Best Fishing Line Choices For Soft Plastics
If you’ve ever wondered what type of fishing line to use for different soft-plastic fishing techniques for bass, walleye, trout, pike and panfish, this blog has you covered. It explains the advantages of braid, fluorocarbon and monofilament, and offers Sufix fishing line recommendations for fishing various CrushCity soft baits.
BRAID
Sufix’s 832 Advanced Superline, ProMix Braid and Revolve Finesse Braid are made of woven specialty HMPE fibres, which combined with a high weave-count produces a uniform, thin diameter line with many advantages.
Braid benefits
Sufix’s thin, densely braided lines have outstanding tensile strength and abrasion resistance, excellent casting distance and accuracy, and superior knot and shock strength. Low-stretch, braid also offers exceptional lure control, ultimate bite detection and firm hook setting power.
Braid and CrushCity
2024 Kenora Bass Invitational (KBI) Champs, Jamie Bruce and Bryan Gustafson, relied on 50-pound ProMix to catch over half their largemouth and smallmouth bass from shallow, dingy water areas holding wild rice, reed heads and cattails. Braid was tied direct to a 4/0 VMC RedLine Heavy Duty Flippin’ hook holding a Texas-rigged CrushCity Cleanup Craw below a 1/2-ounce VMC Tungsten Flippin’ Weight.
Countless anglers use 15- and 20-pound ProMix or Sufix 832 when casting 4- to 5-1/2-inch swimbaits, like the Heavy Hitter and The Mayor, on 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4 ounce jigs to catch walleye. Pike anglers deploy similar tactics, but with 20-, 30- or 40-pound.
Sufix Revolve is an ultra-thin, finesse braid ideal for both spinning and BFS (Bait
Finesse Systems) applications. Revolve with a 10-pound Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon Leader is ideal for sharp-shooting bass or walleye using forward-facing sonar and a Mooch Minnow or a Freeloader on 1/8- to 5/8-ounce VMC MoonEye or Hybrid Swimbait jigs.
ProMix 50- to 65-pound braid on a heavy or extra-heavy baitcasting combo is a popular set up for fishing The Mayor or Heavy Hitter on an Alabama rig.
Leader lessons
Tying braid direct to a hook or jig eye is common when fishing in heavy cover, water with poor visibility and some horizontal, reaction-bite presentations. In clear water, however, it’s a good idea to tie on a length of Advance Fluorocarbon Leader, which is nearly invisible underwater, among other benefits detailed below. When using braid for toothy pike and musky, a VMC Titanium Multi-Strand or Fluorocarbon Leader prevent bite-offs.
FLUOROCARBON
Advance Fluorocarbon and Castable Invisiline 100% Fluorocarbon are made using Sufix’s G2 Precision Winding, which virtually eliminates line memory and boosts overall performance. The proprietary Gel Phase Technology process gives Advance Fluorocarbon the ultimate handling, performance and clarity sought by the most discriminating anglers.
Fluorocarbon benefits
Fluorocarbon virtually disappears in the water, making for a more natural presentation. Fluoro also has a higher density index, which gets the presentation to the strike zone four times faster than traditional nylon. Sufix fluorocarbon lines are also incredibly strong, abrasion resistant, sensitive and resistant to damaging ultra violet rays, giving them a longer lifespan of quality performance.
Fluorocarbon and CrushCity
Advance Fluorocarbon in 6- or 8-pound is outstanding for drop-shotting smallmouth bass and walleye. A potent rig would incllude The Jerk, The Suspect or Creeper on a VMC RedLine Series Drop Shot hook (2 to 1/0 sizes) above a Tungsten Tear Drop or Drop Shot Ball Weight (1/8 to 3/4 ounces).
Fluorocarbon’s density and stiffness also give a soft plastic a slightly different action and fall rate in the water compared to other lines, which can trigger more bites at times. This makes 6- or 8-pound fluorocarbon a viable line choice when casting The Jerk, Mooch Minnow or Ned BLT on jigs. Likewise, using a baitcasting setup with 12- to 14-pound fluorocarbon to fish a Pigstick — whether Texas-rigged on a 3/0 RedLine Series Hybrid Wide Gap or wacky-rigged using a CrossOver Ring with a RedLine Series Wacky Neko — will see the plastic behave slightly differently than when fished on ProMix Braid, for instance. Likewise if fishing a 5-inch The Jerk Tex-posed for up-feeding bass.
Strong, abrasion resistant 12- to 14-pound Advance Fluorocarbon excels when fishing a Cleanup Craw on a Finesse Football Jig along rock, sand and mud bottoms for smallmouth.
Flipping and pitching a Texas-rigged Bronco Bug (4/0 VMC RedLine Heavy Duty Flippin’ hook and VMC Tungsten Flippin’ Weight) on 17- or 20-pound Advance Fluorocarbon delivers the stealth and strength needed to fool largemouth lurking in and around cover in clear water lakes.
MONOFILAMENT
Sufix’s options in this line category include: Siege, Elite, Recycline and Advance Monofilament. Each of these lines offer slightly differing degrees of “mono” characteristics. Of the three lines types discussed here, mono has been around the longest — but don’t label it “old-school” because it remains important to have in your repertoire for certain soft-plastic applications.
Top benefits
Overall, monofilament lines handle and cast extremely well. Sufix’s monos also boast superior tensile and knot strength. Smooth and supple are commonly used to described these lines. Nylon line (aka mono) is also more buoyant than fluorocarbon.
Monofilament and CrushCity
Ease of use and excellent manageability on a spinning reel make 6- to 8-pound Siege or Advanced Monofilament outstanding for beginners learning to fish soft plastics on jigs and finesse rigs.
Sufix mono in 4-pound is tough to beat when targeting panfish with jigs and soft plastics, like The Suspect, Creeper and Ned BLT (or VMC Tungsten Nymph Jig).
The buoyancy of 6-pound Recycline (and other Sufix mono lines) gives The Suspect, Creeper and Ned BLT a different action and slower fall rate on 1/16- or 1/8-ounce Ned Rig and Neon MoonEye jigs than when fished with fluorocarbon or braid.
Sufix Elite in 17-pound delivers unbeatable strength, shock absorption and stretch, which are useful qualities for anglers with lightening-fast and hard hook-sets when fishing a Texas-rigged Cleanup Craw or Bronco Bug.
The above is not an exhaustive list, but rather a glimpse of how Sufix braid, fluorocarbon and monofilament fishing lines can be paired with CrushCity soft baits to catch more fish. Remember, choosing the best fishing line depends on numerous factors, and sheds light on why so many anglers have all three of these lines represented within their rod and reel collection.