Maybe you have always used monofilament fishing line, and you’re wondering what all of the talk of braided line is about. Maybe you are tired of the lack of line capacity that monofilament fishing line has to offer.
You may be frustrated with its lack of sensitivity, and you’re ready to take the plunge into the world of braided fishing line.
Table Of Contents
- Best Braided Fishing Line
- What Is Braided Fishing line?
- Benefits Of Braided Fishing Line
- When Should You Use Braided Fishing Line?
- Braided Line Frequently Asked Questions
- Can You Use Braided Fishing Line in Saltwater?
- Is Braided Line Good For Bass Fishing?
- What Is The Best Color For Braided Fishing Line?
- Mono vs. Braided Fishing Line?
- Is Braided Fishing Line More Sensitive?
- Best Braided Fishing Line Knot?
- Who Makes The Best Braided Fishing Line?
- The Bottom Line for Braided Line
Best Braided Fishing Line
- Piscifun Braided Fishing Line
- KastKing Superpower Braided Fishing Line
- Power Pro Spectra Fiber Braided Fishing Line
- JIMEI Braided Fishing Line by DYMALAN
- SpiderWire Stealth Superline Braided
There are many reasons why you might be interested in switching to or considering braided line. So whether you are new to braided fishing line or just looking for a new make or brand, this guide to the best braided fishing line will point you in the right direction.
After reading this article, you will see that braided line offers a variety of advantages over monofilament line, though it should be noted that despite its many benefits, braided line does have a slight learning curve and a few additional steps involved when putting to use.
Later on in the article, we will briefly cover a handful of top-reviewed braided lines, but for now, they are listed below for your reference.
What Is Braided Fishing line?
When you visit your local sporting goods store and find yourself in the fishing aisle staring at a wall of various fishing lines, there can be so many options that your head might spin.
Even when narrowing down your search to a single line type, such as braided line, you can still find yourself being overwhelmed by the variety of options.
So first off, what is braided fishing line? Braided line is exactly what the name describes; a collection of multiple individual strands of line, often of synthetic material, braided together to make a strongly bound single line.
Braided line is made up of several small strands, giving it increased strength and smaller diameters.
Right off the bat, you should start to see some of the advantages of braided line. There are many more to follow, and we will get into those soon.
Benefits Of Braided Fishing Line
When comparing fishing line types, you will find that they all have pros and cons, positives and negatives. Braided line is no different, but in many cases when comparing to monofilament fishing line, braided line often comes out on top.
Below you will find a list of the most common benefits of braided fishing lines.
Excellent Overall Strength
Due to the overall construction and design of braided line, it is inherently stronger than single strand monofilament lines. Ropes and wires have been strengthened for hundreds of years using the same construction design and method as braided fishing line.
Whenever you bind multiple small strands together to make a single strand or line, that line is far greater in strength.
In many cases, braided fishing line is so strong and durable that many anglers bring along a pair of scissors to cut or trim the line. When using other lines, a pair of fingernail clippers might do the job just as easily, but with braided line, you will sometimes need a cutting blade or device.
If you are fishing in dense cover with high vegetation, braided line will allow you to pull out that monster bass through a thick lily pad patch.
No Stretch
Another benefit to braided fishing line is that it has little to no stretching. Depending on your application, the little to no stretch characteristic of braided line can be either a positive or a negative trait.
Generally speaking, the no stretch trait will do two things for an angler.
First, it will give a far superior sensitivity to an angler when feeling for subtle hits.
When switching to braided line from monofilament, you will notice more of the hits you are getting and with more certainty.
In many ways, when using a braided line, you can make compromises with your fishing rod purchase and offset your financial investment.
You can spend a couple of hundred dollars on a high-end, ultra-sensitive fishing rod or start using braided line and experience comparable sensitivity.
Secondly, you will have stronger hook sets when using braided line. This again can be either a blessing or a curse. With monofilament you have much more stretching when setting hooks, being more forgiving and giving more time for the hook to stay in the fish’s mouth.
With braided line, the hook sets quickly and firmly which is great if you don’t set the hook with the same strength you that you would with monofilament. If you do, you will likely pull the hook or lure out of the fish’s mouth.
Thinner Diameter
Braided line is far superior when compared to monofilament when considering line diameter.
In many cases, braided line is twice as thin as its monofilament counterpart.
Given braided line’s much thinner diameter, you will be able to spool up far more line on your fishing reel than you would if you were using monofilament line.
This will give you more working line allowing you to cast out more line and stay on the water longer if you experience snags or breaks.
