braid and CB trolling

[SteveJ]

I really have a love/hate relationship with braid, put it on,take it off, wind knots with jigs. But I have not tried it CB trolling, anyone use it? Any do's and don'ts. Bandits are pretty hi-dollar so I sure hate to lose one and it's always the one they are biting.

[J White]

Steve, I hope some other folks will reply to this, don't want to butt in
and try to run the show...

but I've tried fireline, it was so slick it wanted to slip through the releases
on my planer boards. I found out you can double-loop it through them
and solve that problem, I even do that with mono when the water is rough.
I bought one of those high-dollar offshore "snapper" release clips that was
supposed to be the cat's pajamas with braid, and it just didn't seem to work
for me - maybe I'm not smart enough to use it :p

but a couple of thoughts on braid for trolling:
1, I would LOVE to be able to use something stout enough to just straighten
the hooks and keep on rolling when I get hung up too. But I got to thinking
about what other problems this may bring up - like on some baits I use where
the bill is glued or screwed into the body, (not Bandits) it may just pull the
bill out. Even with a one-piece lure, I'm afraid you might have to re-tune
it if you pull too hard on it. I guess that would still beat having to reel
everything in and go back to use the "knocker" (or lose a bait)

2, I lost a fish in the last tourney (fast trolling jigs) on 10/2 power-pro
that I feel like I could have got in with some stretchy mono...
It was in shallow water, and the fish was head-shaking REAL hard,
the hooks pulled out right as it broke the water, way too far to reach
with the net. Made me sick. I was using a really soft rod, and trying to
baby the fish, but it was still going BANG - BANG - BANG every time it
shook it's head. I'm thinking seriously about going back to mono for
long-lining, at least for shallow water. Either that, or start running
with my drag way loose and tighten up as needed when I get a fish???