skeletor6

It is the best braid that I have ever fished. For reference Ive fished kanzen, powerpro, and suffix 832. The line is phenomenal in all aspects.

Very true. Slack line performance with braid is poor. One could very well have a solid hook up ratio on fish they feel, but miss all the bites they had that they could not feel. I feel the lack of sensitivity in slack line situations with braid causes users to watch their line for irregular movement as opposed to being able to feel the strikes. That is fine, some may actually prefer watching the floating line on top moving. I use high end rods with high end line, so the sensitivity and performance I experience with FC may be different from others. I feel one of braids biggest strengths for spinning reels is that it has 0 memory and does not coil.

You can buy different reels, but the Stradic FJ Darren mentions is absolutely loaded with features for its price. The reel is so smooth that its disappointing to play around with other spinning reels. And this reel can be easily found for $135. There is not a better reel for the money at the moment. If I had to go cheaper it would be Shimano due to their patented propulsion line management system. This system can be found on sub $100 Shimanos as well and is a must on any future spinning reel I get.

X2 or a discontinued discounted Cumara if you can find one.

To me its not about how fast it sinks it is about the belly that is created from the line floating on top of the water as your bait drops. It causes a number of issues. The more linear your line is to the bait the greater the feel. A sinking line creates less slack, thus more feel. Also, as the line is floating it is subjective to be blown around by the wind which creates even more slack than a sinking line would. Braid performs poorly under slack line conditions. Such statement is agreed upon by most anglers. The degree to which a line bellys is much less noticeable while casting heavier baits. Braid hands down wins when the line is tight, but while finesse fishing there is a larger degree of time spent in semi slack conditions. This presentation heavily favors fluorocarbon or a different sinking line from my experience.

Go this route unless you enjoy watching your line float as your light bait slowly pulls it down. Belly becomes a far worse problem while finesse fishing with braid. Also, if its windy...good luck. How often is the line tight while finesse fishing? Its a prudent question because if its not you won't feel a thing. Line twist is easily avoided by closing the bail by hand. Never had a problem with it myself.

The curado e and chronarch e are equal in my mind. They just each have a different look. You should be able to find the curados for cheaper they should not be priced higher.

That is what I would assume he is asking for, since this is the only advantage to doing so besides buoyancy. I have not heard of it done on anything besides braid, but I don't see why it would not work, give it a shot and see if you like it.

Go with fluorocarbon 12 or 15lbs. You will get much better results and your bait will run deeper. I would never use braid for spinners FWIW

You can get a veritas with micro-guides for $80. Also, I would go 7' and MH. This will give you the most versatility.

Dobyns 705CB Glass 12lb Mono NRX 893 12lb Tatsu GLX 894c 12lb Tatsu

You did your research! Nice rod selection. You can also DS with this rod.

If by All-Purpose you mean can do everything then I would say get yourself nice Mono. Since back when thats all they had, people used this for just about everything. This is not great for bottom contact stuff though. What I would do is go with mono for floating applications and Fluoro for any bait that stays underwater. Pretty simple and effective. For everything that

I've also heard that, especially some suspicions about where BPS XPS fluoro is created (complimentary to a more expensive product is the theory). Of course we would never find out for sure because it would severely change the market. I believe what happens is that some part of the manufacturing process occurs at the same location with some of these companies. Say for instance resins are made at the same location and shipped off, or they could just grade their lines based on their QC and sell off the factory seconds or what not. This is just pure speculation as you mentioned, It would be nice to know though! I do know with Seaguar, they control every aspect of their line production. Thus, line diameter's are accurate to almost 1 millionth of an inch which is very impressive. I can not think of another company that does this. I'm not trying to sound like a Seaguar Junkie, I just respect their QC and wish some other companies would follow suit. Competition is good when it comes to prices and in the American Market Tatsu does not have any equivalent competitors that I know of. Sure there is Shooter and Toray Superhard Upgrade, but these lines are very stiff (but more sensitive). Great thing about tatsu is that it basically has all the properties you would want in a line in one. The only part that's not at the highest level is sensitivity, but it is still a sensitive line. If someone could chime in and edit some of the information that I wrote It would be appreciated. I am always down to learn as much information as possible.

No worries Potomac! Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinions, and preferences vary by individual. I did not mean in any way to undermine your opinion and I apologize if I came across in such a manner. I actually agree with your point on price. If I found a $10 line that fishes like tatsu I would be all over it. Maybe Stren Fluorocast is a diamond in the rough? I've never fished it. I personally had to climb the ladder in quality of fluorocarbons to find one that actually fished and handled how I wanted it to. I started off buying the cheap stuff, hated it, went to braid, gave more expensive fluoro a chance and now it is my line of choice. Also, I've read numerous threads of individuals buying the cheaper brands of fluoro and having countless issues of terrible manageability, breaking off on hooksets, low abrasion resistance, and very short longevity. I have yet to see a thread where someone complains about these problems with Seaguar Tatsu. As far as casting goes, I actually prefer casting fluoro over mono. For me, mono absorbs water which causes it to bloat which makes it more difficult to cast and easier influenced by the wind. But that is just my experience.

