Braid for offshore trolling

[Ron_Teke]

I have watched this debate now for several years. I know braid is popular with the west coast long range group for tuna, and it is big in south Florida for drift swordfishing. But what about for trolling. Anyone using it out there, especially the Jerrry Brown Hollow Core braid.

[George Woodward]

I still use 30 and 50# Gudebrod dacron, because the fish I might catch, might be a record and I don't want the line breaking at 80lbs!

[Capt.Tony]

On my Tiagra 30's I use 600 yds. of 80LB masterbraid with a mono topshot.
And on my Tiagra 50's 900 yds. of 130 LB. spectron with a mono topshot.

[captain warren]

I have found a hugh benefit to using braid for trolling, cuts the fight time in half. It is all about turning the fish in the shortest time possible, why? because the line will eventually wear out.Usually the mono is going downhill fast after a couple of hours and you really don't want to break him off at that point. Ande doesn't do braid anymore but it was good stuff. I like the IZORLINE out of California but the best is from Japan and is called VAVARIUS I think, made by the Morris company. They have IGFA rated line as well as other products, their 50 # is half as the dia. as any other braid I have used. Of course it is expensive but as a skipper, I really don't expect any of my lines to break during the fight and the anglers don't either. Backlash is the only real problem but that is easily solved by staying away from freespool mode unless you are really proficient at the manipulation. Capt Warren

[Warren_Brantley]

We've been using Spectra braid on a Penn 9500 Spinning Reel successfully for blues, whites, stripies and sails. You seem to get more feel and fight out of the fish due to less line resistance. At the same time, due to no stretch, you can pull them over, knock them down, of if they are down deep you can do short pumps to turn them or tire them out. We have been using generic braid in Venezuela (do not know the name of what he bought) with similar results. Quite pleased with the performance of the line and the very long life of the product. We fish for fun and not for tournaments or line classes and have found it to be a quality product that we will continue to use. Cheers, Doc