Best Braided Fishing Line For Saltwater Fishing And More

So, you have decided to go with a braided fishing line for your next fishing trip. Yet, you noticed there are different brands and opinions on which braided line is best. Good thing you stumbled upon this article!

Prepare to learn more about braided fishing lines as well as when and how to use them. If that’s not enough, we also review the best braided fishing line out there.

So, let’s get started!

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What Is A Braided Fishing Line?

As the name suggests, braided fishing lines consist of many thin fibers that are fused into strands and then braided into a solid braid. The most commonly used fiber in braided lines is Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE). This gives the braided line its unique properties, such as floating in the water and a high wear resistance up to 15 times more than carbon steel.

Advantages of Braided Fishing Lines

As already mentioned, a braided line is made out of a cluster of strands. As a result, the strength-to-diameter ratio is much higher than a monofilament line.

Also, they have a diameter that is 1/3 to 1/4 the diameter of mono or fluorocarbon lines. This makes it much easier for fitting a braided fishing line on a spool than a mono or fluorocarbon line of the same strength.

Despite being composed of thin fibers, braided lines are very thin. This gives anglers a much thinner line that casts better and is durable for fishing in rocky areas or fighting fish with sharp teeth. A basic rule of thumb is that with more strands you improve your castability and with less you increase your abrasion resistance.

So it should come as no surprise that braided lines are the go-to solution for deep-sea fishing. By doing this, you avoid using big reels for accommodating long lines and face less resistance to sea currents.

Braided fishing lines also have a low stretch, making them much more sensitive to fish bites. Depending on your fishing method and level of experience, this might be a good thing. Luckily for you, there’s a complete section further below that focuses on when to use a braided fishing line.

Disadvantages of Braided Fishing Lines

Braided lines have little to no stretch, which is good for beginners but less so for trolling. When fighting a fish like a kingfish, you run the risk of your rod and reel being ripped from your hands and pulled overboard. In this type of situation, a monofilament line is an excellent choice. It offers up to 30% stretch, making it a great shock absorber when fighting fish.

Also, their lack of stretch and smooth surface makes it difficult to tie knots. Fortunately, we researched several knots to find the ones that work for braided lines. We discuss them further below in the section on how to tie a knot.

As a final point, braided fishing lines are highly visible in the water. Though, this should not be a problem when fishing in water with dense vegetation, heavy cover, or low light.

If not, you can do what most anglers do, which is using a monofilament line as a leader. This means tying a braided line to a monofilament or fluorocarbon line. The mono or fluorocarbon line, referred to as the leader, is then attached to your lure/bait.

This way, you can enjoy the benefits of the line’s strength and sensitivity without being exposed underwater. For more information on how to pull this off exactly, be sure to read on till the end.

What Are The Best Braided Fishing Lines?

Best braided fishing line for the money

Most experienced anglers consider this as the most affordable braided line available. So, if you are a weekend fisherman, a college student, or anyone who is on a budget then this braided fishing line offers the best value for its price.

The braided fishing line is also praised by many anglers for its strength. So, you are able to catch medium to large-sized fish such as catfish, amberjack, trout, red bull, and largemouth bass.

It’s also a good braided line for inshore fishing thanks to its high abrasion resistance. This guarantees good performance when fishing in areas with lots of rocks and reefs.

Still, it is not suitable for all types of fishing situations. As some anglers have noted, this braided fishing line tends to get wind knots more than usual. This is especially true when casting a lot forcing you to re-spool much faster. This shouldn’t be a problem if you are using a conventional reel or casting it out and keeping it there.

As a final point, the KastKing braided fishing line does lose its color much faster when compared to high-end brands such as the Power Pro Spectra.

Best braided fishing line for spinning reels

The manufacturer of this braided line is well-known for its quality and durability. As such, it lasts a long time even after the color has faded a bit. Also, it doesn’t seem to fray as much as the other braided lines.

This braided line is applicable for fresh and saltwater fishing as well as bass fishing. Its smoothness enables you to cast further than usual. But also reel back the spool and avoid tangles and knots.

In summary, it’s a decent braided line if you plan on fishing and casting a lot (100 to 200 casts a day). Gone are the days of getting a bird’s nest when casting against the wind.

A slight drawback is that it’s not very flexible. Though, it tends to lose its stiffness when using it often over time. All in all, a good choice for using on spinning reels.

Best braided fishing line for saltwater

What makes this braided line suitable for saltwater fishing is its unique colors. They are designed to blend naturally with different types of water clarity, such as open blue.

Although thin, it still offers a higher strength for the same diameter than mono or fluorocarbon lines. As a result, you can target big fish using a lightweight reel and rod.

The fluoropolymer treatment on this fishing line makes this braided line ultrasmooth. Hence, it offers all the strength anglers expect but in a silent fashion.

