I really like thinking about and writing fishing tackle reviews on here, but braid is a tough one. Are there actually any bad braids around these days, why should a particular braid cost much more or less than another one, how is one braid better or worse than another one, and how on earth do you go about quantifying what you or I think makes for a really good braid in which we place so much trust to help us land the fish we might hook?
I believe that Sufix 131 is the best braid I have ever fished with, but how do I go about describing quite why I think this? I know for example that the considerably cheaper Savage Gear Silencer braid is a really good mainline, but I prefer bright coloured braids and this one only comes in dark green. You might prefer that, but I don’t. I know that Sufix X8 is a seriously good braid that performs flawlessly for my lure fishing - but for reasons I can’t really nail down I prefer the more expensive Sufix 131 when I’m feeling like I can afford it. There was a YGK braid from a few years ago that I think was called PE Upgrade or something like that. The lad who helped us out with some bass fishing in Morocco loved this stuff, but for some reason I just couldn’t get on with it. And so on and so on with regards to braids. We all like different things and sometimes we can’t quite explain why. It’s just the way it is.
So I decided a long time ago that when reviewing braids, I can do no more than go on what I like fishing with and then try to describe to you why I do. Some braids just feel better to me when I am fishing with them than others. I accept completely that this may not be the case for you; you might like or not like mainlines which I get on with really well. So how do I go about reviewing this Berkley Sick X8 braid which I believe Berkley are marketing mainly to the freshwater market but of course the braid can and does work perfectly well in saltwater?
I have fished plenty with the red and yellow 24lb versions because as I said above, I like bright coloured braids. I always tie a length of clear leader on the end and I don’t worry for one second about bright mainlines putting fish off. Not when you have seen as many amazing and spooky fish caught on seriously clear and shallow tropical sand flats as I have over the years with fly lines that are more often than not pretty brightly coloured and stand out from a mile away. There are three colours of Berkley Sick X8 braid - Red, a fairly subdued sort of brightish yellow called Flame Green, plus a dark green called Lo Vis Green), and an industry insider I know told me to ignore the diameter claims and just go on breaking strain (see this blog post here for more info). I don’t catch 24lb bass but I see no reason not to use a braid this strong when these amazing modern mainlines are so incredibly thin compared to monofilament. The next breaking strain down is 16lb which I will use for some of my estuary fishing next year, and I have also been experimenting with the 36lb which is on my Penn Authority 3500 spinning reel. More to come on this.
And from the off literally everything about this Berkley Sick X8 braid just felt right to me. I can’t tell you exactly why this is as I said earlier on, so it’s only a feeling and me knowing when something just works for me. It feels so much like the line itself gets a bit smoother after a session or two fishing with it, the braid retains its colour better than any other braid I can think of, and it feels like it’s coming off whatever spinning reel I am using seriously well. In the past I have felt that the odd mainline seems to catch a sidewind a bit more than another one, but I don’t feel that at all with this stuff. It just works.
Again it’s just a feeling, and especially because the fish I catch in the UK and Ireland are not exactly testing the out and out linear strength of a 24lb braid, but this seems to be a really strong mainline. I like to think that I have been snagging the odd lure or jig head or weedless hook for long enough (with my fluoro leader secured to my braid via the FG knot) to know what feels about right when you are trying to pull stuff out. The simple fact is that a good FG knot means there is no weak point between mainline and leader. When I am using what I am told is a 24lb braid with say a 20lb fluorocarbon leader, unless that braid is running over a sharp rock when I am trying to get my lure free from a snag, any breakages really should be at the knot which secures my leader to my lure clip - IF you don’t get the lure or hook back that is. This is what has happened to me with this Berkley Sick X8 braid and therefore I trust that it’s plenty strong enough.
I don’t know what more I can tell you other than I really, really like this Berkley Sick X8 braid. The fact that Berkley are marketing it more to the freshwater world means little to me when I can buy a 150m spool of serious quality mainline for under the £20 mark for my saltwater lure fishing. There are loads of good braids out there as you already know, but I do like a nice bright braid, and I particularly like the red or yellow versions of this stuff. What I like more though is how it fishes, and on that front I can’t find anything at all that niggles me. I am adding this Berkley Sick X8 braid to my mental list of seriously good mainlines which cost me under £20 for a 150m or so spool.
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