I was run in from rain and lightning this morning. Florida Keys fishing charters don’t always have happy endings. My angler and I decided to call it a day because in addition to a pretty steady rain, there was lightning in the area coming off feeder bands from a pesky hurricane/tropical storm skirting the north coast of Cuba. He went home and I started cleaning the boat and getting ready for tomorrow. During the process, I was chatting with another Islamorada fishing guide and his angler who had been run in but were in no particular hurry to do anything except sit under the cover of the guide dock, drinking beer and eating fried chicken that was really intended for later in the day. The angler who was fishing with my colleague asked me out of the blue if I use braided line. I said, “yes”, and he asked me what I liked about it.  I’ll tell you.

By now most anglers have crossed paths with a reel loaded with braided line. Power Pro, Spectra, Fireline, Spiderwire are all examples of pretty much the same thing. Braid. I personally use Power Pro. On my old 4000 size spinning reels that used to be filled with 10-pound mono, I now have spooled with 15-pound Power Pro. The 15 seems to have approximately the same castability of the 10-pound mono even though the manufacturer boasts the 20-pound braid is the same diameter as 10-pound mono. The 20 is more like 12. The two biggest reasons I prefer the braid over mono is strength and memory.

The strength is easily quantifiable. Higher breaking strength is pretty cut and dry. It translates to catching more fish but also translates into breaking off less rigs. Instead of breaking off on a snag, more rigs are coming back. Granted, the hooks may be straightened or compromised, but at least I have them back. At a minimum,  they’re not littering the environment and more often than not they are useable. I use inexpensive jigheads that bend before the line breaks. Because of that, I can cast around structure fearlessly because I’m pretty confident that even if I get snagged, I’ll probably get my jig head back and bend it back into shape. This mentality makes a difference and I definitely catch more fish. First of all I don’t mind “going for it” when staring at a risky but fishy feeling cast. Second, I don’t have that pit in the bottom of my stomach that if I break off I’m going to have to stop fishing and go through the entire re-rigging process. Braid is liberating in that way.

Lack of memory is another good reason to use braid. In my line of work I take the masses fishing. Many of which are inexperienced fisherpeople. That’s fine, that’s what I’m here for. For my entire Islamorada fishing guide career prior to braid, one of my biggest gripes with people was winding against the drag. Most of Florida Keys fishing is done with spinning reels. They are easy for most inexperienced anglers to get the hang of in a relatively short amount of time. The downside was that by design, the line would twist up after a big fight with a fish or log or rock or whatever. Once twisted up, it is difficult to “unwind” without cutting off all the terminal tackle and letting the line pay out behind the boat when it was underway and drag the length of line behind the boat until it straightens out. Of course, this is not feasible until you move from your current spot to another one and that may not be convenient, not to mention impossible if you are fishing from shore.”Don’t wind against the drag” was every Florida Keys fishing guides mantra. With braid, this is not an issue. It has no memory and the whole line twisting issue is gone. Again, very liberating.

There are downsides to braid. It is expensive, it doesn’t cut easily, it doesn’t stretch and it gets wind knots. The expense I think is outweighed by the amount of tackle you don’t lose by getting less breakoffs. The difficulty in cutting isn’t that big of a deal because you don’t have to cut it very often. I carry a pair of three dollar scissors on board for cutting braid and find that they come in handy for a multitude of things that knives and pliers don’t do and are much safer. The lack of stretch can pull hooks from fishes mouths from “jump the gun” fisherman, not much I can say about that. The wind knots do stink. The good news is the knots don’t happen often and usually can be teased out with some patience and then a good hard pull. So there you have it. I’m a fan of braid. I catch more fish and have much less hassle than when I used exclusively monofilament. What’s not to like.

Captain Ted Wilson