I use 30 smackdown, but will be respooling to something larger, mostly due to wind knots more than anything.

I tried going down to 30 lb sufffix 832 this spring and threw it away already because of too much binding up on the spool. It will be good backing on the tipups.

50-65 for sure

Your choice of braid should depend more on the terrain instead of lure. Vegetation yes. Heavy timber yes. But my PB at Fork (9 lb) came from Stren 20# mono. She took it a 30 feet down and immediately wrapped me up in the tree I was jigging. I went back and forth in the boat from back to front trying to get her clear. And through my rod I could feel the line was wrapped around a limb. It was a 10-15 minute battle.

The line held up and eventually she cleared and floated up on her side.

I too went off into the braid thing. 30# tends to dig in and I had to chase some crankbaits that popped off during a cast. Changed to 65# Power Pro which will cast well but think its a big hassle. For you then get into the Mind Trash about line visibilty then leaders and knots etc.

Now I use 20# InvisX for most and 15# on crankbaits to get depth. And worry about other things besides line. Good luck.

I swear JT is rite! Maybe one or two flipping frogin rods with 60 ib

And i'll use this new 30 lb up on a spinning reel with long 12 lb flouro leaders.

I've been called a LOT of things but that has never been one of them!!

I m a braid guy I run braid on every reel I have. For the most part any single hook technique I run 50lb braid. On my punching set up I run 65lb. On treble Hook baits I will run 30LB braid to a 3-4FT mono leader to keep the hooks from rapping themselves self of in the braid. With all that being said when I start fishing off shore I will be run 30LB braid on a lot of Techniques because even tho braid is thin it has a lot of drag. 50lb braid will catch wind very bad on a windy day. If your fishing off shore on a place that has a little bit of current you will notice 50lb braid has a lot of drag in the water. It still can be fished but the bow in your line can get annoying. I still try to run 50lb braid on football Jig, Carolina rig, and swim baits with a heavy Jig head. But I wouldn't hesitate to down size to 30LB if it's super windy or if their is a lot of current.

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