Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Hi,
I've been away from bass fishing for quite some time due to work, but since I've retired recently I want to get back into it. Almost all of the line I had was pretty deteriorated so I had to trash it.
For now I'm looking for a single line that I can use for all setups, at least until I can reacquaint myself to application specific choices. The lines I'm looking into are McCoy Mean Green or Yo-Zuri Hybrid. Will either of these fit the bill? They are both fairly inexpensive and a plus for me.

Thanks in advance.

Depending on what type of fishing you’re doing I’d recommend braid with mono or floro leader when needed. One size of braid can cover many applications. Keep some of the tattered line on your reels, buy a few 600yd spools of line that’ll fit your applications and fill em up. I use a lot of 40# braid for many applications.
Good luck

5/0 wrote:Hi,
I've been away from bass fishing for quite some time due to work, but since I've retired recently I want to get back into it. Almost all of the line I had was pretty deteriorated so I had to trash it.
For now I'm looking for a single line that I can use for all setups, at least until I can reacquaint myself to application specific choices. The lines I'm looking into are McCoy Mean Green or Yo-Zuri Hybrid. Will either of these fit the bill? They are both fairly inexpensive and a plus for me.

Thanks in advance.

It would be hard for me to pick just one line but would probably pick Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon as the best all-around line. It won't do for topwaters, but can handle every other technique and is great for both spinning and casting gear. Soft, thin, easy casting and very strong.

Thanks for the responses!
I never used braid, even when I was fishing long ago. Don't know why, I guess because it was pricey and I didn't understand it's uses. Also, the test differences confused me. I know that sounds dumb, but I guess I was line challenged! Do you match the diameters of the lines? For instance, say you had an 8 pound mono and you wanted a braid equivalent, would you match the line diameters to get the equivalent pound rating for the braid? Would this work for flour or copolymers too?
Also what's the best knot for leaders? I remember trying a blood knot for mono backing to flouro, it looked like I had a football between the lines!

Any help would be appreciated!

Does anyone use braid to leader on A rigs? if so mono or floro? Micro guides or not?

NateGardner wrote:Does anyone use braid to leader on A rigs? if so mono or floro? Micro guides or not?

Don't use a rod with micro guides for a braid to leader setup. The knot will catch, either ruining your cast or breaking off your bait.

Hey 5/0 welcome back to the game, I am sure some things have changed and many have just come around full circle under a new name and package You didnt say, but do you primarily find yourself fishing more structure lakes or up close and personal like pitchin and flippin?

If you're looking for a strait out of the box go fish line I really like the Suffix Siege in Smoke. I havnt fished the Yozuri or McCoy in quite a few years but still hear good things about McCoy. For my Mono needs I use the Suffix Siege, it does have stretch but the abrasion resistance is on point as well as the line density (ability to transmit vibration)

I have found i use more and more braid backing and tie long leaders with a blood knot these days for spinning a 10-12lb braid such as the Berkley Nano Fill https://www.fishermanswarehouse.com/pro ... shing-line does a great job, I will tie on a leader from 6lb - 10lb with a 7' leader. As Mark mentioned not good for Micro Guides - and it is expensive to fill once - but that one spool will last me a whole year or two as it really is just backing and i cut off a few feet each time i retie my leader.

My leaders primarily consist of Trilene 100% flurocarbon - its still a great flurocarbon leader for all of my fishing needs.

For bait casters I do have some with all flurocarbon such as my jerkbait, cranks (with some exceptions) and jig stick as the braid does have a different density then strait fluro I dont like how it affects feel and action. for the baits that are fished with direct contact on a tight line a braid fluro is awesome again i fill up with some bigger braid such as 30-65lb depending on my application and tie a leader as needed / wanted.

NateGardner wrote:Does anyone use braid to leader on A rigs? if so mono or floro? Micro guides or not?

Yes, i use braid leader on A-Rigs and sometimes i will use a Fluro leader NO Micro guides as the leader knot doesnt go through it. I figure if the fish aren't bothered by all of the steel wire around the baits then they probably arent going to be very line shy

Thank you! So I just match my braid and flouro/mono pound test equivalents? If fishing 50# braid, my leader would be 12# flouro/mono on a bait caster.

5/0 wrote:Thank you! So I just match my braid and flouro/mono pound test equivalents? If fishing 50# braid, my leader would be 12# flouro/mono on a bait caster.

Not necessarily. This is what I use for a plethora of applications.
10# braid to 6# floro
20# braid to 8-10# floro
30# braid to 12-16# floro
40-50# braid to 16-20# floro
65-80# braid to 25# floro or mono for big swimbaits or flipping deep trees. This is preference not for everyone.

zdbm2004 wrote:

5/0 wrote:Thank you! So I just match my braid and flouro/mono pound test equivalents? If fishing 50# braid, my leader would be 12# flouro/mono on a bait caster.

Not necessarily. This is what I use for a plethora of applications.
10# braid to 6# floro
20# braid to 8-10# floro
30# braid to 12-16# floro
40-50# braid to 16-20# floro
65-80# braid to 25# floro or mono for big swimbaits or flipping deep trees. This is preference not for everyone.

