Braid or mono for Kings?

[Nauti Natured]

Recently someone steered me away from using Braid on my Avet LX's for Kingfish. The argument is that the lack of stretch will pull the hook on strike.

Do any of you have an opinion on this theory? Do you use braid or mono for Kingfishing?

The reason I ask is that I plan on doing a lot of kingfishing with these rods / reels but would also like to use them for tuna / dolphin / sails / wahoo, which I could do if I loaded them up with a heavier braid.

Thoughts?

[EMTAE]

For the kings keylargo rods are by far the best rods out there for king fishing.......Spooled with YO-ZURI pink 25lb.....on your reels your ready to go.

[Nauti Natured]

For the kings keylargo rods are by far the best rods out there for king fishing.......Spooled with YO-ZURI pink 25lb.....on your reels your ready to go.

Thanks EMTAE .... I am wondering more about line than I am rods or what pound mono. I am more curious to know if people are using braid for kingfishing. If I can use braid for kingfish it opens up the possibilities for my Avets when it comes to tuna, wahoo, sails, etc.

[Fishfinder]

If I was really worried about pulling the hooks on a kingfish I would stick with mono. I have been using spinning reels for kings for the last 6 years spooled with 20 lb. braid. I use smaller reels, Diawa BG20's but I am able to get 350 yards of 20 braid on the smaller reels. I charter fish, not tournament fish as a rule. I use a very light weight G.Loomis LR844 7 ' spinning rods. I catch all the kings I want for the small 6 lb fish up to 50 lb. fish as well as plenty of amberjacks and everything else that eats live bait and cigar minnows as well as artificials. My parties enjoy the spinning rods over conventional. I don't have to worry them reeling the line in all in one big lump, plus I can cast to fish if I need too. I do pull some fish off, but I also fish heavier drag on my reels than most tournament anglers.

Capt. Joe

[Nauti Natured]

Thanks Joe! Great info. My plan is to run a mix of spinning and conventionals. I have a few old FIn Nor ahabs that I love for Kingfish. I will have 20 lb. braid on those.

Do you use any topshot on the spinners or braid to the rig?

[Fishfinder]

Sometimes I will use a 20 ft. topshot of 20 lb flourocarbon. I connect them with a backwrap knot. It is a very small knot and goes through the guides with no problem. You can trim it right up to the knot so there is no tagged end to get hung in the guides.

Capt. Joe

[SeaBiscuit]

Like captain Joe, I too use braid (30 lb) for kingfishing, but on conventional reels. 10 yard 30 lb fluorocarbon topshot for reduced visibility reasons only. Double braid to fluoro with reverse uni or albright. I don't tournament fish, but don't feel like I pull hooks because of the braid. I fish very light drag on strike and 4 lbs or so during the fight.
SeaBiscuit

[Nauti Natured]

Double braid to fluoro with reverse uni or albright.

Biscuit ... can you explain the knot in lamens terms?

[SeaBiscuit]

Biscuit ... can you explain the knot in lamens terms?

Probably not, but these may help:

http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php

http://www.animatedknots.com/uniknot...matedknots.com

SeaBiscuit

[FishDancer]

The continued use of mono among the SKA tournament kingfish angling crowd is rooted in our style of fishing. Slow trolling large live baits seeking one large king fish requires the smallest possible terminal tackle, including hooks. For example deploying a #6 4xs treble hook to catch a 50+ pound fish is mostly a finesse game with reels set at less than 2 pounds of drag and spooled with 15-20 pound test line. Mono has the properties that allow the fish to surge, and these tiny hooks to stay imbedded. Nothing against braided line, I am sure you can easily catch kingfish with it, mono is just a better application for our tournament needs.

On a separate note, I always wondered if braid would be better for our bait jigging rods and reels with its small diameter, strength and sensitivity? Anyone using it for this application?