Looking to spool up some line for early season open water panfishing. I’m curious how many on here use Braided line on their panfish setup. I’ve always stuck to just Mono line on my panfish rods. I did end up with a spool of Seaguar smackdown braid in the 2Lb. Diam./10 lb. test size. I was thinking I may give that a try on the new panfish setup. Just worried about wind knots and how much the line tends to float when casting on windy days.
Depends on the exact situation, because windy days will cause wind knot on any line unless the lure is heavy enough to keep line tight. Berkley Fireline is my preference with small diameter lines and preventing wind knots. The newer X8 is pretty good and is an improvement over standard Fireline.
As of currently I am using Diawa J-braid 6#
fishthumper:
The beauty of that line size is you can use it for almost any fishing situation in the Midwest!!! Size it with a smaller diameter floro or mono leader and you’re set for fishing for almost any species that swims. I run 20# floro and have caught all panfish (the 10″ gill in my avatar) in the spring and can use the same rod for walleye fishing too!!!
If you need a bit more finesse, scale down on the floro leader and away ya go!!!
Wind knots are a function of you’re ability to manage line. Cast with the wind and make sure you are starting the reel winding process with your line tight and wind knots will vanish!!!
Mark
I’ve tried several of the braids and so far the best in my opinion is Sufix Nanobraid. Casts a mile and holds up well to abrasion. From my experience fewer wind knots than with PowerPro.
I’ve used both their 8# and 10#.
Are you casting or vertical jigging? How light of lure are you using? I use braid for everything jigging. I vertically fish a lot and if there is much wind at all I am reaching for my rod with 4# Nanofil. There is less catch in the water if there is boat swing and it easily straightens out with small tungsten jigs.You are also able to cast small jigs much better too. The only knock I will give Nano is that if you don’t retie often you will randomly get broke off for no reason other than the line wore out. 10# test is way overkill if you ask me. You’d be much happier with 4 or 6 pound Nano, fireline, or other braid. I live panfish in the summer so feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.
I have two rods rigged up with the Clam “Frost” braid in 4 pound test. It has a diameter of .108mm. 1 pound diameter it says on the spool here in front of me. Its smaller than a blonde hair. Miserable stuff to tie but let me tell you about casting….1/32 ounce jig / 1 1/2″ plastic will fly a mile. a 1/80 jig and a dink plastic vertically will remove the natural loop in it. Its as sensitive as all get out and lays on my Shimano Sahara and Symetre reels very nicely, no line digging. I’m just super impressed with this after being married to 4 pound Nanofil for several years.
Last fall I was lifting 13 inch crappies onto a dock without a net and never lost one. With a net I managed to land a 12 pound buffalo that hit a small jig on the dock. I’ve had nothing but great luck with the line and am thinking seriously of spooling one of my panfish specific rods with some 6 pound in it that doesn’t see any float action. Just casting.
I have two rods rigged up with the Clam “Frost” braid in 4 pound test. It has a diameter of .108mm. 1 pound diameter it says on the spool here in front of me. Its smaller than a blonde hair.
Funny, this was exactly what I was thinking…the Clam braid based on your recommendation this past winter Tom.
I’m far from any expert on all the line options, so I hesitated to suggest.
Glad you did Tom. 
I also love the Berkley Nanofil in 4 lb for panfish. Though I have never had any breakoffs that I can remember. The line does tend to get frays when it’s wearing, and when I see that, I cut off that section.
It’s also not a good line for slip bobbers – it’s so fine that it is hard to get them to hold in place – it works okay to go through the bead twice since the line is extremely durable.
The strength, sensitivity and castability are outstanding for me.
I use 6lb fireline. Can pitch 1/32 oz jigs aloooong ways.
I just bought 4# mono for a nice panfishing rod i have. I couldn’t find any light pound test power pro which would have been my preference.for those with experience- is it tough to get a standard bobber knot to cinch down on 4# mono? The girls are going to learn to fish this year, I’m excited
The string stops will bite on 4 pound mono just fine.
I’ve used 4lb Berkley Nanofil for a couple seasons for pitching small jigs and micro cranks.
It casts awesome, but the abrasion resistance is terrible.
Planning on switching over to Fireline Carrier 8. It’s supposed to cast almost as well, but with much improved abrasion resistance.
For bobber fishing I will still continue to use Suffix Elite in 4lb.
If you are panfishing without a bobber it would be beneficial. I just switched to Smackdown on my non-bobber panfish rod and I’m looking to having much more sensitivity with the braid.
That Smackdown braid is awesome.
I think there is a real division in braids when it falls below 6 pound actual test. Some lines are 10 pound with a 4 pound diameter or so they say but in use the line is like wire, not at all suited for casting very light jigs. Until I found Nanofil 3 and 4 pound I was unhappy with the typical 20/6 or 10/4 braid type of stuff even for simple vertical jigging with light tackle. These lines never had the smaller weight diameter as advertised. Nanofil was by far smaller diameter than any of those and did a superb job vertically as well as when used for casting the same small jigs….like down to 1/64 with a plastic.
Last fall I ventured into the Clam Frost braid line at 4 pound test and simply spooled it over one of the reels that had Nanofil on it. At that weight the thickness of the line is about a blonde human hair thick. Its incredibly thin and as I spooled it up I was wondering how this stuff could possibly be 4 pound test. Using it convinced me that in reality it has closer to a six pound breaking point on a straight pull. There is virtually no coiling with the line. Vertically fished it stays straight with a jig as small as 1/80 ounce with a wisp of plastic on it without feeling stiff. Hits are insanely quick to realize even at 20 feet. I have had the occasion to fish this line as a casting line too and its casts with a 1/32 jig/plastic are crazy long.
I’ve since added this line in the same weight to another rod that is a dedicated vertical jigging rod that was also spooled with 4 pound Nano…. identical rod and reel for that matter. I’ll be using these rods to cast for trout given the long casting capabilities I saw with much lighter tackle.
As far as I am concerned, this super thin line casts a pretty dark shadow over other braids and I’ll be spooling some six pound on a long open-water rod that currently carries 4 pound XL, because of the hyper thin diameter of the Frost line.
The ONLY issue I have with the Frost line is not being able to see it well enough without glasses to tie it. Its virtually invisible in the water in the grey color so fish cannot detect it.
I don’t ice fish and haven’t any affilation with Clam so I’m not advertising for them. I’m telling what I have found by using it. I will also mention that I have fished it enough in cold weather on open water to have the guides ice closed, or so I thought. I have yet to have this Frost line NOT go thru an eye iced up with ease.
I use some 30/8 or 10 Power Pro on a spinning and a casting reel for bass fishing and will use these for walleye jigging as well where much larger fish might happen along. But for my panfishing I will only be using two lines from here on out. Some rods get spooled with #4 XL mono because I fish floats on them primarily. Those that see casting action are getting the Frost line if they haven’t already. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I found the light Nanofil lines….now I know I have after finding this Frost line.
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