Ok guys new to this forum hello, I am 28 I am I long time fisherman that has always been intrested in bass fishing. I got super serious in bass fishing 4 years ago. I have always used spin casting and recently bought a new baitcasting reel. Ok here it goes, I never used baitcasting before and wanted to get a good reel, I went with the steez. 450 dollars but I like good equipment, got a st. croix 6 foot medium action rod on order. so I bought a cheap ugly stick to practice with so when the weather breaks I can get out there and be good. so here is the question, I am a worm fisherman love it live by it, berkley powerbait-color red shad, and yamamoto senko black with large blue flake are my favorites. so I fish the powerbait with texas style right, the way I always rigged it was with 20 braided line and a swivel attached to 20 pound floro leader 1 to 2 feet long, with a bead on the high side of the swivel so the swivel wont go into the eye of the rod and another bead under the bullet sinker to protect the knot. Ok this isnt working with the baitcasting reel, So I started tying a double uni knot to join the two lines so I can reel the worm all the way up to the eye tip to cast with the baitcaster. work a lot better after 2 hours I got my cast between 70 to 80 feet and on balls accuracy. with minimul backlashing. Ok so I casted today about 2 to 3 hundred times and then came in and looked at the double uni knot. the tag end of the braided line was fraid badley and I was concerned this would not be good, after fishing for a while and getting a fish on the tag end on the braid would cause the knot to fail. ok so i tried tying 2 small knots on the braided side, one knot to but up against the uni knot to stop it from pulling through, and the second small knot so that the tag fraid end will not be pulled through the first knot, works great, but now I have another issue. when I test the two uni knots by pulling the line hard from each end, the florocarbon gets so tight it actually breaks the braided line at high pressure. about 15 to 16 pounds of force. (I measured it guys I am anal about this stuff). So my question is could I adjust the knot to compensate for the floro over tighteneing on the braid. or should I just buy heavier braid. Someon please let me know, the way I tie the knot now is 4 wraps with the floro uni knot and 4 wraps with the braid, I tried 3 wraps with the floro but it pulls throgh the knot at high pressure. plz help guys???? oh and one other thing if anyone is having trouble with casting a baitcaster I stumbled on this little tip, might help some others, When I cast overhand I noticed that right before I release my thomb on the spool, if I give it a little nudge forward not only do I get an extra 5 to 10 feet on my cast, but it prevents backlash somehow, I dont know but it works for me, kinda hard to do it side arm but overhand it works. I love the baitcasting I just throw it and adjust distance with my thumb while it comes down, so accurate Im happy I picked it up quick. Well guys talk to you later hope someone can help??

  Dont worry, my young eyes picked it all up. Now it just seems your problem is that your leader is interferring with the cast. Here are my suggestions- either scrap the braided/floro combo, and put just one line on it all the way to the lure with no leader. I recomend yo-zuri hybrid or hybrid ultra soft.

  Now about tying that knot, i would not know, and can not help you there. But if i splice line together, i usually do a type of back-back clinch knot. Tie one knot around the other line, and simply tie another one..... now if anybody can understand what im trying to tell them to do with that knot, i would be a little surprised, but dont worry, because i can almost garentee you there is a better way to do it.

Roadwarrrior- he said that he has a st. croix coming, and is practicing with the ugly stick until season comes up.

hey rock thanks for the advice, I would really like to keep the braided line on the reel and using a floro leader.  by the way I have started using suffix braid and love it.  I was thinking about it and if I up the braid to the next pound test it might really help this matter.  and the knot that Im using is similiar to the one you use, where the line crosses and you tie the lines around eachother and pull them together.  the double uni knot is just a diffrent variation, but I read that it is the best knot to tie braid to floro.  well see what happenswhen I up the line size on the braid, thanks again.

You could go up to 80lb braid and still have a smaller diameter than the 20lb fluorocarbon.  I think the larger braid will solve your problem and it shouldn't cause you any trouble on a baitcaster.  In fact, I find larger lines easier to cast on a baitcaster.

was the cheap ugly stick a baitcasting rod? Or was it the spinner bait that you were used to?  I made that mistake onetime.

Vicdotcom

I've fished braids with mono leaders extensively for steelhead.  I use 30# braid, which is 8# diameter, and 10 pound mono leader.  I have had good luck joining the lines using a double surgeons knot.  This combo has handled 18+ pound steelhead, sidedrifting, which means your line is constantly down in the rocks.

i'm having problems as well with the nasty backlash... i tried training my thumb but no luck

Have you checked  out  the new berkley fireline crystal,  translucent  superline.  heaviest weight is 20 lb test but it should be much less visible than any of the braids.  

Crystal 20/8 Lb. Test/Line Diam.  I have not personally tried this new stuff since the ice is still on the lakes here, but I do plan to give this a try when the water is not quite as hard.

no i haven't was maybe thinking on getting cajun redline... read about it in my bass pro catalog is dissappear

only thing the fish see's is the lure

I recently heard a seminar where Mark Hicks was explaining the uni knot.  He said  that you should wrap the braided line around like 7 times.  Im not sure if this would  help you or not. Good luck!  

i said the other night when i got my baitcaster out and tried casting with my right hand.....

i was like wow hardly anybacklash i heard the lure hit the fence i was like i wish i was in walking distance

to a pond or a lake

I am tying the uni knot with the braid 5 times and it seems to hold good enough, I casted with it like almost 300 times and came home and the double uni knot help to perfection, the only thing is that on the braid side you need to tie a locking knot, wich is really just three turns and tighten on the braid side Ill find a url and post it it helps so the braid doesnt frey and pull the knot apart.