Braided line for king fishing

[sharkbite]

Since i'm going to be getting new equipment for next years king season been thinking of going with a braided line for my fighting rod. Although i'm a little hesitant due to an incident i saw at the pier this year, guy had a new rod/reel first time he had ever used it, we had already gotten 6 kings that morning ranging from 18-25lbs when a huge king skys this guys bait and takes off for the horizon like nothing i've ever saw. Within a few seconds the reel starts to smoke and his drag washers freeze, well he has his rod tied down to the pier so that catches the rod from going off the pier however it rips the reel off, pulls it up through all the eyes then bye bye.

What's your guys thoughts on this? :)


Tight Lines


Tim

[bluerunner]

i don't know, i've been thinking about trying some braided for my anchor but i don't know about for the fighting rod. if you did, i would use a mono topshot to absorb the shock of the kings strike, otherwise the hooks may pull out because braided has no stretch.

[Smoothbore54]

You won't make many friends fishing braid off a Pier or Party Boat.

The abrasive nature of braid is a real problem, when other lines come in contact in the water. This is just about unavoidable when Kingfishing from a Pier.

I'm no fan of braided line. I think it's more trouble than it's worth.

If it has a place at all, it's only when You're alone on the Beach or on a Private Boat.

[Sandcrab]

And where was this guys DRAG during this fiasco??? I bet he had the drag torqued down all the way....

Played many a large stingray and NEVER lost a reel...

[sharkbite]

lol I have no idea, the drag worked for about 30 seconds then that was it. the reel locked up, i'm thinking from overtightening the bearings but can't be positive.


Tight Lines


Tim

[*BRANDON*]

I think braided line is a no no with king or cobia fishing from piers. If you braided line cause another man to lose a fish i think people would start fighting. I know some piers here in va have no braided line signs on the t.

[emanuel]

Being that I am usually the only person fishing for kings off the pier down here, I would think that braid would be nice to have in case a monster king decided to rip off a monstrous amount of line. However, usually 400 yards of #17 mono topped with a 50ft #50 or 80 mono shock leader allows you to let the fish make scorching runs and still control it at the pier. Now, I haven't caught any kings off the pier yet, but it has worked great on the big spinner sharks that crashed the rigs this last summer.

I'm a fan of braid for float fishing or for deep dropping for grouper, etc. In just about any other case, especially when you're fishing around other people, I wouldn't advise it.