I have a ugly stik carbon rod with a kast king baitcast reel with 12lb mono line and it snapped two lures off mid cast (no backlash) the first time using it, so i switched to 20lb braid and did it again for the 3rd time since ive owned it brand new, any thoughts as to whats causing this? The line guides look fine with no obvious nicks
General Fishing Discussion
Line snapping randomly
As mentioned, take a Q-tip and rub it around the inside of the guides. A very overlooked place is the line guide on the reel itself...the reason you have to use Q-tips is often the abrasion is so small, you may not see it with your naked eye. The cotton fibers will find it and show you though! Also, some monofilament lines are more brittle than others. Berkley Big Game mono used to be THE WORST...if you had a minor backlash or the line looped over a guide, etc...kiss whatever bait you had tied on goodbye! It sounded like someone cracked a bullwhip and you got to watch your bait sail off into the sunset! Didn't matter if it was 10#, 12#, 17#, etc...it was just plain brittle! I have found that 'abrasion resistant' monofilament lines are more prone to this than 'easy casting'...Trilene XL was probably the best mono I've ever used, but I use primarily braid with a fluorocarbon leader on most rods now. Panfish I still use mono and it is 4# Trilene XL or 4# Zebco OmniFlex. It is either your guides, reel or old/crappy line.