So I’m from Florida and moved to Iowa. I bank fish urban ponds and lakes. I’ve always had spinning set up rigged with 15 pound braid and hair casting with 30-50 pound braid. Throwing spinner baits, jerk baits, lipless cranks, chatterbaits and soft plastics. My question is am I missing out by not running flouro or mono? Are bass really that line shy? ( I know they aren’t in Florida’s waters. Thanks!!!

depends on water clarity and color a little.  Fishing pressure a little.  Is straight braid working for you?  If so then stick with it.

So far it has. Im

new to Midwest fishing just moved lol. So we shall see. I thought of trying a flouro leader. I dish urban stocked ponds mostly. So they may see a decent amount of pressure I’m not sure 

FLMB as a rule are more wary then their northern cousins and less aggressive. Bass in general aren’t line shy fish however line does affect the lures action and that can and doesn’t affect if a bass will strike.

You may have Smallmouth along with NLMB where are fishing. Can’t catch any bass unless it’s active and located where you are fishing,

Tom

 

Excellent point. So for the bank and only carrying two poles generally.  1 spinning and 1 bait casting. What kind of line would you guys try out?? ( I’m due to restring my stuff anyway and taking a family trip to bass pro Saturday) 

Just now, Joedodge said:

Excellent point. So for the bank and only carrying two poles generally.  1 spinning and 1 bait casting. What kind of line would you guys try out?? ( I’m due to restring my stuff anyway and taking a family trip to bass pro Saturday) 

I would use 12lb. flouro on the baitcaster and if you aren't worried about fishing any structure that you will hang up on I would use 15-20lb. braid with a flouro or mono leader on the spinning rod depending on what you are throwing on it.

21 minutes ago, IYAOYAS said:

I would use 12lb. flouro on the baitcaster and if you aren't worried about fishing any structure that you will hang up on I would use 15-20lb. braid with a flouro or mono leader on the spinning rod depending on what you are throwing on it.

Aweosme thank you! Never used flouro for anything burglars for inshore  or bass. I’ll give it a shot. My spinning set up is generally weightless stick baits or flukes or wacky rigs. Sometimes a jerk bait or spinner bait depends if I don’t wana mess with the bait caster lol

@Joedodge If you dont mind me asking, where in Iowa are you? 

2 minutes ago, Texas Flood said:

@Joedodge If you dont mind me asking, where in Iowa are you? 

I’m in the Des Moines area. 

My main set ups are 10-15lb braid with or without leader on spinning and 12 Yo Zuri Hybrid on baitcasting. Keep 30lb braid on another casting setup for fishing around vegetation. Going to experiment more with straight braid this year. 

3 minutes ago, LCG said:

My main set ups are 10-15lb braid with or without leader on spinning and 12 Yo Zuri Hybrid on baitcasting. Keep 30lb braid on another casting setup for fishing around vegetation. Going to experiment more with straight braid this year. 

Thanks man! I’m definitely gonna look into some flouro or a hybrid line this weekend. Most likely I’ll take the 50 pound braid off my MH and put the 30 pound braid on it. In Florida we pretty much always fished straight braid never had any issues catching fish at all. But the vegetation was thick water was dirty. So it was all in braids favor. I love the sensitivity of straight braid 

16 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

Thanks man! I’m definitely gonna look into some flouro or a hybrid line this weekend. Most likely I’ll take the 50 pound braid off my MH and put the 30 pound braid on it. In Florida we pretty much always fished straight braid never had any issues catching fish at all. But the vegetation was thick water was dirty. So it was all in braids favor. I love the sensitivity of straight braid 

I am up in Ontario, Canada and we have a bit of everything from dirty to clear water. I tried 50lb braid last year, but didn't like the casting distance. This year trying some thin 15 and 30 braid. 6lb (leader) and 12lb (straight) copolymer YZH have done well for me the last 2-3 years. It's diameter is much higher than the lb test, so it's really more like 10 and 16lb line. 

That’s actually one thing I’m hoping is that casting distance is better 

1 hour ago, Joedodge said:

I’m in the Des Moines area. 

Nice! I live in West Des Moines but work in DSM. If you’re looking for someone to fish with, I’m more than happy to rip lips with you.

6 minutes ago, Texas Flood said:

Nice! I live in West Des Moines but work in DSM. If you’re looking for someone to fish with, I’m more than happy to rip lips with you.

I’ll shoot ya a message man! 