That said, it has its drawbacks when compared to the Power Pro Spectra Fiber. There are complaints about the color and with it the fluoropolymer treatment, which fades faster than normal. This is unfortunate as the coating process handles the wear and tear over time.

Even so, it is worth mentioning that it handles well on both baitcasters and spinning reels. This is despite being less durable than the Power Pro Spectra Fiber.

Best braided fishing line for low visibility

As the name suggests, this braided fishing line is nearly invisible underwater. This makes it suitable for anglers who worry about scaring away the fish when fishing in clear water. The same reasoning applies if you don’t want to use a leader.

Similar to other braided lines made by this manufacturer, the line is very smooth. Also, it is made of Dyneema PE microfiber which ensures high strength to diameter ratio.

On the downside, the casting performance of this braided line diminishes over time. This is caused by the deterioration of the coating, especially when casting often.

So, it might be wise to spend a little extra money and buy the Power Pro Spectra Fiber. But, this claim is only valid if you are a lure angler or someone who casts frequently when fishing. This will save you more money in the long term.

When Do You Use A Braided Fishing Line?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlgHMJVcwyI

Type of fishing bait or lure

There are certain types of baits or lures that really go well with braided fishing lines. These lures are toads, spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, Texas rigs, frogs, topwater, jigs, Alabama rigs, buzz baits, and flipping jigs. So, if you have or plan on buying one of these, then rest assured they will fit well with your braided line.

In the end, these are suggestions of what generally works best. So, feel free to experiment with what works best for you. Some of these baits, like buzz baits, also go well with fluorocarbon fishing lines.

The added benefit of using braided lines for your lures is the favorable casting distance. This allows for casting the bait far away from the boat. This is quite handy for kayak fishing when dealing with fish that are cautious or easily spooked.

Type of fishing water

Braided fishing lines are excellent for fishing in heavy water vegetation like lily pads, cattails, hydrilla, and water hyacinths. The braid will simply cut through the stems of most of these plants, making sure that you don’t end up tangled up and losing the fish.

The lack of stretch in braided fishing lines also makes them very important for deep-sea fishing. This also applies to fish that are very gentle with the bait when feeding on live bait.

How Do You Tie A Braided Fishing Line?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lal2-0rt-sA

How to tie a knot with braided fishing line to swivel, lure or hook

As mentioned before, it is recommended to use a braided line when fishing in water with high vegetation. This will make your life much easier when pulling through the weeds.

That said, the lack of stretch and slick texture of braided lines can make it challenging when tying a knot. Luckily, there are fishing knots that are ideal for tying a braided fishing line to a swivel, hook, or lure. (ranked strongest to weakest)

Uni Knot

The Uni Knot is one of the most popular fishing knots amongst saltwater anglers. This is due to its easiness to tie and very strong connection. It is also the strongest knot when compared with the other three knots below.

Yet, it does take more time to make it. The following video shows exactly how to best tie the Uni Knot for braided fishing lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxS7fVOkmDo

San Diego Jam Knot

The San Diego Jam Knot is the second strongest fishing knot to use on braided fishing lines. Its main advantage over the Uni Knot is that it’s faster and easier to tie, which is shown in the following video:

https://youtu.be/IQMbfLSAHqI

Palomar Knot

The Palomar Knot is very similar to the San Diego Jam Knot in that it’s also very fast and easy to tie. However, it has proven to be not so strong with braided fishing lines as it is with monofilament lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmKPozhaqB8

How to tie braided fishing line to monofilament or fluorocarbon line

As mentioned earlier, braided fishing lines are highly visible underwater. This can lead to fewer fish being caught.

To counter this, most anglers decide to use a braided fishing line as a mainline while connecting it to a fluorocarbon leader. The fluorocarbon line is less visible in the water and as such ideal for using as a leader.

The only thing standing in your way is knotting these two fishing lines together. Luckily, here are some top-ranking knots that will definitely hold your lines together.

PR Bobbin Knot

The PR Bobbin Knot is considered to have a 100% knot strength. This means that your fishing line is the first to break before your PR Bobbin knot does. As such, it is the ultimate braid to leader connection knot.

The drawback of this knot is that you need a tool, namely a Bobbin, that loads the tag end of your mainline. This is necessary for making the needed wraps when making the knot.

Also, it takes a long time to make this knot, especially while on the water. So be sure to tie this knot the night before your fishing trip.

Here is a video showing how to do it:

https://youtu.be/szEiqDiWZPs

FG Knot

If investing in the bobbin tool isn’t your thing then the FG knot should be your second best option. It maintains a high breaking strength whilst maintaining a thin knot. This makes it a better knot than the Crazy Alberto Knot, Albright Knot, 6 Turn Surgeon’s Knot, and the Double Uni Knot.

Yet, the drawback is that it requires a strong clinch before cutting the tags so that it fully locks into place. Below is a video showing how to tie this knot in under 60 seconds once you got the hang of it.

https://youtu.be/ZPTzkep9xlI