SPECIMEN CARP TACKLE: Leaders & Main Line

WORDS: Derrick Nel

SELECTING THE RIGHT LINE FOR THE MAIN LINE ON YOUR REELS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A DIFFICULT CHOICE AS YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY IDENTIFIED WHICH WATERS YOU PLAN TO TARGET, AND PURCHASED A SET OF REELS ACCORDINGLY.

But you need to do a little more homework on your chosen waters with regards to water colour, the presence of grass and snags, crabs and rocky areas. The distance you plan to fish, and whether you are casting or boating the lines out also needs to be considered when shopping for main line. A question I get asked a lot is whether braided line is better than monofilament line, and in all honesty it’s not a quick yes or no answer. Let’s take a look at a few different scenarios one could expect at various waters, and which lines will be suitable in those conditions.

Smaller waters that are relatively snag free do not require a very thick and overly strong main line, especially if you will be casting the lines out. Normal mono with a breaking strain of 15lbs will suffice as long as there is no water grass anywhere near your swim or baited area. A fish swimming through water grass during the fight can result in the mono getting burnt off, while the presence of crabs in the margins can be disastrous if you decide to use back leads to pin the lines down to the lake bed. The crabs WILL nick your lines off, and if you are not able to wade into the water to retrieve the cut line, you have the danger of your other lines getting caught on the loose line during a run, or even worse, if a fish picks up the bait of your cut off line and swims around trailing a couple of hundred metres of line behind it.

If the water does contain water grass and crabs it would be wise to switch to a strong braid as a main line as it will cut through grass without burning off, and crabs don’t easily nip it in half.

Waters that contain submerged trees and tree stumps should be fished with a very strong and thick mono main line that has a very high abrasion resistance rating. Braid needs to be avoided in these conditions as it tends to cut deep into the tree stumps and branches when fish swim around them, making it impossible to retrieve. If I’m fishing at a distance close to tree stumps and need to use braid as a main line to give me the distance I need, I will use very long and very thick braid and stick to mono for a leader. Snag fishing can be very difficult and frustrating, but if you use the right main line and leader, it can also be very rewarding.

The colour of the main line is not too important, and I suppose it can also come down to personal preference. I like to use a clear mono as it is the most versatile colour to use on any water. A lot of anglers don’t like clear mono as they say it gets dirty, but in my opinion it actually absorbs the colour of the water giving it a natural “dye”. Some anglers prefer using a bight high visibility main line so that they can follow the direction of the fighting fish to try and avoid tangles with other lines, but this really isn’t necessary as one can use the rod tip to feel and see where the fish is headed. If it is a must for you to use a high visibility line, then simply use a long, clear or brown coloured leader to avoid spooking feeding fish close to your hookbait.

If it’s within your budget and you decide to spool your reels with braid as a main line, avoid the casting braids. Although they are a lot thinner than other braided lines, they are mostly floating braids. This quite simply means that they have no sinking fibres woven into them that allows them to float on the surface. If you are fishing using such a braid in a water that is open to power boats and jetskis, you are in for a very frustrating and costly fishing session! I’ve witnessed many reels spooled empty in seconds by passing boats leaving the anglers with no more main line and in some cases, damaged reels and alarms. I’ve even see anglers pick up their own line when dropping lines with a boat, and believe me when I tell you that it can be a tangled mess of note! Select a sinking or intermediate braid when fishing waters that are known for boat traffic to avoid unnecessary problems during your session. If you plan to wet a line on a water like Hartbeespoort Dam that sometimes has a green pea soup sludge on the surface it is advisable not to use braid at all. I have found that braid cannot penetrate the layer of green stuff and when the wind blows a bow starts forming as your braid is pushed along on the surface. In fact it gets so bad that the line starts spooling off the reel and should you tighten the drag a bit more, the wind moves the line enough to start dragging the rig. Changing to mono solved my problem as the mono seemed to sink through the sludge with relative ease.

A very important factor to remember when fishing with braid as a main line is that it has no stretch at all, which means that you need to play the fish with a lot more care, especially under the rod tip where the possibility of a hook pull comes into play.

So basically both mono and braid when used as a main line or a leader, have their advantages and disadvantages. I enjoy the best of both worlds as my spools are filled with half braid and the other half with mono, which gives me a bit of a stretch factor to enjoy a comfortable fight. As for my leaders, they are long and strong.

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