Line for bottom fishing

Hey All,
After doing a bit of searching and asking, I am the latest owner of a couple of boat rods and casting reels that will be dedicated to pulling lings and other assorted bottom dwellers into the daylight. For our local inshore areas, what line would you recommend I fill these reels with? rating? leaders?

I've still got my drammamine handy for the next shot at fishing the big blue pond.

Jay

jay, if you go back a month or so and read our cape kiwanda  and associated posts regarding what gear to use, i think you'll find that our guys use a variety from traditional mono to superbraids..

personally, my "heavy duty" set up i used at pacific city is spooled with strens 30# version of spectra called microfuse, tied to a 70# sampo barrel swivel, with a 4-6 ft 30# leader of maxima flourocarbon. bear in mind, i dont use this set up a lot, maybe it will see daylight 3-4 times a year, so i'm gonna be happy with that long term. it should handle most chores fairly well as long as i do my part.

one thing i suggest you do, tho, is get practiced using the eye crosser knot that kallitype tested after yessnooo brought it to our attention.. that thing is unbelievable in strength and toughness. i've been using it on lower strength mono's for my light duty spinning set ups i recently got and it's so strong i'd actually break the line above the knot by several inches when i'd snag/ hang up and try to horse the lure back to me. paddle up to the snag to free the lure like i should have in the 1st place, and every time, the line had broken above the knot or just at the knot, but the knot was still there and solid.

my $.02
Rich

I use 25# Power Pro for pretty much all my rods. Braided lines don't stretch so are super sensitive. It let's you feel all the ticks and bumps on your lure so know what the bottom feels like and also exactly when a fish is ready to hit. It's my personal preference and am sure there's others who can't stand it. Maybe spool one w/ it and compare to see which you like best.

Z

Yep, what they said.

 Especially when you go deep jigging. The lack of stretch of braid will move a jig up and down with the rod and allow you to feel a bite. Be careful though. Once you've tried braid, fishing with mono (especially jigging) will feel like your fishing with a rubber band.

I like Powerpro 30lb test. I feel like the slightly thicker line (about the diameter of 8lbs mono) has a bit less tendency to form "braid boogers" (bird's nests) than the thinner test lines.

I like 20# PP.  In reality it tests out to 40+ pounds.  30# is a bit too high for my liking.  Sometimes it is impossible to break off.  I don't have too many problems with braid boogers, but I don't cast much either.  I have had problems with 20# PP on spinning reels.  So much so that I'm thinking of switching to a fused spectra (a little thicker than normal braided spectra).

-Allen

30lb power pro is what I fish with.  I add a 25-30lb, of abrasion resistant mono,  top shot of about 15-20 feet. The mono top shot is the "same test" as the power pro but the power pro has a much higher breaking strength.  Have fished  50 power pro a bunch but found 30 is plenty and I can break it if needed.  Pelagic

Braid boogers (flying bird's nests) are a function of casting with a spinning reel (pretty much all I use down here).  Closing the bail by hand and holding the line taught with your fingers until you take up the slack helps TREMENDOUSLY.
I looked at those large arbor spinning reels which are supposed to help, but my fishing buddy here has one and he is not impressed.