Berkley braids breaking

[alleycat]

Just wondering if anybody else has the same drama i have tying leaders with berkley braids?, i used to find every second spool of fireline popped when tying leader and then bought a spool of crystal in 6 lb and every knot was great, but today i bought some xds fireline in 9kg and it pops like cotton when you test leader, ive tried my usual know which is doubled uni and also albright, and i lubricate lines with hand cream when i tie them, does anybody else cop this?, im taking sppol back for refund tommorow.

[nabs12]

Stick with the Fireline Crystal ;D

[alleycat]

Yeah its good but the xds comes in 150 yeard spools as opposed to 115 for cystal.

[budge]

Im in the same boat, the last few batches of fireline ive bought i have had a lot of troubles with overall line strength and alot more laying problems than previous. Ive heard that crystal has improved these issues a lot but i like to have the coloured line as it helps you follow your lure and see the strike. I think i may switch to another gelspun line for a while...

[davez104]

I haven't bought any Berkley braids recently, but use fireline and have used plenty in the past, as well as whiplash and gorilla braid. I have not experienced any problems at all, although I heard that the whiplash had some problems breaking at random points when they first brought it out. Not everyone complained about it, it seemed to be that you either got a good spool or a bad one. My thoughts where that it may not have been the line as such, but maybe the super fine diameter may have been causing abrasion resistance issues. So it may have been more related to where people where using it and maybe even the quality of their gear, rough or chipped guides etc etc. I know this doesn't help your problems much but these are just my thoughts on the Berkley range.

Do you tie a double in your braid before attatching the leader? If not, try a bimini, at the very least it should improve your knot strength.

Dave.

[alleycat]

I do tie using a double and today swapped the berkley for penn power pro and first knot was strong as.

[BrandonH]

I use fireline for everything under 20lb and have never had a problem!! I do 10 wraps in the braid uni and 6-8 wraps with the mono leader (depending on the weight/diamiter). I do this so i end up getting about the same sized knott at both sides of my double Uni. your not cutting the tags too short are you? I did find that if i cut them too close they can sometimes come unravled? also if the uni knott isn't seated correctlly (as it the loops don't sit neatly, eg: bunched up on each other) you don't get as strong a knott. I get this normally when tying a heavy leader 40lb +

Good luck with it mate!!!

Cheers
Brandon...

[blue-mako]

Maybe you could try doubling the braid to prevent cutting? Use a spider hitch a few cms above the leader knot to double the braid. This should help. What I have noticed is in very cold humid weather my knots seem to snap much easier at times. But once the day warms up the knots are perfect with the same line. :-?

Troy

[NeilD]

I have fireline on many of my reels including some that is 7 years old. I had one single spool of pink 10lb that broke under very little pressure. I chucked and replaced with Crystal and am back in action

Neil

[StevenM]

Had a few problems with that stuf so switched to Fins

[Matthias]

I had trouble recently with a 6lb spool. Tied Bimini's, albright, blood, perfect loop and it kept snapping like cotton. It has happened before but not to this extent. Even pulled 10m intervals and tried again...it has only happened to me when the line still had its coating.

pete.

[Croweater]

I've had the lighter (10 kg I think) Fireline snap like that but I have about 3 heavier rods with the 30 Kg and that is bloody hard to snap.

[grich]

I have been using tuff line. i have been very happy with it. It is 30lb and super strong. Has any one ever had a problem with this braid? What would people recommend for heavier braids? Cheers. G.

[Far_Canal]

tuf line is great, only problem is it sometimes knots when your casting because its so smooth.

iv heard alot of problems with xds fireline, especially to do with knots breaking.

pen power pro braid is awesome.

[onerabbit]

I have tried 4 different brands of braid, including Fireline. I found that the Fireline tends to go "fluffy", which to my mind means it must be loosing strenght.

Only one brand of braid for me now, Platil Millenium.

Muzz

[grich]

Has anyone found any problems laying braid on the spool or fishing heavier braid on game reels? Has anyone found that it embeds more than mono? Is there anything that can be done to avoid this problem? Also is there any way to attach Braid directly to the spool without a mono backing? Cheers. G.

[onerabbit]

Braid must be wound onto your reel under pressure, if it doesn't pack down properly, line will bite into the line on the spool & cause heaps of problems, also, even a couple of layers of mono on the bottom gives the braid something to grip to, otherwise the whole spool of line may spin on the reel spool.

Muzz

[PlasticFantastic]

With some of the newer reels and pe braids you dont need the mono backing as for Fireline I use 4lb with 6ld leader and connect the two with a Surgeon Knot and it seems to hold as for the lighter lines breaking its most likely because when you pull on it testing the knot you are probably applying 4,5 maybe six kilos pressure to it causing it to break.




PlasticFantastic

[grich]

What is the best way to put braid on under pressure, and how much pressure is needed? Also I have previously used the pink bionic braid and found that the pink die ran and has coated my guides and solidified. Has any one else found the same thing? G.

[onerabbit]

I usually get my young bloke to hold it on the handle of a wooden spoon & grip it from the outside with a rag ( the rag normally ends up with scorch marks after 600mtrs).
If you can get it on really tight to begin with, you should have less problems.
I saw a thread recently where someone suggested flying a kite with it to wind it on tight, maybe not practical for everyone, but I thought it was good ;D ;D ;D

Muzz

[eotbmg]

I normally wrap the braid several times around the bare spool [ tightly ] then tie my knot. i have never has one slip yet.
Cheers
Ben

[rick_k]

don't decide in the middle of the night that the line is insufficiently tight and then go to Marchant park to remedy same. You'll meet more people than you want to when you have 300m of braid stretched out across said park and tied to the fence in the dark at 2300 hrs. But you can pack it on nice and tight