Hi-vis braid...what color is best?

[coreynov902]

I generally use dark green braid but am planning to put hi-vis on one set-up this year for wacky rigging senkos. Looking at the hi-vis braided lines, I see a bunch of different colors available...yellow, orange, pink, blue, chartreuse, lime, white...is this one of those things that everyone's eyes are different and so it varies from one angler to another, or is there a consensus on which color is the most visible? I see more yellow than anything, so I'm guessing that's the one, but figured I'd see what you guys are using.

[basscat21]

Favorite braid YGK soul yellow, hard to fond now. Have J braid grand in bright green, I like it and seems pretty good.

[Coho975]

Sufix Advanced 832 in lime green is my go to Hi-Vis.

[willwork4fish]

Yeah I think it depends on the person. I've tried both bright yellow and white but I see the bright green 832 the best...PP Super Slick in the light green isn't bad for me either but for some reason I get way more wind knots with PP.

[City17Banner]

I had the opportunity this last season to compare my favorite 10# YGK SS112 sinking braid/Super ester line in the bright yellow against the 11# Varivas Super Trout Advance Double Cross PE 8 in the Hi-Vis Orange with Hot Pink Sight markers which consists of a section of 60" of Hi-Vis Orange and one section of 20" of Hot Pink sight marker in a repeating pattern. I found the bright yellow of the YGK line to be more visible for my bottom contact, wacky rigged Senko, and soft jerkbait presentations overall, the only time the Hi-Vis Orange was more visible was in one specific instance after a torrential rainstorm where the water was muddy (like chocolate milk) due to inflow from a large creek with heavy clay shoreline, in this case, the HI-Vis Orange stood out like a shining beacon against the muddy water. This water color it not prevalent in our NW Wisconsin waters so I stand by the experience/observation that the bright yellow of the YGK line is most visible for the soft plastic presentations I employ for smallmouth bass fishing.

Please have a great day!

[Les Young]

Diaw j braid x in flourescent yellow for me but i also ordered a spool of reaction tackle fluorescent yellow to try crappie fishing.

[bassboat1]

I use lime green and yellow on everything - they are about the same IMO.

[catdude28]

Suffix 832 in hi vis yellow for me

[coreynov902]

So it seems like either yellow or lime green seem to be the prevailing colors that seem the best. Thanks for the input guys!

[DrewFlu33]

I like orange or pink or red if I can find it. It's just easier to see for me. Blue is next best. Green and yellow are fine, but they tend to blend in with the water more than others for me, particularly with all the vegetation I'm fishing around, so they're not as easy to see.

[Quillback]

I like Seaguar Smackdown with whatever they call that chartreuse color. White is not a bad color either, and some brands (not Smackdown) will start off as a bright green, but after a few uses bleach out to white.

[coreynov902]

Again, I appreciate all the responses. Quillback brings up another question though. Of those brands/colors that have been mentioned, how are they with color retention? I remember when 832 first came out it did a pretty good job at retaining the dark green color. The last couple spools I've bought it seems to fade to white very quickly. I suppose it they all fade to white and white is still a good hi-vis color, it doesn't really matter, but I hate getting a bunch of dye all over my rods and reels if the line bleeds the color out really bad.

[City17Banner]

@coreynov902

Instead of trying to describe how well the YGK SS112 sinking braid/super ester line has held since I started using it two seasons ago, I thought a comparison picture would be the best avenue to convey how well this fantastic JDM braid has kept its color.

Please have a great day!


On the right is a brand-new unused spool of 16# YGK SS 112 braid/super ester line and on the right is one of my 2006 Shimano Antares DC casting reels spooled with the same 16# YGK line. According to my fishing logs, this specific casting reel, which I use for crankbait fishing (my favorite smallmouth bass fishing technique), has been in use during 121 days of fishing over the course of the last two seasons of fishing. I will leave you to determine how well the YGK SS 112 line has fared, but I now use it extensively for all of my bottom contact, drop shot, and horizontal reaction techniques such as crankbaits, chatterbaits, and spinnerbaits due to how effective it has been in knot retention, sinking ability, and overall strength. The only type of presentations I retain the use of Power Pro Maxcuatro braid for now is when I present topwater lures, all of my other casting and spinning reels now have YGK SS 112 or Varivas Double Cross PE 8 line spooled on them.

[johnnybass]

My thought is that you want to use the best combination of being visible above water in different conditions vs being less visible under water. I use a long leader but I still would rather not have something moving through the water that is highly visible going past the fish before my leader/lure get there. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to determine which color meets this criteria but I though maybe red because it's supposed to be less visible to fish and white because it's more "natural"? Who knows- that's just my own thinking.

[OkobojiEagle]

I still would rather not have something moving through the water that is highly visible going past the fish before my leader/lure get there.

My white (un dyed) PE line is quite visible to me when viewed against the background of the water, but very difficult to see against the background of the sky...

[DrewFlu33]

I personally don't think that the fish have any idea or care that there is a colored line 6+ feet away, assuming they see it at all. We're going to have to start figuring out clear hooks and doing away with weights and making sure to add additional detail to our soft plastics if so, and that's stuff that's actually connected to what we're getting them to eat. There's so much other stuff floating around in any body of water, there's just no way I think the fish notice anything any distance away. Even ultra pressured trout in low, clear water don't react to a colored fly line floating ahead of a fly. Now whether the colored fly line strung up a 9-10+ ' rod on the shore affects them is another story, as is whether that fly line makes the fly drift differently than it should, but that's pretty different than what we're talking about here.

As to line that doesn't fade: I've not found anything high-vis out there available from any of the major brands that holds its color. It seems the only non-fade braids out there are intended for heavy cover flipping and so they stay black or dark green or whatever. I did find some random stuff on eBay that shipped from China and took months to get here that doesn't fade at all. I have no idea how it's possible, but both the orange and red I got have stayed exactly the same color after more than a year on the reels. Wish I could find it again!

[Corkpuller]

Been using 10lb power pro yellow on my Crappie reels for years.
No leader, tied direct to 1/32 - 1/8 oz jigs.
Crappie I believe are much more finicky than bass and that yeller line don’t bother em a bit.

[cbburke74]

all of my spinning rods have SUFIX 832 Ghost White.

[basscat21]

Tackle Trap posted they have YGK S112 in stock, is been hard to get for a year.

[FryDog62]

Honestly, I find "Ghost" to be the best color. On super sunny days - the fluorescent yellows/greens almost glow and are harder to distinguish. Ghost shows more realistic and better detail, depth, etc... and works on both cloudy and sunny days.