How To Choose The Correct Braided Fishing Line

I know this is a broad topic so we are going to shrink it a bit and talk about freshwater and inshore saltwater fishing. No offshore or hollowcore in this post. Really it’s 4-weave vs 8-weave.

So when should you fish a 4-weave braid rather than an 8-weave braid and vice versa? Well it’s actually pretty simple. You should be using an 8-weave in every situation where you would fish braided line except in freshwater when you are in heavy vegetation. That was simple right?

Now I’ll explain why. An 8-weave braid is typically smoother, casts farther, is quieter through the guides and has less drag in the water. This makes it a better choice than the 4-weave in basically every situation. Run your fingers across a 4-weave braid. Its coarse exterior makes it excel at cutting through vegetation and not much else.

I do want to add another important factor. If you personally prefer a 4-weave to an 8-weave then fish it. Don’t worry too much about it. In most cases the advantage isn’t so drastic that it’s going to affect your fishing in such an incredible way that you’re not going to catch while the guy next to you fishing the 8-weave is knee deep in fresh fish. Being comfortable and confident with what you are fishing is important. Anglers have been fishing 4-weave for over 20 years and it works great.

I hope that little explainer helped. If you have fishing questions or want me to do a post about a certain topic, hit me up in the comments or send an email to [email protected].