Deciding between 10, 15, and 20 to use with a fluorocarbon leader. Leader will range between 6 to 10lb depending on cover. I do live in east texas, so we have huge bass, although I do not use finesse around heavy cover. Mostly open water or light cover.

 

I understand 10 will give some really good distance, although just worried about breakage. 15 seems good middle of the road. 20 seems like I would be missing out on a lot of casting and could possibly be too much. Just wanting to see what people here use and why.

 

7' Medium (light) spinning rod, Ned rigs (thinking about using 1/10oz), drop shots, small shakey heads, finesse and small sized swimbaits, wacky rigs, as well as a weightless texas rig here and there.

I went through the same thinking a while back.  I settled on 15# braid.  I use it with 8, 10, and 12# fluorocarbon leaders.  I have it on a variety of rods with 1000, 2000, and 2500 sized reels.   It has worked flawlessly for a year.

3 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

I went through the same thinking a while back.  I settled on 15# braid.  I use it with 8, 10, and 12# fluorocarbon leaders.  I have it on a variety of rods with 1000, 2000, and 2500 sized reels.   It has worked flawlessly for a year. 

what do you use the 12# leaders for? I'll have to use mono for 8 and 10 until I can afford fluoro leaders, but I just so happen to have some 12# fluoro laying around since I use it to crank.

For your scenario, I wouldn't worry about breakage with light braid to leader.

 

If the braid is made the US market, the lb test will be significantly underrated. I use 8lb berkley x9 for redfish--it's more than strong enough for bass in light cover.

 

 

You need to look at the breakage figures for braid to determine how low you can go with poundage selection. Most 10lb braids break at around 17lbs of pressure when placed on testing equipment that measures line test strength. I know this from a trip to IGFA headquarters in Davie FL years to test the strength of various 10lb braids. Using the same data for higher weight clases would put 15lb braid at around 22lbs before breakage & 20lb braid at 27lbs before breaking. The only exclusion to this data would be the Japanese braids that rate closer to actual test strength but are much thinner in diameter. I use 10lb braid in open water & 20lb braid in heavy cover on spinning tackle. 

just use 10 lb and don't overthink it.  Its a closer match diameter wise to the thinner lines you're talking about and will be plenty strong enough. 

Get this and never look back:

Amazon.com : VARIVAS Max Power PE x8 (16.7 lb (#0.8) 150m) : Sports & Outdoors

It's about half the diameter of Power Pro SS rated at 15lbs which feels like rope in comparison. Casting distance with lighter baits is drastically improved using the Varivas. I haven't been broken off once yet using this line.

 

I break the 150m spool down to 3 runs of 165ft and use backer on the reels for the balance.

I use the 12# for swim baits from 2.8 to 4# on heads 1/8 to 3/8 oz.  We catch lmb, smb, spots, stripers and walleye on them so I want strength in the braid and leaders.  For me 10# braid is crappie line.

38 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

I use the 12# for swim baits from 2.8 to 4# on heads 1/8 to 3/8 oz.  We catch lmb, smb, spots, stripers and walleye on them so I want strength in the braid and leaders.  For me 10# braid is crappie line.

It might be thin, but 10 lb braid is plenty if you're not around heavier cover or sharp boulders.  Even then, a 10' leader will keep you good.  As noted above, 10 lb 832 breaks considerably higher than 10 lb and has a higher tensile strength than what most guys fish in mono or fluoro.  I agree it makes great crappie line (you can cast light stuff a mile with it) but don't discount it for what you're doing.  You'll straighten out hooks from snagged jigheads before you break it.  

14 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

It might be thin, but 10 lb braid is plenty if you're not around heavier cover or sharp boulders.  Even then, a 10' leader will keep you good.  As noted above, 10 lb 832 breaks considerably higher than 10 lb and has a higher tensile strength than what most guys fish in mono or fluoro.  I agree it makes great crappie line (you can cast light stuff a mile with it) but don't discount it for what you're doing.  You'll straighten out hooks from snagged jigheads before you break it.  

My only issue with 10lb is that It is hard to find, also I've heard stories about it cutting through fingers stupidly easy. Although I can fit 180 yards. Would probably buy a 150yd spool and back about 15 yards of 6lb and put the rest on so I can get a full 150yds, unless someone suggests I only put 75yds on. Just worried with it being light line that I could get pushed down to backing since catfish take a keen interest on bass lures here.

 

Again most of my lures will be around 1/16-3/16oz, so If I would guess from this thread, 10lb would probably help me here.

Heavy cover and sharp boulders is the nature of TABLE ROCK LAKE.  15# was a step for me as I generally use 30-50# but was wanting more distance with those small Keitech fat impact swimbaits.  10 is a bait losing waste of time where I fish.

 

This is a typical bank.

Know it’s a tad more pricey but Sufix 832 braid in 20# is smooth as glass and flows off the spool like no other line I’ve tried before.

I use 10# braid on my 2000. 

2 hours ago, Jig Man said:

Heavy cover and sharp boulders is the nature of TABLE ROCK LAKE.  15# was a step for me as I generally use 30-50# but was wanting more distance with those small Keitech fat impact swimbaits.  10 is a bait losing waste of time where I fish.

 

This is a typical bank.

 

 

Fair enough.  That would be hard on braid.  

832 is great stuff. I've since switched to vicious no fade braid and will not look back. 20 lb will cast plenty far enough and you lose less baits. Personally I'd can the leaders.

Go by line diameter. Break ratings are subjective and vary widely between brands.

19 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Go by line diameter. Break ratings are subjective and vary widely between brands.

what should I look for then? 

There's a lot of good choices. I would look for a quality 8 strand with a diameter at or less than .15 mm. Power Pro SuperSlick, Sufix 832 are two good ones. 6 lb. 832 is .14mm and very strong.

Suffix 832 is very popular on this site, but like all line types consider diameter.

832 10# =.0080D, 15#= .0085D, flattens.

 Fins Spin 10# =.005D, 15# = .006D, stays round.

Tom

I fish off jettys and run into stripers over 10lbs regularly with #8 and #10 PE, just use a leader and some common sense and you wont have breakage issues.  Braid floats, so unless youre fishing a really tight angle under a bridge or around rocks, the leader will take the damage.

If you go too big, you may have the knot hanging up on guides or the tip, or even on the knot as it sits on the spool. That said, I would go with 10# braid if using 6-8 lbs leader, or 12-15 if using up to 10 lbs leader.

I fish 11 spinning rigs with 10 lb braid. I fish 8 lb braid on my 1000.

Couldn't find any 10 in person so just stuck it with 15. Casting distance is the same as 8lb, but appreciate the sensitivity and visibility. Will switch to 10lb when I can afford to buy some decent stuff, and If i decide to use it.

If you are fishing highland reservoirs 15 is my minimum recommendation.  Good luck.

#10 Smackdown

 

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