What are some of those that fish clear water favorite braid colors for lowest visibility to the fish & sizes for spinning gear?
What are some of those that fish clear water favorite braid colors for lowest visibility to the fish & sizes for spinning gear?
I fish really clear water ( St Lawrence river ) and the water has a slight green tint to it, so I use Aqua Green when I don't use a leader ( surface lures ). 90 percent of the time, I use a leader and use yellow because I want to see it. I use 10 pound test.
I use Daiwa JBraid in gray. I ALWAYS have a leader tied to it so the fish never see the braid. It is very supple and cheaper spinning reels stuggled to cast it or return it to the spool properly. My Daiwa Tatulas and Kages cast and retreive it perfectly.
USN Retired
2020 Basscat Caracal
2020 Mercury 225 ProXS 4s
I'm using diawa j braid X4 now in flourescent yellow on cheaper spinning reels & don't have any problems with it. I just wondered what would be less visible in a clear bluish- green water?
Chartreuse for soft plastics and moss green for reaction baits with a fluorocarbon leader
Thanks guys
I just use regular green power pro with most reels, and my dropshot rods get yellow.
I use leaders with every setup with the exception of my frogging/heavy flipping rod. Anywheres from 6-15lb test and 10-20’ long depending on how I feel
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
I use gray braid in clear colored water.
2010 Nitro Z7
Mercury Optimax 150
Garmin 106SV(bow), 106SV(console)
Cayuta Creek Outdoors
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw3...UvSxaeLpzFyYHA
I use the brightest orange or red or pink I can find, and if I can't find that then it's the brightest chartreuse I can find. I'm convinced that if you're using a leader, a fish doesn't know or care that there's a colored string several feet away. To be fair, the only time I'm not using a leader is if I'm throwing a topwater. I'm even tacking a 25 lb leader onto my heavy cover pitching/flipping rod these days...though that's not really because of the visibility of braid, but because of the noise I think it makes moving through vegetation.
Interestingly, I even used to have bright yellow braid on my frog rod before I "knew better," and one of the best days I ever had frogging was during prespawn on an ultra-clear lake throwing that bright yellow braid. I'm maybe digressing, but as I've thought about that over the years, I've almost landed in a place where I think brighter/lighter colored braid is better for topwaters than something dark colored. If the fish can see the color of the line at all (which I doubt since braid isn't exactly transparent) or if they can even perceive the line, a lighter color is going to look a lot more like what they're used to seeing when they look up compared to something dark green or black.
The only exception I've found is around highly pressured trout in a stream. There were definitely times when I was really into that type of thing where I found using a natural colored fly line would make a big difference despite using a 9-12' mono/fluoro leader, though I also regularly caught trout on flies down to size 28 and occasionally as small as 32 so I think that's a lot different than what we're talking about here.
Last edited by DrewFlu33; 12-19-2022 at 10:36 AM. Reason: More rambling
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I was once fishing with Scott Martin and he told me that he did the same thing during a tournament in the Potomac - he went to a fluoro leader for his vibrating jig because it was a heavily pressured area and everyone around him was using straight braid. He thought that fluoro leader going thru the milfoil dulled the noise and made a big difference.
Green