Man, I'm not sure if it's just because I've been using braid for a while not or what. I spooled up a couple reels with 12lb Yo-Zuri and I swear it feels like I'm setting the hook with a wet noodle. I just needed to try something new out and figured I might as well use hybrid. I've used it on spinning gear plenty, never on casting. I feel like I'm not getting a quality hook set with it right now. I've lost a couple of fish on it already. I hope this is something I'll get over.....quickly. Otherwise it's back to braid for me.

Had to try it out on casting gear after watching Bassn Blvd pull as hard as he could to free a lipless crank from a tree and he couldn't break the line no matter what. We drove up to it and got it out. Not a fray on the line. That impressed the hell out of me.

Hybrid's good stuff. It's great around pilings and rocks. I think it stretches less than Trilene XL. But it does stretch - no getting around that.

I'm not giving up on it yet.  It casts nicely, handles well.  I've got problems other than the stretch.  I completely understand that there will be stretch.  It stretches just about as much as the last 12lb fluoro I was using.  I think I just need to get a little used to it.  I'm so used to having those bone jarring hook sets with braid on.  I've actually got to reel down a bit more and really lay into the fish now.  I can't just gently snap my rod tip up to set the hook anymore.

Its all about the hook set. Maybe that why I love Big Game line. I have a vicious hook set on casting gear. When I use braid(which I do) it tends to injure my shoulder. Everybody is different when it comes to hook sets so ya gotta fish what works for you. For me I use braid for punching(but not always), frogs and other top waters.

The Yozuri is great line.

Well, you know I'm a big fan of Hybrid and I HATE braid.

However, I have become a convert for jigs and weighted soft

plastics. Braid has significantly improved my jig fishing.

For everything else, I'm back to Hybrid.

p.s. For the last six months or so, I have been experimenting

with several other brands: Seaguar AbrazX, InvizX, Tatsu and

Carbotex. I'm back to Yo-Zuri Hybrid as my "everyday" line.

Eric and RW - what's your take on Yo-Zuri's sensitivity compared to flouro ?

I have noticed the same thing as you mentioned about setting the hook because I usually fish with straight braid.

I just switched to Yo-Zuri within the last two months and it took awhile to get used to.

I wasn't setting the hook hard enough at first, but I think I got the hang of it now.

Goose to answer your question (even though it wasn't directed at me ;D) I don't notice much of a sensitivity difference between Yo-Zuri Hybrid and normal fluoro, but that's just me.

Goose to answer your question (even though it wasn't directed at me ;D) I don't notice much of a sensitivity difference between Yo-Zuri Hybrid and normal fluoro, but that's just me.

That's a good thing. I was hoping that Yo-Zuri would be comparable to flouro, and MORE sensitive than mono. I was using flouro on my worm rod and am now out of that line. I need to restock over the winter and have to decide whether to go with flouro...or whether Yo-Zuri would meet my sensitivity needs.

Eric and RW - what's your take on Yo-Zuri's sensitivity compared to flouro ?

   RW would certainly be a better person to answer that.  Hopefully he reads the thread some more and answers.  I don't have enough experience with it on casting gear.  On my spinning rod I can feel it if a fish farts on the line.  That rod is silly sensitive for the purpose it's made for though.

   The rods I have it on right now are my worm/jig rod and a rod that serves a bunch of purposes.  I didn't have much trouble detecting bites with it....when I got bit.  There were a few times where I knew I had a fish but never felt him it it.  Could have been slack in the line though.  I've got to play around with it some more before I can truthfully answer you.

In terms of sensitivity and overall performance, Yo-Zuri

Hybrid is comparable to any other brand of mono, copolymer

or fluorocarbon I have fished.

Craig DeFonzo (earthworm77) turned me on to the line about

seven years ago. I was fishing P-Line CXX at the time. I fished

the Hybrid and like it for performance, not price. Now that I

have fished some of the high priced lines, I really appreciate

Hybrid's "value".

As I mentioned earlier, Hybrid nor any other brand compares

to braid in terms of sensitivity...nothing! So, even with its

many faults, braided line gets my vote for some soft plastics

and jigs.

I have 24 rod and reel combos that I use regularly and have Hybrid on all but a few of them. I have braid on three, fluoro on one, and PLine CXX on two.

Hybrid to me is more sensitive than Trilene XL, XT or Stren Original. It is also a bit stiffer. But far from unmanageable.

Hybrid is, IMO, very similar to PLine CXX. But I think it has better knot strength. In the short time I've been using PLine, I've had a few breakoffs at the knot. I've only had one breakoff on Hybrid - when I tried to lift a very heavy blue catfish over the side of my boat.

Hybrid is more abrasion resistant than Trilene XT. I fish around old duck blinds and some barges and they can really chew up a line. Trilene XT is pretty good around stuff like this, but does get roughed up. Hybrid is noticably more resistant to the extent of abrasions I get with Trilene. Braid, IMO, is horrible around these structures.  Anyplace that braid touches on a barge it raises fuzz.  Hybrid has much better abrasion resistance than braid.

Like RW (and because of RW) Hybrid is my standard line. If I were limited to one line, Hybrid would be it.

Eric and RW - what's your take on Yo-Zuri's sensitivity compared to flouro ?

RW would certainly be a better person to answer that. Hopefully he reads the thread some more and answers. I don't have enough experience with it on casting gear. On my spinning rod I can feel it if a fish farts on the line.