Abrasion Resistance
Many braided line users state that the abrasion resistance is far superior to that of monofilament lines and sometimes fluorocarbon line.
If you are going to be fishing in thick cover with a lot of structure such as rocks, trees, docks, and reef structures, your line will last longer.
This is directly attributed to this abrasion resistance and overall strength. Again, with this trait you will be able to stay on the water longer and ultimately, catching more fish.
Brand Color
Braided line primarily comes in earth tone colors such as greens and browns. In some cases, if you are fishing in clear water, braided line may not be the best option due to its high visibility.
However, in thick cover, murky waters or low light situations, braided line will blend into the surroundings easily and not cause any issues.
Many anglers combat visibility issues by adding a fluorocarbon leader to their braided line, decreasing the visibility of the line around their bait or lure.
When Should You Use Braided Fishing Line?
Whether you are using braided, monofilament or fluorocarbon fishing line, you will find that each type seems to excel in different applications.
However, when looking at the following applications, braided line appears to be universally accepted as a viable option.
Once you get over the learning curve of using braided fishing line, most anglers tend to see modern day braid as being a versatile option that wears many different hats.
If you are jig fishing, braid is often seen as a must use due to its low to no stretch traits giving it the sensitivity that you need when feeling each bump and hit that happens down below.
When sight fishing and sight casting, the thin diameter of braided line can certainly excel. Braided line is often touted as being a far superior caster than monofilament because of its thin diameter.
And when you are sight fishing, precise casting is crucial to success.
Similar to when you are jig fishing, if you plan to go out deep drop fishing, braided line will be an excellent choice to put to the test. When deep drop fishing you can reach depths of 2000’ feet or more.
If you have monofilament line on your reel, you will experience severe stretching upon reeling in, whether or not you have a fish.
Using a 200lb test or greater braid will give you the strength and low to no stretch that you need.
Many anglers who are now targeting swordfish during the daytime are using high-strength braid for their deepwater efforts and are finding great success.
But what about you? You’re not swordfishing or dropping a line 2000’ feet into the ocean, and you want to know if braided line is an option for you.
Absolutely. Braided line has so many benefits that in nearly all circumstances, you can point to at least one if not more than one added benefit of using braided fishing line.
Many cat-fishermen or bass fisherman use braided line for its strength, line diameter and high sensitivity characteristics.
Braided Line Frequently Asked Questions
We have covered a number of the benefits of braided line and also a few various applications where braided line excels or fits a specific need.
But maybe you are not quite sold on the braided line bandwagon and have a few more questions. Below are a handful of frequently asked questions regarding braided fishing line.
Can You Use Braided Fishing Line in Saltwater?
Absolutely. Many saltwater anglers prefer a braided line for several reasons. One being its resilience to UV rays and overall strength and durability.
Saltwater anglers often find monofilament as having a shorter lifespan.
Additionally, when saltwater fishing, you often need all of the line that you can get.
When using braided line, the small diameter allows you to spool far more line on your reel, ultimately enabling you to drop deeper or generally get more line out.
Is Braided Line Good For Bass Fishing?
Many bass fisherman/woman see braided fishing line as their first option.
In many cases, braided line will be the best option, but this ultimately depends on your fishing location, and the cover or vegetation types.
For example, if you are using topwater lures, monofilament will allow your line to float and might be a better option.
Additionally, monofilament allows far more stretch, and although this does decrease sensitivity, it is sometimes more forgiving when a bass is hitting a treble hook lure.
But in many circumstances, braided line will provide you with the best strength and sensitivity when fishing for bass. When targeting bass, an angler will often find themselves in thick cover and vegetation.
Braid will give you the strength you need when wrestling a big-mouth bass from the thick cover.
What Is The Best Color For Braided Fishing Line?
Braided line primarily comes in earth tone colors such as brown and green, but some brands do offer other colors such as yellow and red.
If you need clear or nearly invisible line when fishing in clear, reflective water or when targeting line-sensitive fish, monofilament or fluorocarbon line will be most suitable.
However, many anglers get away with using braided line in all situations by simply using a monofilament or fluorocarbon leader on the end of their braid.
Generally speaking, your braided line will be most ideally suited for less than clear water or in thick and dense cover and vegetation.
Mono vs. Braided Fishing Line?
Comparing monofilament to braided fishing line is almost like comparing apples to oranges. Yes, they are both fruits. Yes, they are both edible. Yes, they are both delicious.
But that is about where the similarities end.
Monofilament line has a few positive traits that will fit the need of many anglers.