I am just a retired recreational fisherman and I agree pretty much with what zdbm has listed.
I have 2 micro guide rods and I like the rods but I cannot stand running braid with a top shot on them. One has 12 lb fluoro and one has 15 pound fluoro. I have braid with a top shot on everything else. Every spinning rod and all of my other baitcasters. Spinning has 10 to 20 lb. braid, casting has 30 to 60 lb. braid.

Pick a well known quality braid and whatever fluoro or mono you like.
For braid I like Suffix 832 and Power Pro
Fluorocarbon I like Sunline FC Sniper
Mono I use a lot of Maxima

I alway heard fish were line shy. BUT after moving to Florida and meeting some guys that fish only braid, I have changed my tune. On spinning rods 10lb or smaller braid. No leader. All the time .
Baitcasters I have both but seldom use a leader, its braid to the hook or floro all the way seems to work for me.

Fish do not seem to mind.

It's hard to find a more universal fishing line then Berkley Big Game for baitcasting reels.
You will get a lot of personal opinions regarding fishing line. The facts are bass don't care what the lure is tied to and if the line doesn't affect the action of the lure negatively, then you should care.
What is important is knot strength, abrasion resistance, casting performance and reliable strength per diameter, not necessarily rated pound test. Strecth is a factor misunderstood by most bass anglers.
I have fished nearly every brand of premium FC line from Sunline, Seagaur, Toray, etc, they all are good lines and they all have marginal knot strength and casting performance when compared to Nylon monofilament line of the same diameter. I use FC and change it often and retie often because of it's low coeffient of drag in the water, no other reason.
Sunline Diefer Armillo Nylon is a good mono, but expensive, this what I use for standard bait casting reels.
Finesse spinning I have gone back to Maxima Ultra Green 5 lb for general use or Sunline Super Sniper 7 lb for drop shot. Heavy cover braid FINS 60 lb. Don"t use leaders, 1 knot is 100% better then 2 knots.
Tom

The best all around fishing line for everything minus heavy cover in which case braid should be used, is gonna be these three below, low stretch both wet and dry, and two of these three below will have exceptional knot strength.


#1 Maxima Ultra Green
#2 Trilene XT
#3 Yozuri Hybrid ( weakest of the three in knot strength)

For all of them I go down one size than whats typically used.

I use 8lb over 10, 10 over 12 and so on.

If I had to choose one it would be Maxima Ultragreen, I've tried the much touted Mccoys mean green, but I'm not a fan of the Stren Original type of stretch it has.

A couple of years ago I went with braid to flour/mono depending on the application for both bait casting and spinning. Overall I've been pretty satisfied with the results. There was a bit of a learning curve with the location of the knot. Personally, I avoid the connection knot going into the reel. Been using the Alberto knot and it has held up well for me and is easy for me to tie.

For me, the braid leader combination is more economical. You can replace your leader 8' at a time with high quality flour.

Flourocarbon is usually Invizx (sp?) and Maxima for mono.

Thanks everyone! I'm gonna try braid w/ flour leader on my spinning outfits for DS, Shakey, and small jigs.
Braid on bait casters w/flouro leader for T-Rigs, jigs. For SB and cranks will go with mono or flouro.

Thanks again!

NateGardner wrote:Does anyone use braid to leader on A rigs? if so mono or floro? Micro guides or not?

Yes, 30# Braid to 17# Yozuri Hybrid. Usually at least a 6' leader.

Braid to Fluorocarbon or Mono I use an Alberto Knot. Even on Micro guides, it will go through easily. I use Power Pro Braid and Yourzi Hybrid Fluro,

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/sea ... tion=click

I think you are making the right decision to get a braided line and use a fluorocarbon leader. For spinning reels, this allows for far casting and is very strong for a bass setup. I use to fish bass tournaments and always used a 20-pound braided line with a 5 foot 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Just tie a double uni-knot and the setup is pretty quick. This also works well on baitcasting reels.

Here is an article I wrote on the best braided fishing lines.
https://www.globalfishingreports.com/be ... hing-line/

Here is an article I wrote on the best fluorocarbon leaders.
https://www.globalfishingreports.com/be ... hing-line/

I also have an article for best monofilament lines but think that braid is the way to go for bass fishing.

Lines can be so technique specific. Depending on your rod arsenal could get expensive. I am in the braid to mono bandwagon also. Only problem I see with that is the type of knots. The lower pound test can be very tough to keep consistent. The fg knot seems best for under 10# leaders. This is very finicky and I get failure s at times and they do take a while to tie. For larger # braid to heavier leaders the improved Alberto seems best. Easy to tie and I never get failures. Not true though with the lighter lines. Being value conscious I like the pline flouroclear and the pline fluorocarbon, when I don’t use the braid leader combo. For the leaders w/braid the sniper 7# is good and the seagar invizex rocks. Also wanted to say when you are a borderline rod/reel hoarder, relining can get $$$.

I too am not all that happy with Lowrance
Last year I purchased elite ti 2 for bow and helm
The transducers are giant. So much so I ended up removing it from the trolling motor and just using its sonar up front
The transducer actually effected the turning of the troll motor .
It put enough resistance on the motor guide to strain the cables

They work good. No real issues once I learned how to use them
Customer service sucks

Trilene Xl is the best all around line out there

Dave Brabec wrote:Trilene Xl is the best all around line out there

Agreed