Q: Now that fixed-spool reels are becoming more popular with boat anglers and filling them with braid allows easier casting, do you think this line is suitable for uptiding?
PAUL SHAPLEY, PENARTH, VALE OF GLAMORGAN
DL says: My preference is to use monofilament line loaded on a multiplier reel when uptiding because this is how I started fishing this technique in the 1970s.
While you might call me a dinosaur, I have no intention of changing other than with one exception, and that is when uptiding in a combination of very deep water, typically upwards of 80 feet, and the very fast tides such as we experience in the Bristol Channel. Under these conditions braid is best, but again I use a multiplier.
In reality your technique will be more of a combination of both uptiding and downtiding, using a wired lead weight to grip the seabed.
You are correct when you say fixedspool reels are becoming more popular with boat anglers, and that filling them with braid allows easier casting. Fixedspool reels have long been the choice of sea anglers all over Europe, and the trend is gathering momentum in the UK, with braid used almost exclusively for many forms of boat angling. Most anglers find casting with a fixed spool easier than with a multiplier reel from a boat.
Braid has a much thinner diameter than monofilament of a comparable breaking strain, which equates to being able to hold bottom in strong tides and deep water using lighter lead weights.
It is virtually non-stretch, unlike monofilament which can stretch by as much as 20 per cent. This means braid gives earlier and more positive bite detection, which many anglers believe is a good thing. I would argue this is often not the case because earlier bite detection can mean anglers miss a lot of fish. This happens when they fail to give a fish sufficient time to fully take a bait before attempting to set the hook. Perhaps the biggest advantage with the uptiding technique is that by the time the rod tip nods the fish has probably taken the bait and is already hooked.
If you use braid when uptiding, it is important to keep your line away from any monofilament used by other anglers. Whenever braid comes into contact with mono that is under tension, it very quickly cuts through the latter. In an ideal world, try to ensure those fishing braid are on one side of the boat and those fishing mono are on the other.