Never say never

[rb-nc]

Once upon a time when I was young....there was a new craze in the fishing industry. A new type of line hit the stage. Something called braided line. No stretch, no coils etc etc. Ok I've got to try this. I bought a spool and put it on a reel. Man was it $$$. First cast, bait hits the water and I look at my line. I can see my line what looks to 40 yards underwater. See when braid first came out it wasn't dyed. I couldn't deal with it. Took it off. Then the quote " I will never buy that crap again", Well welcome to 2021 my friends. Yes I am now almost exclusively using braided line. What's so funny is now that I'm older, I can't see the stuff at all since they started dying it. The switch from mono to fluro for me was easy. Fluro is so much more dense and sensitive, I loved it. Fished 100% fluro for years. Then the dropshot came along. If you use that rig all day it will ruin your spool of line with twist. It was to the point that I was taking a spare reel spool with fresh line with me and changing during the day.$$$$$. I went to a small swivel and a leader and it did help. Then I started hearing about braid to leader on spinning rods. So I bought another spool of braid and learned how to tie the Alberto knot. Holy smokes this is great. Robert came home one weekend and saw it and told me I was crazy. We went to Norman and fished for two days and didn't have to retie, By the end of the weekend he was tying a pretty good braid to leader knot. He fished it at Dale Hollow this next weekend and was convinced. Alright then, braid on spinning rods and fluro on casting and mono on topwater. Then I started following Matt Allen on Youtube. Matt was using braid to leader on everything. No way. I kept watching and saw him topwater fishing and noticed how little effort it took to work the bait, so I tried it. The first cast I made I cast so much line off the reel it went past my connection knot, holy smokes. Then when I started working the bait it took nothing to work the bait side to side. Later on I made another long cast to some schooling fish. As soon as the bait hit the water a fish hit. No problem the hooks buried deep in the fish's mouth. Sold another braid rig. The one that convinced me to change completely was I was wanting to throw a big balsa square bill. For some reason I didn't have a rod in the boat with big enough line to throw it. So I tied it on the rod I used for topwater. After a few minutes I got a strike that almost jerked the rod out of my hands. Landed the fish and again the hooks were buried. Finished out the day and said that's it I'm changing. Again Robert had his doubts. This time I was in TN fishing with him. I had gotten a few of the first Whopper Ploppers that had come out. The smallmouth hated those things. After throwing those things that for and hooking them so good he made the switch too. I have one rod that has 17lb mono, Rico. One 20lb mono, spinnerbait. One 8lb mono for small balsa flatsides. One 20lb fluro for flipping, I still can't see the braid and I have to see my line when I flip.
The biggest advantage, other than the $$ from not having to change line, now that I have lost so much strength in my hands and wrist it gives the power to hook fish. I'll never quit using it. Oops I said it again 

[Oldfart9999]

RB, you can use yellow braid, pick up a couple of fat Sharpies, cut a slot in the tips and you can color a few feet of the line black, brown or green but still have the high visibility you want. That's what I'm doing now.
Rodney

[FD]

I used to sharpie my Power Pro  but now I use black Ninex Braid from CPFLURES.COM.

Use FD10 discount code for anyone who wants to try it.

FDx Custom Rods
Arti-FISH-ial Entertainment
CPF Lures

[BassmanRudy]

I can barely see the green braid when cloudy and the black at all! So mostly yellow for me when line watching is a requirement! Sharpie the last few feet and at least to me "it's gone". Love braid. Throw it for almost everything but deeper diving cranks.

[Pat Dilling]

I am a braid convert as well, especially on spinning gear.  I use it with a fluorocarbon leaser.  I love that line twist is pretty much non-existent and that I can just put a new length of leader on instead of filling the spool.  Using the bright yellow or green helps me see the line and I detect bites I might have missed.  I honestly feel bites on a slack line!  That sensitivity means I don't have to buy ultra expensive rods to get the feel.  On bait casting rigs I use it for flipping, throwing swimbaits through weeds, punching, buzzbaits and frogs.  I have gone back to monofilament for most other topwater.  Hard to explain why, it just works better for me.