3 hours ago, Joedodge said:

Excellent point. So for the bank and only carrying two poles generally.  1 spinning and 1 bait casting. What kind of line would you guys try out?? ( I’m due to restring my stuff anyway and taking a family trip to bass pro Saturday) 

if braid is working for you I’d just stick with it. You know how it works for your style of fishing and the rods you have.  Maybe try different braid if you want something different. If you’re fishing 4 carrier like original power pro maybe try 832 or 131 braid. 
 

for me personally in that scenario I would fish thin mono on the baitcaster (something like sunline 14/16#) and 10# braid to fluoro leader on the spinning rod. That’s what I fish now for most things.

 

I’ll probably give that a try. Braid has always been my my go to. But just wanting to expand and try something new. 

I’ve never been to Iowa but I’m guessing flat Ag land? If it’s mud instead of rocks I would think you will be fine. The one place I can break 15 lb braid all the time is rock edges. Problem is 99% of the water i fish is filled with rock edges. 
 

if the water is clear , I’d definitely use some clear line but that’s just me. Fish can see nearly microscopic stuff, but that’s doesn’t mean they care. I’ve had them strike my line instead of the lure and I’ve also seen them swim away at Mach 5 before a lure even landed. 
 

I would think your leader usage would be for two reasons: heavily pressured fish and situations where abrasion resistance is paramount 

 

 

The 50 lb on the baitcaster? That ain’t breaking much . I keep two baitcast reels with seaguar 50 lb tactx at all times for 4 wheel drive applications 

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve never been to Iowa but I’m guessing flat Ag land? If it’s mud instead of rocks I would think you will be fine. The one place I can break 15 lb braid all the time is rock edges. Problem is 99% of the water i fish is filled with rock edges. 
 

if the water is clear , I’d definitely use some clear line but that’s just me. Fish can see nearly microscopic stuff, but that’s doesn’t mean they care. I’ve had them strike my line instead of the lure and I’ve also seen them swim away at Mach 5 before a lure even landed. 
 

I would think your leader usage would be for two reasons: heavily pressured fish and situations where abrasion resistance is paramount 

 

 

The 50 lb on the baitcaster? That ain’t breaking much . I keep two baitcast reels with seaguar 50 lb tactx at all times for 4 wheel drive applications 

So far all the ponds I fish here are rock a few feet in from the edges but yeah mud bottom. I really think I’m gonna try some flouro. What could it hurt 

If your trying floro for the first time, I strongly suggest you go with seaguar invisix or sunline sniper. They aren't the cheapest, but will give you a good baseline for floro. If you can't get get along with those two, then floro probably isn't for you. If you do get along with them, you can start testing out some cheaper or more expensive options next time. Many people (not all) have negative opinions on floro that are based on experiences with cheaper lines and floro is one of the few things where you really do get what you pay for.

 

Having said that, in your situation I would go braid to leader on both rigs. Probably 15lb spinning and 30lb casting suffix 832. When limited to 2 rods, I feel like being able to fish straight braid or tie on a mono/floro leader as needed just adds versatility to my setups.

21 minutes ago, Lead Head said:

If your trying floro for the first time, I strongly suggest you go with seaguar invisix or sunline sniper. They aren't the cheapest, but will give you a good baseline for floro. If you can't get get along with those two, then floro probably isn't for you. If you do get along with them, you can start testing out some cheaper or more expensive options next time. Many people (not all) have negative opinions on floro that are based on experiences with cheaper lines and floro is one of the few things where you really do get what you pay for.

 

Having said that, in your situation I would go braid to leader on both rigs. Probably 15lb spinning and 30lb casting suffix 832. When limited to 2 rods, I feel like being able to fish straight braid or tie on a mono/floro leader as needed just adds versatility to my setups.

Thank you! I appreciate that honesty. After a ton of reading on here last night. I may try a quality mono on the casting set up or just replace the braid as you said and run a leader. 

On spinning equipment I use 10-15 lb braid to mono leader. I don’t feel that floro makes a big difference when it’s a 10’ or so leader. I’ve gone to straight braid for swim jigs and not noticed a difference. Most other baitcasters I run straight mono. On the spinning rods I use the leader as much for breaking off snags easier and knowing that the leader will always break first, but I also fish some clear water so believe it helps?  
Pitching Texas rigs is never long distance for me, and I’m not worried about mono stretch on short pitches or casts.