Like almost all of you, I grew up fishing with monofilament line. Like probably most of you, I now fish with braided line most of the time. My transition from mono to braid was not particularly fun. No matter what I did, I was constantly throwing wind knots. I tried different rods, different reels, different casting styles — and the whole time, the wind knots were there, a faithful companion and constant annoyance. I even tried a reel that was “guaranteed” to eliminate wind knots. I sure showed that reel.

I like to think I’m not an idiot, but then there are realizations such as this: I didn’t try changing the line. PowerPro is the standard, and that’s what I was using. Maybe I’d just been keeping my eyes closed, but there are lots of other options to spool up with. Encouraged by the staff at Fishin’ Frank’s, I tried a couple different types with no luck. Then one of the guys (I really don’t remember which one) suggested Spiderwire Invisi-Braid. The difference was night and day — wind knots went from expected to rare, literally overnight.