Trolling Line…Braid or Mono??

I’m adding some new trolling rod/reels this year and I’m debating on what to spool them up with. I have spiderwire stealth on my trolling setups now. I thinking about switching everything over to mono. I haven’t really lost a ton of fish to make me want to switch. My main reason is I fish lakes quite a bit more than I fish the river.

What line does everyone prefer to troll with on lakes? As I’m begining to troll a lot more I think the stretch of mono will be a big plus. Does anybody troll on the river with mono? Thanks.

Spiderwire Stealth 20lb for me

What action trolling rods are you using?

There all Medium action rods. I know I’m trying to cover a lot of fishing tactics with what I have but I’m trying to decide what’s going to work the best for all applications.

For the river I only use Berkley Trilene XT 10lb. Very strong and still has stretch.

I had fireline but switched to 12 pound mono…I troll alot on the great lakes for walleye and mono is so much easier to deal with. With the superline you have to worry about another knot for your mono leader and if you use a swivel for your mono leader, that will running thru the guides on your rod when you hook bigger fish and they take drag near the boat. I havent lost anymore fish with either line. If you use boards, the fish will still take drag when they hit if you set it right.
So i guess for me mono is just alot easier to deal with. No leaders and swivels!

6 LB. diam. Power Pro for me. I wouldn’t use anything else. Of course I pretty much just fish the river though.

I’ve really gotten in to trolling over the last few years, I started with two line counters with mono, and two with fireline, and two with lead core. The last couple years I’ve done away with the fireline, better luck with mono and lead core. Mostly only fish rivers,very few lakes.

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I’m adding some new trolling rod/reels this year and I’m debating on what to spool them up with. I have spiderwire stealth on my trolling setups now. I thinking about switching everything over to mono. I haven’t really lost a ton of fish to make me want to switch. My main reason is I fish lakes quite a bit more than I fish the river.

What line does everyone prefer to troll with on lakes? As I’m begining to troll a lot more I think the stretch of mono will be a big plus. Does anybody troll on the river with mono? Thanks.

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I have been using Berkley Big Game mono. I purchased a 6000 yd. filler spool for all my trolling rods. It is 10# test (small diameter) and extremely strong I will tie on a 4-6′ leader of 12# (Pro-line) florocarbon using a double uni-knot. most of Mark Romanacks trolling books on how deep baits run are set up on 10# mono.There is a separate publication strictly for “Braids”. I love the 10# mono, No Problems what so ever with it.Mono is forgiving..Thanks.

I just switched over to 20# PowerPro (6# diameter) on my trollers. That way I can run Accudepth 27’s instead of 47’s with ease. I get a little more depth as it’s a smaller diameter (less resistance) line. Also I can double up these reels on Lake Michigan for Salmon with that heavier line. Plus I’ll be able to use these rod/reel combos for longlining, bottom bouncing, and 3 waying.

I’m still using 47’s for my leadcore rods.

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I just switched over to 20# PowerPro (6# diameter) on my trollers. That way I can run Accudepth 27’s instead of 47’s with ease. I get a little more depth as it’s a smaller diameter (less resistance) line. Lastly I can double up these reels on Lake Michigan for Salmon with that heavier line. Plus I’ll be able to use these rod/reel combos for longlining, bottom bouncing, and 3 waying.

I’m still using 47’s for my leadcore rods.

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I use the same line in Hi Vis yellow, but I was thinking the 20# power pro was 4 # dia, really cuts through the water good for trolling.

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I use the same line in Hi Vis yellow, but I was thinking the 20# power pro was 4 # dia, really cuts through the water good for trolling.

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Off the Cabelas Website:
5# 3/4 diam

8# 1 diam

10# 2 diam

15# 4 diam

20# 6 diam

30# 8 diam

40# 10 diam

50# 12 diam

65# 16 diam

80# 18 diam

There you go 20 lb with 6 lb dia. Great line

A lot of good advice above. To me, it all depends on your trolling rods. If your trolling rods have a very soft tip, I would recommend braid. The advantage (has Ruger2506 already pointed out) is that you will be able to get your cranks down deeper due to resistance in line diameter. Another advantage is that you can feel the crankbait better underwater and be able to tell if it’s properly tuned or if it has debris on it without cranking it all the way in. Fishing braded line with a hard tip trolling rod will result in hooks being pulled out.
If your trolling rod tips are a little bit stiffer, than I would maybe go with mono since you will get more stretch in the line when fighting the fish. On the contrary, if you fish mono with a really soft rod tip, it can result in poor hook sets. There’s just too much play out there and the hooks sometimes don’t dig in.