Mystery Braid: Is 80# Overkill?
 

Hey dudes,

I was thinking about spooling up a reel with some mystery braid (looks like 80#) that I have around the house. I'm going to San Simeon for some shallow rockfish and I wanted to have a setup for dropping down bait to supplement my swimbait rods. 80# seems like wild overkill to me, but is there any reason why this would be a bad idea? I plan to use a 30# mono leader, but might snagging still pose a hazard? Trying to be resourceful here.

Maybe I'll just leave the 20# mono I have on there now; It's just rockfish. I was just thinking braid fares better in kelp + lings. I need guidance, y'all.

Best regards,

Dave

Unless you need a massive volume of line on there, the fact that you're running a 30# topshot means you should be able to break off of anything and the 80# braid is no less overkill than 65#.

That's just common sense talking. Maybe real fishing logic will dictate something else.

This was my thinking as well, but then I got to wondering what would happen if I managed to get tangled up on say a kelp stringer. My understanding was that the braid would saw through it, so I think I'd still be fine. I think it's cool to run the 80#, but a while back I had this idea to use a 5'6" trolling rod and was well educated on why it's a bad idea, haha.

The only issue with 80 is the diameter. It won't make a world of difference, but the sink rate of your lures may be thrown off as compared to say using 65. But, eh who cares, it's just rockfish! I say use it!

What happened??

Fortunately nothing in real life, but the fellow-BWE members informed me that the rod wouldn't be long enough to get the line over the bow if a fish crossed sides of the kayak and I could get flipped over. Until last year I had always only fished from shore, so where as I'm an experienced angler there's a ton of fairly common sense kayaking things I just haven't gotten yet.

Since safety is such an importance on the water I figure it's better to just ask a dumb question rather than risk the self-experiment.

Thanks! I had heard the same thing. Fortunately, all my rods under 7ft are for FW.

I just bought a Torium 20HG at Squidco a few days ago and asked them to fill it with 65# PowerPro.

They recommended 80# because I have the spool volume and they said it's easier to cast. Looks almost the same. I agreed because I wanted the option of long distance casting.

I like the texture of 65# PowerPro. The 80# they filled my spool with is smooth. Maybe it's not PowerPro? Whatever it is, I don't like it as much.

Mine is smooth too, kinda like string.

I have gone through every braid out there. For La Jolla fishing, I only use Power Pro has the best serration. Cuts like buzz saw thru the kelp.

I never buy my braid at Squid Co cause they are always out of 65# power pro and they always push 80# on me.

The problem for me was that my 80# smooth PowerPro did not lay down nicely when I reeled back in from normal trolling and bottom fishing. Somehow, it tangled itself on my reel. It was not a birds-nest from casting. Normal retrieve. I don't yet know why, but I'm investigating.

Squidco invited me to come back down and "they will take care of me" (their customer service is always great.) I don't want to impose if the problem was mine, but none of my other lines have tangled on me like that.

My regular textured, kelp-cutting 65# PowerPro zings out for long distance casts, and has never tangled on me.

It's possible that my new reel was loaded with a product called "Power Pro Super Slick" .... and indeed it is: super slick. I asked for green and the color is more of a seafoam green than it is a forest green. Power Pro website touts Super Slick as a premium product.

http://www.powerpro.com/publish/cont...per_slick.html

What they show as "aqua green" does not represent the color of the line I have.

I have two Toriums and have them both filled with 65# PowerPro. I've never had a problem and have caught some big calicos as well as yellowtail on them. I'm not sure that I understand the comment about how the 80# would cast better unless it's because it's smooth and the 65# has a rougher texture to it. But other than that, I'm not sure that one would necessarily cast better than the other. But as I've never cast anything with 80#, I don't really have any experience to draw from.

I could see 80# maybe having less tendency to dig in to itself on the spool, but but to what end? A Torium20 was designed for 20# mono originally, right? Or maybe I'm thinking of Penn's sizing system. Anyway, 80# braid is closer in diameter to 20# mono than 65# braid, so maybe the 80# is technically a better fit for that reel? I really have no idea.