Sea Fishing Lines – What Should We Use For Beach Casting?

Before I get in to this one, I’m not going to be talking about braid here. I accept that braid has its uses and is popular with some anglers, but I personally feel that it is problematic when not used responsibly and chances are that if you’re reading this, you’re relatively new to sea angling.

What you need at this stage of the game is a reliable mainline that you can use without issue, hassle free. A traditional monofilament line is relatively cheap, easy to use and highly effective. So in regards to monofilaments used for beach casting, where do we begin? The first thing we need to look at is where we will be fishing. 

Terrain

This will play a huge part in deciding what line you will be spooling on to your reel. Lighter breaking strain lines are thinner and obviously a little more delicate, so using a low breaking strain, low diameter line on a venue where there are rocks, ledges and generally rougher ground where your tackle is going be landing, is a no goer. Any contact with the sea bed is like to damage these thinner lines and just a small nick could create a weak spot that could see your mainline snap at a crucial moment.

I would suggest that if you’re fishing over rougher ground marks not to go below 0.36mm in diameter. If you go much heavier and thicker than say, 0.43mm, you will reduce your casting distance. This can be problematic in itself, especially if you’re aiming to cast a long way to a patch of slightly cleaner ground, for example. 

Of course, if you’re not hoping to cast a bait to the horizon, by all means go heavier. Note that I haven’t mentioned line breaking strains at all here. A stated breaking strain on a spool of line could be inaccurate, but a diameter can be measured more simply. If you buy two brands of line that are 20lb breaking strain, chances are that one will be thicker than the other. If you don’t pay attention to the diameter, you may not realise this and then be wondering why your casts don’t appear to be going as far as they had been before you re-spooled your reels.

This is more evident in the case of a fixed spool reel, but will also be noticeable when using a multiplier. If you’re going to be fishing an area of clean ground with few snags, you can afford to drop the line diameter, gain some extra yards on your cast and still have ample strength to deal with any fish that might come your way. 

As a starting point when fishing these kind of marks, I would opt for a monofilament of around 0.30mm in diameter. This kind of thickness is surprisingly strong and will take more abuse than you’d imagine. In some circles, even a 0.30mm line would be considered heavy, and with ultra low diameter lines it becomes possible to cast a fantastic distance with bait. 

Always consider your venue before spooling up, it’s important to get it right for each of the reasons outlined above. 

Fish species 

Logic would suggest that the bigger the fish, the heavier the line you would need to use. Wrong! I’ll only dedicate a few lines to this part of the discussion as it’s really not as important as the kind of terrain that you will be fishing over, but I bet there are many anglers who believe it might be.

If a mainline of 0.36mm breaks at 20lb, realistically, how often will a fish caught from the shore exceed this weight? And then, how often will a fish actually exert 20lb of direct pressure on your mainline? Never! The pressure on your mainline with a compressed rod tip is tiny, and no where near 20lb. You could puff and heave at the butt end of the rod, but get a pal on the other end of the line and ask them to feel just how little pressure is actually being placed on the tackle- and the mainline. 

Always, always, fish with a mainline that suits the ground where you will be fishing, not the species of fish that you will be targeting!