Fishing Line – Mono and Braid
Due its tough nature, the braid line can – and most often does – cause abrasions to your hands, fishing rod and reel. It is often advised to wear something protective on the hand handling the line most, or wrap the index finger in a protective tape to prevent cutting. Unlike the monofilament line, braided lines are opaque in the water, and are therefore known to spook fish somewhat, since they can see it and move away. Use braided lines if you are fishing in murky water, or at night. The opaque nature of the braided line is especially undesirable when you are fishing with a lure that a fish can see for a long time before choosing to bite. For example, if you are trolling a deep diving lure for finicky Lake Trout, I would just stick to mono.
Encompassing all the above points, it is usually in your best interest to use a monofilament line at the end of a braided one as a leader, to minimize the visibility of the line to the fish, yet still play on the strength of the braided line to catch bigger specimens known to put up a fight, or jump out of the water as trout often do. When trolling, mono line is the best to use, because the stretch it provides is an added asset. The braid line can actually cut into itself when wound on the reel, and can become quite messy when back lashed. Although mono – on a per-reel basis – is almost half as expensive as the braided line, the cost does not end up being as much of a factor because it needs to be replaced a lot more often. In general, to get the best of both worlds, use a braided line for strength with a mono line tied onto the end for the invisibility needed to get fish to bite. The widely used Uni-Knot is the standard for tying these two lines together.