Fish fart? I never knew that... ;D

I think one of the things that sets hybrid apart is the fact that its so strong yet doesnt stretch as bad as alot of other mono/copolys I've tried. Sure big game, XT, suffix seige, etc have decent strength to diameter but to me all felt like a rubber band. Hybrid is just as sudden as any flouro Ive tried. The only gripe I have is that it does float, and flouro gives me a more direct contact when fishing in current.

Ive used this line exclusivly for 5 years, I keep experminting with others and end up coming back to it. I know that I can depend on it to be strong, sensitive, abrasion resistant, manageable, and won't spook fish (I use it for leaders in the salt). Couldnt ask for more out of a line.

Thanks guys. I'll kick it around over the winter. I had flouro on the rod I use for worms and finally had to change it out. I put mono on that rod temporarily and could immediately feel the loss of sensitivity. I have braid on 3 rigs and the sensitivity is obviously there - but I'm just not a fan. Then there's cost, flouro is pretty expensive, Yo-Zuri is much less. BUT, if Yo-Zuri floats, thats a negative as compared to flouro for bottom contact.....

Decisions, decisions....

Braid for everything from bluegill to marlin.  Just spooled up with Fins braid on 1 reel, so far it's pretty good.

I used braid on probably half my reels this summer for the first time.   IMHO everything (mono,  flou.,  and hybrid lines) feels like a rubberband when compared to braid.  I also used 12# hybrid this summer and it has crazy break strength for that size of line.

That being said,  I will continue using other lines in conjuction w/ braid.  There are some situations were I don't care for braid.  One thing would be casting distance.

Yo-Zuri does not float. It sinks. So does mono.

Try a simple experiment like I have.  Take big glass and put 8 inches of water in it.  Take a 6" piece of 12lb Trilen XL, 6" piece of 12lb YZ Hybrid and a 6" piece of 12lb Trilene Fluoro.  Put them in end first so they break the water tension and let them go. 

It takes about 7.5 second for mono to reach the bottom, 5 for Yo-Zuri Hybrid and 2.5 for Fluoro.  Hardly scientific, but it does go to show YZ is denser than XL and sinks faster, but not as fast as fluoro.  That stands to reason, Hybrid is a a combination of mono and fluoro. 

Micro your correct, "float" is misleading. I should have stated that it takes longer to sink. My point being that you get more of a bow in your line than with flouro do to the line lingering higher in the water column.

The bow in your line has more to do with the line's diameter and how much line is out than density.

Very true but theres deffinetely a diffrence between comprable sizes stren flouro and hybrid.

The bow in your line has more to do with the line's diameter and how much line is out than density.

I agree. The bow in the line has more to do with drag than the density of the line.

A round profile is a very poor aero (or hydro) dynamic shape. But with line, the round profile is unavoidable. The way to reduce drag is to reduce the profile size. That means reducing the diameter of the line. It does not mean changing the material the line is made of. It matters not whether the round profile line is mono, fluoro or some other material, round profiles of identical size will have the same drag coefficient regardless of their material composition.

The simple fact is that fluoro sinks faster than mono, but it doesn't drop to the bottom like a rock. It sinks slow enough that the lure pulls it down. The biggest force acting against that is drag, not the weight of the line. The weight of line may help - but truth be known, probably only a tiny bit.

Also remember, that the faster something goes, the more drag is produced.  Drag is not a constant force.  There is no drag when something is at rest.  Drag increases as speed increases.  So, as I see it, the best way to get a moving lure deeper is to reduce the drag it has to work against.  That means reducing line diameter. 

Thanks guys. I'll kick it around over the winter. I had flouro on the rod I use for worms and finally had to change it out. I put mono on that rod temporarily and could immediately feel the loss of sensitivity. I have braid on 3 rigs and the sensitivity is obviously there - but I'm just not a fan. Then there's cost, flouro is pretty expensive, Yo-Zuri is much less. BUT, if Yo-Zuri floats, thats a negative as compared to flouro for bottom contact.....

Decisions, decisions....

Absolutely no impact on "bottom fishing", none whatsoever.

Thanks guys. I'll kick it around over the winter. I had flouro on the rod I use for worms and finally had to change it out. I put mono on that rod temporarily and could immediately feel the loss of sensitivity. I have braid on 3 rigs and the sensitivity is obviously there - but I'm just not a fan. Then there's cost, flouro is pretty expensive, Yo-Zuri is much less. BUT, if Yo-Zuri floats, thats a negative as compared to flouro for bottom contact.....

Decisions, decisions....

Absolutely no impact on "bottom fishing", none whatsoever.

Gotcha. I already crossed flouro off my winter buy list and wrote in Yo-Zuri.

I keep wanting to pull it off of my worm rod in favor of braid or this nice shiny new spool of fluoro I've got sitting here.  I'm going to give it a month or two before I make a decision on it.  I had it out earlier for a bit with a drop shot.  Didn't have much trouble feeling bites.  The wind made things a bit difficult, but thats a different story.  Had one lure get hung up in some rocks.  That 12lb is hard stuff to break....

Like Micro I carry a lot of gear in my Z-21. I have 27 rigged casting rods in the boat now. 24 have Hybrid or Ultra Soft on them. Several years ago R/W put me on Yo-Zuri & I found it to be an excellent line. My rods are all custom built on Shikari SHX blanks which are sensitive so I don't use braid. I do have the other 3 rigged with AbrazX & Tatsu which I also like. It's pricey & I don't think it increases my catch. I use Yo-Zuri from 10 - 30lb test & have no problems. I do use KVD line & lure on it from time to time. I try to keep things simple & not over think things. The very best way to improve your catch rate is time on the water which for the past several years I have been able spend 175 to 200 days a year.