Braid vs. Mono Casting Distance Experiment [Both Light & Heavy Lures]

What do you think casts further…

Braid or mono?

And how much further does the winner cast?

Many anglers have asked about the difference between braid and mono in terms of casting, so I thought that I’d host an experiment to have an educated answer to that question.

Before performing this casting experiment, I had no idea how much further I could actually cast with braid compared to mono on my spin casting gear.

I could see that my casts increased once I finally switched over the braid, but I was not sure if the increase was 5%, 10%, 20% or perhaps even more.

[Update]

After seeing some great questions from the community, I performed an added experiment to cover the following two variables:

1. Lighter lure (the first test was a 1/2 oz weight that was an absolute bullet)
2. Wet lines (this Updated test was over the water so that the lines were both wet at all times)

Braid vs. Mono Casting Experiment

My theory has always been that we should always try to use the lightest line that can handle our target species so that we can maximize our casting and retrieving performance.

So I put the focus strictly on the rated power of the lines since the power needed to catch a target fish is the driving force when deciding which power level of fishing line is needed.

Since I most often use 10 lb braid line when fishing for redfish, snook, trout, bass, etc., I decided to load a reel up with a 10 lb monofilament line to use for the test.

Here are the variables that are in this experiment:

1. Line Power: Equal – both at 10 lbs
2. Rod Lenght: Equal – both the exact same 7’6″ rods made by the same manufacturer with the same power rating
3. Reels: Equal – both lines were on the same sized Shimano Stradic Ci4 reel
4. Lures: Equal – both were 1/2 oz teardrop shaped weights so that wind-friction is minimized
5. Casting Force – As equal as possible without a $$$$ machine
6. Line Diameter: Not equal – but that’s ok because it is part of the reason why braid has an advantage

Note: I did 5 casts with each line for the first round before switching the weights and doing 5 more casts to make sure that the weights used were not impacting the results.

Click on the video below to see the full braid vs mono experiment:

Note: This first test analyzes the difference of braid vs. mono when casting a heavy/aerodynamic lure… the updated test below this first video shows the differences when casting a lighter lure.

[Updated Experiment]

After seeing some great questions from the community, I performed another test to see how different the results would be if:

1. The weight/lure was lighter (3/16th oz vs. 1/2 oz)
2. The lines were wet

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Braid vs. Mono Casting Test Results

As expected, the braid enabled me to have longer casting distance relative to the same power line in mono.

But the surprise was that the difference was closer than I expected (just ~7%) for the heavier lures… my assumption was that the braid would get at least an extra 10% or more extra distance.

However, my theory was proven right in the 2nd test when I used a lighter weight to resemble a lighter lure (this test used a 3/16th oz weight to represent a lighter lure). In this updated test, the difference was a whopping 30% in favor of the braid.

Note: These results will vary depending on the exact lines that are being used as well as the amount of line that is loaded on the reel.

Also, the 2nd test was using a new spool of braid compared to the first test which had a used spool of braid.

Here are the lines I used in this test:

• Braid – 10 lb PowerPro
• Mono – 10 lb Berkley Trilene XL

For the lure, I used a weight so that it would represent the weight of a lure without having varying wind-drag differences that would alter the results.

The original test had a 1/2 oz weight, and the 2nd test had a 3/16th oz weight.

Conclusion

Braid proved to be the better choice compared to traditional monofilament line in terms of casting distance for both experiments.

The first test with a heavier weight showed a 7% advantage to the braid.

And the updated test with wet lines that were both newly spooled showed a whopping 30% advantage for the braid.

Although the 7% doesn’t seem like a big deal at first glance, it still equates to an extra football field of water coverage every 43 casts.

And at the 30% advantage when using lighter lures, that’s an extra football field every 10 casts… WOW!

Given the statistical fact that more water covered = more fish caught, it’s essential for us to do all that we can in order to maximize our casting distance if we want to maximize our fish-catching results.

And it seems evident that those of us who do a lot of casting with spinning reels need to highly consider using braid so that we can maximize our results.

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Leave a comment below if you have any questions.

P.S. – Be sure to send this article to any of your fishing friends who are still using monofilament line on their spinning gear because it can get them an extra 7% longer casts by making just one simple switch.

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Fish On!

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