I would just stick with what you got Gater! Braid is most users preferred choice for frogging, myself included. I would personally not worry about the line visibility, when your walking it, the fish are not going to be focusing on the line. They will be focusing on what is causing all the racket on the water's surface. Also, just because you have braid on it does not mean it has to be used just for frogging. You can add different leaders to account for different techniques, or just use straight braid. Take note, for treble-hooked lures you will definitely need a leader, because you do not want your line getting cut up. I highly recommend the alberto knot, it goes cleanly through the guides and is not that difficult to tie once you practice it a couple times.

X2! And RW knows his Yo-Zuri. I also tried fishing jerkbaits and other floating baits when I first got yo-zuri (12lb). Since the line sinks (somewhat) it impedes on the natural action of the bait from my experience.

Have you tried Seaguar InvizX, this line is widely known for its handling properties? Also, one of the reasons I mentioned Tatsu is because of its excellent longevity. The line far outlasts other fluorocarbons life-spans. And if you say split it up into four 50 yard spools, you are only paying about $10 each time. You are better off using copoly if you are going to buy cheap fluorocarbon. Cheap fluorocarbon is just a terrible experience. I would go with no less than mid-grade fluoro Seaguar invizx, Bass Pro XPS, Sunline FC Sniper, and others that members have mentioned. Cheap fluorocarbon will end up making you hate fluorocarbon. Many people have given good suggestions of lines you should try. I recommend you do some searches to find out the pros/cons of each.You have the right mindset. Many people give up on fluoro because of that very reason (in red). Go out and get yourself a nice spool, back it with some mono, tie a uni-uni or alberto knot to connect it to your backing, and apply KVD L&L on the fluorocarbon as you spool it up. This will save you money, make the line easier to handle, and give you a proper representation of the benefits of fluorocarbon. Such as.... Slack line sensitivity Good handling in windy conditions Line visibility Abrasion Resistance No belly on the water It sinks (don't use it for floating applications) No line digging Overall more consistent feel in all conditions not just tight lined conditions.

IMHO, there is an extremely large jump in quality from <$100 rods to <$200 rods. These rods will use better blanks, components, guides etc. For $160 you can get yourself some very nice rods. There is a long list of possibilities, but with your Lew's TP, I would make a split decision between a Shimano Cumara (discontinued version) and a Phenix Recon 714/715. If you go the recon route, you will easily have a sub 10oz combo. I would imagine you would quit using your Bionic after experiencing what the nicer rods have to offer. In my opinion, the best value for rods lies in the $200 range. The baitmonkey tends to think differently though...

If the price increase is true, history says $50 across the board.

Diggy, I own several NRX's and they fish as advertised. Interesting enough word that I have received from a few highly trusted and knowledgeable sources is that the new GLX's improvements has made them far more competitive with the NRX's than they were previously. Their comfort being the major factor. Weight of a rod is extremely important to my decision making process, I am with this on the OP. Strength to weight ratios are often good indicators of a rods sensitivity and the weight of a rod can be the deciding factor for many. The recons and cumulus' come to mind as rods that are extremely light and high performing. I would also like to know the difference in weight between the NRX's and GLX's of comparable length and power. All rods are going to deviate, but giving the mean and standard deviation of a line of rods would not be that difficult on the company. All they would need to do is gather a sample size of their choosing, weigh it out and run the numbers.

Make this easy on yourself and go with seaguar tatsu and you won't ever have to worry about whether you made the right choice or not.

I would be interested in seeing the contradictory articles showing red wavelengths penetrating deeper than other colors of the spectrum? Furthermore, if your putting this on casting gear I would start with a thicker diameter line. Maybe 8, 10, or 12lb mono equivalent. They are easier to handle and will cause far less line digging issues. Its more about the diameter of line then its rated strength for me. I dont feel like I am going to catch a 65# bass while frogging, but the line serves its justice.

Check this out....there is some science behind red fishing line. I do agree that it will not make a large difference and the red hook idea is basically farce. I have heard of reports where a person uses a red hook on the front and a standard metal colored hook on the back and the fish hitting the red hook instead. Well, many times the fish target the head of its prey to try and knock it out, especially if approaching from below. As far as the blood idea goes, fish rely heavier on other senses to pick up the chemicals of blood rather than sight. It is common anthropomorphism to assume that a fish would use its sight to detect blood over its other heightened senses. i.e. a shark can detect a wounded/bleeding animal from miles away, That is not because of sight. A bass is not a shark, but much closer in phylogeny than land animals. http://www.educatedangler.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=921

I am not sure what he uses, but it is going to depend heavily on what style fishing you are doing. Are you putting it on spinning or casting gear? What type of cover are you fishing in? What kind of baits will you be throwing? That will help us give you a good idea of what pound test to recommend. As far as color goes, once you get to a certain depth every color is going to look the same. The depth at which this occurs depends on water clarity and the amount of solar radiation.