Mono vs. Braid for Salmon Trolling

[scott craven]

Do any of you have experience with both mono and braid and have you noticed a difference in the frequency of hits? Did I just experience a weird morning or is there something about braid that scares salmon away from striking a trolled lure?
The difference of that day hasn't been seen by me before or since.

Nope, we are running braid on one side and mono on the other and no difference in number of hits.
In fact using virtually the same gear last time out, 2 hits on the braid side and none on the mono.

 

[Slabby20]

Everyone uses different reels, so it's a little difficult to be really difinitive about line quantities. The best backing is dacron, but it takes a ton of line to fill a large size mooching reel up with dacron. To give this a try the cheapest and easiest way is to use one of your mooching reels already spooled with decent mono. Select a reel that is a bit of line down from full capacity. Usually about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch down from full capacity is good. Next attach the mono to the braid with a good knot recommended for this purpose. I use an Albright Special knot, it is very easy to tie.

Next spool up 300 yards of spectra in 45-65 pound test. 50 pound test is good for most applications, lots of strength but still a reasonably small diameter line. If using spectra on multiple reels it helps to use different colors in case of tangles, it's easier to undo them. Hopefully you guestimated the amount of space required correctly and the spectra fills the reel just to capacity. If the reel ends up a little over full you can always reel it off onto another reel of the same make with a little more room on the spool. It's all a trial and error thing to get it filled just right. Make sure you record the amount of space required on the drum to spool up 300 yards of the test spectra you are using. That way you can reliably duplicate it if you want to spool up another of the same reel with spectra in the future.

Once spooled with the spectra join on at least 20 feet of 40 pound test mono with another Albright special knot. The tag end of the spectra line can be made extra solid after tying the Albright special by using a lock knot.

Hope that helps.

TheBigGuy,

Have ever seen or tried this version of the Albright knot? I tied up few based on the video and it makes a nice looking streamlined knot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92R9F9ZNi2I

 

[TheBigGuy]

The Albright has a few variations, I settled on the Albright Special as the version I prefered to tie for braided lines. It just seemed easier for me to tie reliably than other versions. I'm sure the other variations all work equally well.