A Fishing Topic: Preferred Mono, Braid and Flourocarbon Line

I haven’t had to purchase line for several seasons. I purchased a load of Suffix Elite for monofilament that has lasted me until now, and I put Nanofil on my reels that use braid that has served me well until now. I will finally need to replace line this season on all my walleye reels and since I haven’t even thought about purchasing line for a few years, I am looking for recommendations as to what is the best for each type. I don’t know what’s even out there.

Important traits to me are that the mono and flourocarbon have low memory, and that the braid casts well and doesn’t fray.

Trilene XL mono
PowerPro braid
Seaguar fluoro

Cortland Masterbaid 65+ lb braid
Scientific Anglers fly line
Maxima leader/tippet

Trilene XL or Suffix Advanced Mono
Suffix 832 braid
Suffix flouro leader material

I’ve gone to suffix an everything and haven’t looked back. 832 braid is hands down my favorite. Some guys complain of wind knots…never had an issue. Run 8 or 10 # on almost everything. Only thing is use mono for is slip bobber rigs.

Sufix Advance co-polymer
Sufix Siege mono
Seaguar Invisix and Blue Label fluorocarbon
Sufix 832 braid

Matt Moen wrote:

Trilene XL or Suffix Advanced Mono
Suffix 832 braid
Suffix flouro leader material

I’ve gone to suffix an everything and haven’t looked back. 832 braid is hands down my favorite. Some guys complain of wind knots…never had an issue. Run 8 or 10 # on almost everything. Only thing is use mono for is slip bobber rigs.

Same hear except I have some other floro that I had around already, but will likely buy Suffix when needed. I do like the Suffix mono better than Trilene which is all I used for the better part of my life prior. Someone mentioned P Line CX Mono and I might give that a try.

Suffix 832 braid – love the white color for some reason
Seaguar 10LB for my leader
Frog poles have mono leaders with Suffix 832

Umy wrote:

Suffix 832 braid – love the white color for some reason
Seaguar 10LB for my leader
Frog poles have mono leaders with Suffix 832

Curious as to why you use the Mono Leader on your frog rod?

The frog setup is the only one I tie direct to the Braid. In the pads I want as much power on the hookset possible. Its also the one place I’m not as worried about fish seeing the braided line.

fishthumper wrote:

Curious as to why you use the Mono Leader on your frog rod?

I wondered that too.

tswoboda wrote:

Trilene XL mono
PowerPro braid
Seaguar fluoro

X2 – Same as Mine

For those of you that use seaguar for leader material which line are you using? I tried red label last year and don’t care for that. Are you buying the leader spool or just the regular spool? As to the op I use 832 and power pro slick for braid, suffix elite mono and still looking for a go to fluoro for leader material

Trout/Salmon or Blue Label

Red label isn’t leader material is it? I thought that is their cheapest main line

tswoboda wrote:

Blue Label

This is what I use for “leader” material to mitigate bite offs from toothy fish.

i fish with a lot of rods in the boat. some rods i use a braid/flouro combo and some i use straight mono.

hands down my favorite mono is Maxima Chameleon. Best mono ive ever used and i use this exclusively. Can be hard to find though. For the other setups i use Suffix 832 ghost and whatever flouro i have

crappie55369 wrote:

hands down my favorite mono is Maxima Chameleon. Best mono ive ever used and i use this exclusively. Can be hard to find though. For the other setups i use Suffix 832 ghost and whatever flouro i have

Maxima has a cult like following in the fly fishing world. Have you tried Ultragreen?

Personally I have yet to find a braid that stands out or has blown me away. I usually stick to Power Pro or Berkley X5. I prefer a little stiffer braid than most to prevent wrapping around rod tips. As far as flouro my go to is Seaguar Inviz-X. Small diameter and tough. I run braid to leader on everything except my jerkbait/crainkbait rods. I personally haven’t tried leader material. I just stick with regular flouro and have yet to have any problems. I don’t run mono for anything. If I’m not running braid to flouro then I am running straight braid.

– Suffix 832 or ProMix
– P-Line CXX (Both for bait caster and leader material)
– Trilene XL

Really like the Nonofil stuff first time I used it. Will be working that into the rotation. (Must be good, hard to find!)

-J.

While I no longer ice fish I do manage to fish open water is some cold temps, often in the 15-to-20-degree range. Basically, every rod I use in the cold has 4-pound Trilene XL on it and I have found it to be the friendliest line to use in those temps and warmer, even when tossing slip floats. Others I have fished with using stiffer line or especially the co-polymers have nightmares when its that cold. Cold related memory bites them big time.

If I am fishing purely vertical, like on a dock, where I’m just dropping straight down along a piling, I have rods used for such spooled with either 3 pound Nanofil or 3 pound Clam Frost braid.

If I am in a boat fishing open water walleyes I’ll run a couple rods with 6 pound XL when live bait rigging, otherwise I have a couple rods spooled with Nanofil 6 pound.

tswoboda wrote:

Trout/Salmon or Blue Label

Red label isn’t leader material is it? I thought that is their cheapest main line

X2 – You and I think alike again.

I appreciate all the suggestions, but I think my choices are actually more numerous than when I started
Sufix seems to have so many variations it’s hard to choose. Their Elite that I have been using is not bad, but with so many options, I wonder if they’ve made something better. How does it compare with the Sufix Advance Mono?
Are any of the castable flourocarbon lines actually good enough to replace mono?

Thanks again for the help, hope everyone has a happy Easter and a great open water season. Be safe and be thankful.

I have some of the Advance Mono and it seems good, not sure it is way better or worth the extra cost.

tswoboda wrote:

Maxima has a cult like following in the fly fishing world. Have you tried Ultragreen

I have and I hated it. Used it on some panfishig rods. If I remember 4 lb test. The line snapped so easily I stopped using it after one season. Have you had good results?

I only use the 8 lb chameleon (purple looking stuff) on my walleye setups

crappie55369 wrote:

I have and I hated it. Used it on some panfishig rods. If I remember 4 lb test. The line snapped so easily I stopped using it after one season. Have you had good results?

Yeah I use 6 lb ultragreen for steelhead

I usually use Seaguar Blue label for leader material, unless it’s fall and I’m rigging walleyes and smallies in rock, I prefer Sunline FC leader, it’s a little stiffer than seaguar but I’ve had better luck with abrasion resistant with zeebs

Trilene XL for spinning rods and Berkeley Big Game for casting reels. I’ve tried various braids and they work, but the cost and hassle of cutting some of them wasn’t worth it.