I've been bit by the popper bug. After watching a 4.10 lb smallie violate a Pop X I was gifted I've been throwing it a ton. I have a custom Recon 683 I want to dedicate to poppers. All my poppers will be 3/8 oz. Pop X, Jackall SK Grande, Duo 64 etc. This is a medium light, fairly parabolic rod. Not a moderate fast, but not a fast either. Somewhere in between. It will also be for open water. I have a medium heavy popping blank I'll use around cover. So would you guys choose braid or mono? It will either be 11 lb Sunline Defier or 30 lb Seaguar Smackdown.

I prefer mono for all my treble hooked baits, especially poppers. I usually throw 12-15 lb pending on the cover, considering I love throwing them around laydowns prior to pitching into them.

For exspensive lures, I am using braid.

If it has trebles, I'm using clear line...  Doesn't really matter much which line (Mono, FC or CoPoly) honestly- seems to be more of a personal preference thing.  I save braid for single-hook applications or frog hooks etc. so to answer your question, I'd go with the Defier out of the given choices.   

I use straight mono.  I usually use 10 lb Suffix Siege which is fantastic for topwater, lately I've been using 11 lb Sunline Defier...But only because I bought a spool to try for cranks/jerks and didn't like it.  It's great line for topwater, but a little overkill. I think I'll go back to Suffix when this spool of Defier runs out.  

 

I tried braid and braid/mono leader and didn't like either.  Straight braid gets tangled in the hooks far too frequently.  The braid/mono was techinically fine, but it wasn't worth the hassle of the leader....To me it was a like looking for a solution to a problem that didn't exist.  Functionally, both these options worked but not better than plain mono and there were more headaches...So I scrapped the idea. 

If the rod is pretty parabolic then braid is fine. I mainly fish fast to xfast rods so im 99% of the time i have copoly/mono on. 

I use mono on a BC combo for trebles when I can. But I do have a 7' M action spinning combo with 20# braid that I'll throw lighter treble lures on. It's limber enough not to yank the bait away from a fish or yank trebles out during the fight. I can cast lighter lures with it than I can with my M BC Lightning Rod. Medium BC and Medium spinning are usually two different actions entirely. And the reaction time to set the hook on a strike is really up to you. Don't set it till you feel the fish. You can force yourself by keeping the rod tip low and setting in an upward motion. So the fish gets it all before you set.

 

Usually, topwaters produce during lower light periods so I don't think visibility is an issue. To be honest, I doubt it's much of an issue at high noon.

The only problem with braid on top waters is fouling from the limpness. I throw a lot of small poppers on spinning tackle so it's braid for line manageability and casting with a 1-2 foot leader of mono which alleviates the fouling. If you're missing bites it's not because of you're quicker than the fish. They aren't fully committed or you're setting on the visual strike and not waiting to feel them. 

Tufline Supercast was made for this. Love it for this specific situation.

The only problem with braid on top waters is fouling from the limpness. I throw a lot of small poppers on spinning tackle so it's braid for line manageability and casting with a 1-2 foot leader of mono which alleviates the fouling. If you're missing bites it's not because of you're quicker than the fish. They aren't fully committed or you're setting on the visual strike and not waiting to feel them. 

Recently, I got Fireline over the point of a hook. I had to push the line together to separate the strands to get the line off the hook as daylight was fading. Some people will try to tell you Fireline is "fused". Berkley will try to tell you that. I guess I need to pick up a new spool because my Fireline is braid. It is a little less limp when it's new, but it doesn't stay new long.

Yeah, there's two different products. One is braided microfilament and the other is fused microfilament. You can tell which is which by checking the box: one is Fireline Braid, the other Fireline Fused. Unless you have box that more than five years or so, when all they had was fused Fireline.

definitely a mono leader. Braid will get all tangled up in your hooks.

Plus 1 for the mono. I really don't think there is a right/wrong answer here but I personally go 10 pound Mono for topwater plugs. 

You guys tie direct or use a clip?

I use a snap because it's a more reliable connection than tying to the split ring, offers better action, and for the ease of swapping out baits.

If it came with a ring, I replace it with a duo loc. if not, I tie direct. I don't like split rings, but using a snap is not so much about being able to swap. Most of my baits already have snaps on them.

I use mono without a snap.

I use my jerk bait special with a braid/mono leader and a snap.