Just lost my first Pike in many years, because the line was too weak. Was fishing for perch, but got a big pike, which snapped the line after a long fight. I will try with braided line later on today, and hope the Pike has gotten it's strength back.
Although I've played around with braided line, I keep going back to 15 lb Berkley Big Game mono. Nothing fancy but I've landed a lot of nice pike on it. I generally use a wire leader when fishing lures, and heavy flouro when fishing bait.
@@astral__7590 - Think of 80lb braid as having the equivalent line diameter of 17lb monofilament. When you fish with casting reels, having a larger diameter braid makes it easier to handle, avoids the line “digging in” after fighting a fish, and offers extra insurance against abrasion (braids biggest weak point). I use 80lb on 400 size Shimano baitcasters and go down to 40lb on 200 size Shimano baitcasters.
@@astral__7590 We just got back from our Canada fishing trip - my wife used 50lb braid on a Shimano 4000 size spinning reel and has been successful catching Pike up to 43" on that setup. I wouldn't hesitate to go down to 40lb, but I don't think I'd go down to 30lb. The insurance that heavier braid provides is worth it to me and I don't see a benefit of going lighter.
I have found on my trips to Northern Canada a Baitcaster with 17lb Berkley XL mono has worked perfect with a 20lb steel 9 inch leader and I don’t ever remember loosing a fish because of my line choice. My largest Pike 47 inches with many into the 40;s. I have thought about using Braid but only for increased casting distance. Mono has the most stretch which I think helps when the fish surges buy the boat. Hope to see you up North. TC
What I tend to do is look at the recommended mono diameter for the equipment I have (I get a lot of hand-me-downs) and buy braid that meets that diameter requirement. Most rods I've come across have recommendations for the monofilament size on them near the handgrips. This way I get maximum line strength while maintaining casting distance and the line not messing up the guides. I fish straight braid so I don't have to deal with leader knots knocking my guides, so if you're planning on trying long leaders on doing it that way could've be an issue with some baitcasting setups. There is a risk, albeit a rare one worth bringing up if you do this, of snapping the rod if your test line is way too beefy than your rod can handle and you either hit an unforgiving snag trolling quickly or you hook into something way too big for the rig (in my case a massive carp on a panfish setup being fished too deep) and attempt to manhandle the hell out of it. I've only messed up like that a couple times over the course of my life and in both instances was on fairly old gear (both had 6+ years of abuse on them). Not sure if any of that helps, but my personal preference is to use the max diameter the equipment I'm using can handle based on my guide size.
