Braid or mono - for zander

[seanyboy]

I intend to do some baitfishing for Zander in the coming months and I would like to know what you fellas use for mainline,I use braid for all of my pikefishing but I think I recall reading that mono is better for zander as they have a tendency for a lot of headshaking when hooked and throwing the hooks and mono alleviates this?

[Steve D]

I think a lot of it is down to what rods you plan on using? If they are very stiff rods maybe mono would be better.

I use z1's with 50lb or 65lb braid partly due to the fact the river is snag city so it's easy to get the rigs back, plus I find it helps to set the hooks better when fishing any distance. I've not had any issues with bumping fish off with this setup.

[Andrew]

Changed title to include zander sean as i think it attract more attention than usual braid/mono discussions. Hope you dont mind

[Neville Fickling]

I intend to do some baitfishing for Zander in the coming months and I would like to know what you fellas use for mainline,I use braid for all of my pikefishing but I think I recall reading that mono is better for zander as they have a tendency for a lot of headshaking when hooked and throwing the hooks and mono alleviates this?

The convention of being fearful of 3lb test rods and braid for zander does not really apply, simply do not bend the rod so much when close in! I use braid for all zander bait fishing

[Mark Phillips]

I don't think it matters - I personally still use mono for all my bait fishing with a lead (pike/zander), well until I find a sinking braid I like that is; I use braid for all my pike/zander float fishing and of course braid 100% for lures.

[seanyboy]

No probs Andrew,the rods are fairly softish 2.75 tc(fox predator elite) so I think I will stick with the 50lb pork and see how I get on

[Kev Berry]

I use my 10ft 6in 3lb ET boatmaster rods for zandering (and also for barbeling from the boat) with 50lb braid--- only ones that have shook themselves off have been the pesky schoolies. Bite indication is often just a few nods on the rod so the braid comes in handy there, not had any decent zander get off because of head shaking.

[Fentiger01]

Fishing from the bank in the Fens, I'm happy to use 15lb mono but fishing the Severn from the boat I use 50lb powerpro braid. My 2.75tc boat rods are fairly forgiving and I don't lose many but the river is full of snags and I wouldn't want to leave baited rigs behind. In the rivers flow, I still can't believe how well the Zeds go even on 50lb braid - if I had a pound for every time I was thinking 'big double' and a 7 or 8lber popped up at the net.....

[andrew_nagel]

I use 50lb PP braid when fishing baits. When lure trolling I splice 30' of 20lb amnesia between the braid and wire leader to give better abrasion resistance and add a little cushioning stretch to stop ripping hooks away from fish.