Choosing The Proper Fishing Line Weight

By: Michael Boldig

Fishing line plays a major role in bait and lure presentation for hooking and landing fish. There is no fishing line perfect for all occasions. Fishing lines are rated by the strength it takes for them to break known as pound test.

1. Check and understand what line weight your fishing rod and reel can handle. Fishing lines heavier than the rod manufacturer's recommended line weight can greatly reduce casting ability. In certain instances it's sometimes possible to use a slightly heavier or lighter line than recommended for your equipment. Spin cast reels are best suited with thin limp line as bait casting reels works better with a stiffer line.
2. Know what kind of fish you will be catching. The heavier the fish, the heavier the line and vise versa. It is possible however to catch a fish heavier than the lines rating. By setting the drag on your reel to less than the lines strength rating, you can catch a fish that weighs more than your lines pound test.
3. Lure selection determines the pound test fishing line used. If casting heavier baits a heavier line weight is recommended, while if jig fishing with heavier baits a slightly lighter line is recommended.
4. Choose the proper line style. Choose from Monofilament, Fluorocarbon, or Braid/Fusion lines. Please see Choose Proper Fishing Line for more details.