost a ton.

Thanks for all the advice fellas! I'm going to finish out the summer with my mono, then I'm stripping it and trying out braid. I think I'm going with #20 Jerry Brown. I'm putting that on a stradic too so I can get a big roll to do both.

Some people are using braid when king fishing. I have done some myself. I'm not going to tell you it won't work, it will. What you will find is that it will cast a little further than mono and you can get more yards of line per lb breaking strength. You also will find that it will not stretch, and that you can easily pull hooks if not careful. You will get wind knots that you will not be able to untangle and when there are tangles with others, they are a royal pain to untangle. Braid also will occasionally break without warning, the newer ones are less bad about that. Braid will cut your fingers if not careful, and is in my opinion dangerous to others. It will burn off mono when kings get thick and 2 or 3 get together. Some people consider this to be an advantage, I personally find it not being particularly respectful. I myself do not like braid king fishing on the end of a busy pier when you look at the overall benefits vs drawbacks. I do use it a little, I have a Penn 560 that I use some, to get 300 yds of 15 lb on it I put a 150 mono top shot with 150 of braid backing so when it is in the area of the pier it is basically like fishing mono.
If you plan on using this from the surf and not the pier, Then this is pretty much worthless but well meaning advice.

I like the yellow PP Slick 8. The yellow is better than the brown you can't see it at all. I just soak bait form the beach so I don't get wind knots and I just use 50# without a shock leader for casting up to 8 ounces and that is all I really want to throw. After I cast 10 times I just cut off and retie a foot or so shorter so the stress point is in a different place. I use the best thing they ever made for spinning reels and heavy sinkers. I have a Breakaway Cannon on my long spinner rod and would not use braid with out it. That stuff will cut you long and deep. I spent last week in VA and tested it out well. Met a guy from another forum at Back Bay Wildlife Refuge. He had 4 spinners and a couple of conventionals and all the spinners were Penn Battles with Breakaway Cannons on them.
There are piers in NC that will not let you fish from the end with braid. I think there were too many fist fights and threatened dunkings and they just put a stop to it.

I'm not a fan of it in the surf to me when your chunking good sized weights. The stuff it hard to cut and is not forgiving around shells, and rocks. I always did my shock leaders with 30-50# mono depending on what weight I was using, and a lighter leader to the hook. I liked 17# momoi as my favorite main line, the smoothness helps. Never needed to use more that 4-5 oz, 3 was my favorite. What I LOVE braid for, is throwing jigs in the surf. I could easily hit 50+ yards with a pomp jig, and around 80-100 depending on the wind with heavier lures. Would like to hear more on how the conventional surf reel slingers like the braid. Had a chance to try super super slick on a squall and it was pretty amazing.

I like the Fins braid, the Windtamer really helps with the wind knots, the XS is a smooth 8 strand to help cut the cuts. I haven't tried the Shock Absorbing, but it has a little stretch in it. I've put it on a conventional to reef fish, but I really haven't tried to cast, but I'm sure you have to spool it on flawless so not to get hung up on its self. I prefer it on all my spinning reels.