When to use Braided Fishing Line

When to use braided line on Lake Guntersville
With the onset of the new fishing lines over the past several years I get many customers in my boat that don抰 understand the differences in reel lines. I thought it would be good to try to help you understand when braid is effective in the grassy lakes like Guntersville.

There抮e many times on this lake that I see a fisherman miss a fish because he or she was not rigged properly, most people have no idea that line can make a big difference in catching fish especially big fish.

I believe that on a Lake like Guntersville with so much grass that there is 3 very distinct times when you must be rigged with braided line. The first of those being when pulling a rattle bait; I believe that if you use the proper cranking rod which is generally a soft tip that you need braided line to catch the fish. You see somewhere in the connection with the fish you need either the rod or the line to have give in it. In Guntersville the give needs to be in the rod not the line, and braided line has no give in it. When pulling a rattle bait, the next issue becomes deflection off the grass, which generally causes a strike. Your typically monofilament line will not allow you to deflect the bait it gets the bait hung and hence you do not get the strike.

The next bait you need a give in the rod and not the line is when fishing a spinner-bait, a spinner-bait is dropped, stopped, moved erratically and when fished in order to get the recovery from erratic movement to hook set takes braided line during the recovery retrieve. With out that quick recovery that braided line allows you to achieve your spinner bait never gets back to the smooth motion and hence a strike would easily be missed.

The last time I personally believe braid is an absolute on Guntersville is when you are flipping. Pulling in a fish over 5 lbs. out of the heavy grass on Guntersville is very tough for monofilament line to achieve. Also, to feel a flipping bite is extremely tough on a line that stretches and braid doesn抰 stretch.

I believe you will catch more fish and become a better all around fisherman by using braided line correctly on local lake.