Crack off with braid

[Jim Murray]

Bit of a novice with the stuff, I spooled up an old Suveran reel with 10lb Maxima braid, the reel is about 2500 size.

Used it with a heavy Bombarda float and at first it was great, casting smoothly. Then I got a wind knot which I fixed, but a few hours later, the float cracked off on the cast. I think there was another knot which caught in the rings on the cast. So my questions are:-

Is the 2500 size spool too small for this braid?

Is Maxima braid well known or has anyone seen issues like this?

I got snagged shortly before the crack off, could this have caused it, braid bedding in a bit?

I did reel it on under a bit of tension but do you need to really tighten it when spooling?

 

[peter crabtree]

Braid is not great for float fishing, better off with mono. The wind is the culprit, it will make braid knot and break sometimes.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I use 10lb braid for light jigging/spinning on a 1000 sized Shimano with no problems. Even a light jig is heavier than most floats, so this may have some bearing. I don’t use braid for float fishing but I wouldn’t have thought it would stand up too well to having shot nipped onto it. For spinning I tie a fluorocarbon leader to the braid and attach the lure to this. If you want to perceiver with braid it may be worth trying the same. I doubt if the brand of braid would have any bearing on it snapping or tangling. It seems to catch the wind more than mono so it’s worth glancing down after you’ve cast to ensure there are no loose coils as you tighten up.


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[bullet]

10lb braid would be too light for me if I was casting a bombarda.

 

[Ray Roberts]

Ahh, I never realised that a Bomdarda was a type of controller float.

Braid is fairly thin for its breaking strain and if the line is breaking on the cast then you could up the breaking strain. I fish 20 lb braid on a 3000 size Shimano reel with no problems when spinning with medium sized lures for pike.


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[Jim Murray]

The Bobmarda is heavy and I'm casting it with a baited spinner behind so not like regular float fishing lol

The frustrating thing is it was working really well up until the crack off, I'd be loathe to try heavier braid as it wouldn't cast as far. I fancy getting a new reel anyway, so will try a 4000 size.

Only other thing is I spooled it on dry, some say you should thoroughly soak it first?

 

[Kevin Perkins]

Hi Jim

Is the braid cracking off above the float? The reason I ask is that I do a lot of lure fishing with 40 - 60 lb braid and do get occasional crack offs (usually with the most expensive lures..!)

I have speculated in the past that I feel that the constant backwards and forwards motion of casting is having a 'hinge' motion around the tip ring. This may have a kind of 'metal fatigue' erffect on this one spot and weaken the braid at this point.

As to loading the braid wet, it might make a difference, but after your first cast the line will get wet anyway..

 

[mikench]

I doubt I will ever get to like braid so will stick to mono for everything bar some lure fishing. In breezy conditions braid is a nightmare.

 

[Keith M]

Braid has more ‘disadvantages’ than advantages in most types of freshwater angling which is why I never use it other than for some types of lure fishing (and for some types of sea fishing); and why braid is often banned on a lot of UK coarse fishing venues.

However when lure fishing it can often allow me to feel and control a lure a bit easier and also help to pull larger hooks home into boney mouths because of the lack of stretch; but once a large fish is hooked it can be a different matter completely for me; however it’s advantages can still often outweigh its disadvantages when I’m using lures.

Keith