Mono is less expensive, has little to no learning curve, has more stretch, and ties knots more easily.
Braided line offers thinner diameter, more strength, little to no stretch, and better casting quality.
In many circumstances, braided line is the next logical step for budding anglers and can be a suitable option in a wide variety of fishing scenarios.
Is Braided Fishing Line More Sensitive?
Because of the no-stretch quality of braided fishing line, it offers far more sensitivity. Each bump, hit, and bounce is felt with more certainty due to the braided line’s lack of stretch.
This can in many circumstances can mean either landing or losing your trophy fish.
If you are jigging or cranking a bottom runner, you’ll want to feel each hit and have a more responsive experience, and braided line will give you that.
Best Braided Fishing Line Knot?
When researching fishing line knots, it is easy to find yourself overwhelmed and wrapped up in confusing tutorials and endless seas of opinions.
I have tried a variety of knots and watched countless tutorials on new knots, and I often find myself back at these reliable and easy knots.
When tying leaders or joining two types of lines, I lean towards the Surgeons Knot and the Blood Knot.
When tying line directly to a hook or lure, I find myself using either Palomar Knot or an Improved Clinch Knot. Some anglers state that the Clinch Knot is not ideal with braid.
One modification can be made to help when using a Clinch Knot with braid, and that is running your tag end of the line through the eye of the lure/hook twice before tying the knot.
There are endless tutorials on YouTube for these knots, so I won’t link to each one, but SpiderWire’s website offers short tutorials for many knots that might be helpful.
Who Makes The Best Braided Fishing Line?
Ultimately this question is arbitrary and will vary from angler to angler. But there are certainly a few makes and brands that stand out among the others.
Some of the best braided line brands are Piscifun, KastKing, Power Pro, JIMEI and SpiderWire.
The top reviewed braided lines are listed below as well as their features and specifications.
Piscifun Braided Fishing Line
The Piscifun braided line boasts excellent knot tying qualities and high abrasion resistance.
With its minimal stretching, it offers very low memory which limits line twists and tangles when using spinning reels
It comes in at about $0.07/yard for 150 yards of the 6lb test.
Buy Piscifun Braided Fishing Line Here
KastKing Superpower Braided Fishing Line
With KastKing’s small diameter you’ll be able to spool more line on your reel, keeping you in the water longer and catching more fish. KastKing has a 4/5 star rating on Amazon and is consistently rated among top braids.
The 327 yards of the 6lb test brings in the price per yard at $0.06.
Buy KastKing Superpower Braided Line Here
Power Pro Spectra Fiber Braided Fishing Line
Power Pro is a reliable braided line that continually produces positive results. It is highly reviewed on Amazon and is found on many top reviewed braided line lists. Power Pro’s Microline is very thin allowing more line on your spool and also helps with line visibility.
Power Pro offers many ease of use features such as easy spooling directly from the box and a built-in line cutter.
For 150 yards of the 5lb test, you will spend about $0.12/yard, making it a slightly more expensive option.
Buy Power Pro Spectra Fiber Braided Line Here
JIMEI Braided Fishing Line by DYMALAN
DYMALAN braided line has far fewer reviews than the other brands listed but still boasts some impressive results.
The construction of this braid makes a super round, smooth casting and handling braid that won’t let you down.
The JIMEI braided fishing line offers excellent abrasion resistance and durability meaning you’ll be changing your line less often.
The JIMEI braid rings in at $0.06/yard making it one of the more affordable braids out there.
SpiderWire Stealth Superline Braided
SpiderWire has been in the braid game for a long time.
If you used SpiderWire braid when it first came out, you might not have the best impression. However, that is NOT the case anymore.
This SpiderWire Superline braid is an excellent option and claims to be made of the strongest material on the market, a material called Dyneema
This braid has color-lock coating technology allowing further and smoother casting. This braid as a 4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon and does receive the occasional poor review, referencing a possible bad batch of line.
The vast majority of the reviews reference dependability and reliability.
This braid costs about $0.10/yard for 125 yards of 10lb test.
Buy SpiderWire Stealth Superline Braided Line Here
The Bottom Line for Braided Line
Many anglers find themselves shying away from braided line primarily due to a lack of familiarity.
And though there is a slight learning curve to using braided line, in nearly all cases, braided line is a superior option to monofilament lines.
With the low stretch qualities and the much smaller diameters, braided line should be a no-brainer for any avid angler.
Braided fishing line doesn’t have to be mysterious or complicated. And the bottom line for braided line is simple: give it a try, and you won’t be disappointed.