Fishing breakwalls - mono or braid?

[Jiggy]

Hi Guys,

In the next few weeks I'm planning on spending a few days up the mid north coast fishing for jews. I am the worlds worst jewie fisho so I'm not expecting too much. And of course I want to make it even harder and use lures only. When it comes to using lures around breakwalls what have you found to be the best option for line; mono or braid?

Cheers

Rob

[Volitan]

Braid has virtually zero abrasion resistance, so it cuts very quickly if it makes contact with the oyster strewn rocks that most breakwall have at their base.

I use braid off the beach and mono off the breakwall.

[dirvin21]

if you're casting lures go with braid, you'll get better lure action and less interference form the current, I would recommend a fairly long fluorocarbon or mono leader to reduce the risk of cutting of on the rocks

[Green Hornet]

As dirvin21 said, braid with a longish leader for lures.

Mono if bait fishing.

[JonD]

I only use braid as my gear is all used for several types of fishing. I would happily fish using mono to if that's what was already on a reel. 

[Jiggy]

Thanks guys, I'll stick to braid as that's what's on the reels.

[kingfishbig]

1 hour ago, Jiggy said:

Thanks guys, I'll stick to braid as that's what's on the reels.

You haven't told us what breaking strain or whether you are fishing from a boat or landbased. If the latter it would do to fish pretty heavy, ie at least 30lb and a mono leader twice that strength. 

[Jiggy]

Landbased and will be using 50 pound braid. Might use a lighter leader, say 40 pound, just in case of snagging.

[kingfishbig]

16 minutes ago, Jiggy said:

Landbased and will be using 50 pound braid. Might use a lighter leader, say 40 pound, just in case of snagging.

That should pull them up. I don't know about the lighter leader though, I'd use at least the same ie 50lb. It will probably break at the braid to mono knot or the hook end if a bit abraded (or you might straighten the hook).

Edited September 4, 2019 by kingfishbig

[James Clain]

On 9/3/2019 at 4:44 PM, Jiggy said:

Hi Guys,

In the next few weeks I'm planning on spending a few days up the mid north coast fishing for jews. I am the worlds worst jewie fisho so I'm not expecting too much. And of course I want to make it even harder and use lures only. When it comes to using lures around breakwalls what have you found to be the best option for line; mono or braid?

Cheers

Rob

Mate I would recommend using braid while having a very long wind on leader of good abrasion resistant Fluro. then you could potentially have a smaller short fluro leader connected to a swivel about 20 to 30 cms to your lure. you can get away with this because the main part of line that will get rubbed will probably be around a meter up your line where you could have a fish drop down and have the line run over the drop. Still don't go to small on the lures leader though because that will still probably get damaged.

If you are unsure of how to tie on a wind on leader I would only every use an FG Knot or a PR Knot. These Knots will go straight through your guides when casting and bringing the line back in with no resistance if done well. I personally use the FG Knot, I have a video on my Youtube channel if you are interested on how to tie. 

[Berleyguts]

1 hour ago, James Clain said:

Mate I would recommend using braid while having a very long wind on leader of good abrasion resistant Fluro. then you could potentially have a smaller short fluro leader connected to a swivel about 20 to 30 cms to your lure. you can get away with this because the main part of line that will get rubbed will probably be around a meter up your line where you could have a fish drop down and have the line run over the drop. Still don't go to small on the lures leader though because that will still probably get damaged.

If you are unsure of how to tie on a wind on leader I would only every use an FG Knot or a PR Knot. These Knots will go straight through your guides when casting and bringing the line back in with no resistance if done well. I personally use the FG Knot, I have a video on my Youtube channel if you are interested on how to tie. 

Or buy made up wind on leaders. Then just plait a double in your mainline (you can use a Bimini twist but a prefer a plait). Then it’s just a simple case of hooking the two loops together. No real knots. I use them on all my game fishing outfits (100-300lb wind-ons) but also use the shorter, lighter wind-on leaders occasionally on the threadline outfits fishing live baits or whole squid etc. for jew and such. You can make up your own leaders but the premade leaders are convenient.

[kingfishbig]

17 minutes ago, Berleyguts said:

Or buy made up wind on leaders. Then just plait a double in your mainline (you can use a Bimini twist but a prefer a plait). Then it’s just a simple case of hooking the two loops together. No real knots. I use them on all my game fishing outfits (100-300lb wind-ons) but also use the shorter, lighter wind-on leaders occasionally on the threadline outfits fishing live baits or whole squid etc. for jew and such. You can make up your own leaders but the premade leaders are convenient.

Are you talking about braid to mono? 

[Berleyguts]

6 minutes ago, kingfishbig said:

Are you talking about braid to mono? 

Ahh... no. I don’t use braid when gamefishing and I tend to lean more towards mono except when flicking plastics. So, in hindsight, maybe the loop to loop connection of a mono to braid may be a liability, given the cutting capabilities of braid. I might experiment but it would be rare for me to need a wind on leader when I’m using braid, as it’s only in gamefishing divisions (ANSA/IGFA) that we are allowed such long leaders. In ANSA sportfishing and lurecasting divisions, the maximum leader length is 1 1/2 times the rod length (measured from reel seat to tip). You can get a bit of the leader through the guides but you couldn’t really get a couple of turns of the leader on the reel like you can in gamefishing.

[kingfishbig]

That's why I asked. Jiggy is using braid mainline to a mono leader.

[Berleyguts]

19 minutes ago, kingfishbig said:

That's why I asked. Jiggy is using braid mainline to a mono leader.

Yeah... my bad. Wasn’t thinking. I still might test one of my wind ons on braid though, to see how it goes. Loop to loop may not work, given the need for extra wraps of braid. I’ll have to think about it.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Berleyguts

[Oz98]

Id go with Fluro especially if you think the line will rub against sharp and rough surfaces. 

[Tunastrike11]

braid isnt any good of rocks breakwalls hook a decent fish and its game over when it touches rocks also i would be using fresh baits for jews around the full moon good luck with the lures

[Volitan]

If you’re after big fish, then before you go using braid off a breakwall have a look at this video 

 . Ok it’s not ‘scientific’ but I think it nonetheless accurately represents reality. 

[Jiggy]

Thanks guys for the input, I'll let you all know how I go. Knowing my luck with jewies I won't get a touch when fishing for them but will hook a big one when fishing for blackfish. With weed.

D'oh!

Cheers

Rob

[Green Hornet]

4 hours ago, Jiggy said:

Thanks guys for the input, I'll let you all know how I go. Knowing my luck with jewies I won't get a touch when fishing for them but will hook a big one when fishing for blackfish. With weed.

D'oh!

Cheers

Rob

Ha, reminds me of an evening many years back when I landed a 26kg jew on an ocean blackfish rod, Alvey blackfish reel and 9lb line. Ironically, I was trying to catch a tailor to use as a live bait for a jew.

Thought the bugger had reefed me on the breakwall but following the line with a torch, the fish had washed itself up onto a flat rock.

[Jiggy]

Hooked a big one at Molineux Point a few years back, fishing four pound mono to the hook and it took a prawn. Fought it for over an hour and finally got it to the boat where it shook it's head and the hook pulled out. It was well over a meter in size.

Hooked a decent one in the Merimbula river one night, near the mouth, in less then a meter of water when chasing bream. There were a lot of tailor around and I think it was chasing them. Took a strip of slimey and  eight pound mono to the hook. Ran out mid river and started shaking it's head; I though great there's only sand here and all I have to do is be patient as there isn't anything it can run into. Apart from a boat anchored about 150 meters away in the opposite direction it had run. Fish did a U-turn and wrapped me around the anchor in one big run.

Fished there the next few nights with big baits and heavier gear for a stack of bream, tailor and a few crabs and not one touch from a jewie.

So the secret to hooking jewies is to not fish for them. Buggered if I know what the trick is to land one though.

Cheers

Rob

Edited September 11, 2019 by Jiggy
Awful spelling!

[Oz98]

On 9/4/2019 at 8:13 AM, JonD said:

I only use braid as my gear is all used for several types of fishing. I would happily fish using mono to if that's what was already on a reel. 

Yeah I am the same Jon. I use braid as my mainline  and then tie mono or fluro depending on what and where am fishing. 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Oz98

[Captain Spanner]

If you haven't done it much before then you probably wont know the wall very well and where all the snags are, even if you do you will still lose alot of gear. Take alot of leader and alot of lures. If there has been quite a bit of rain (dirty water and bait getting flushed out of the river) or the surf is big with lots of foam then you could give hard bodies (bibbed minnows) a go. Typically 150mm-200mm length. Otherwise you will probably have more consistent luck with plastics, typically 1/2 oz to 2oz heads depending on how fast it is running and the size of the paddle tail. Try plastics from 5"to 8". Start with paddletails but have some jerk shad patterns too.

As you are trying to work the lure near the base of the wall you will get alot of snags. As such, you will need a leader knot you can tie quickly (i use  type of albright). FGs and PRs are great but they take a long time to tie, especially when you might be tying one every second cast until you figure out where the snags are. An hour either side of the tide change will be the easiest to fish and be mindful that the water will not necessarily slow/stop/change direction when you think it should by reading the tide chart. It often appears to change up to a couple of hours after the tide chart depending on the river and the tide at the time.

Also be careful of brown snakes in the walls, especially if it is warm. We saw one swim from one wall to the other at Forster in January.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Captain Spanner