FLIPPIN’ (BRAID VS. FLUORO)
Zaldain flips with both braid and fluoro, depending on the situation. “My rule of thumb is to flip with fluoro when I’m around hard cover (like docks, rocks and pilings) and braided when I’m around soft cover (like weeds and grass, bushes, timber and bark),” he explained.
When flippin’ heavy cover with braided line, Zaldain goes for a “quieter” braid. He uses Smackdown because it is an ultra-smooth braid. He prefers the Moss Green color in 65-lb.
“Smackdown is a true eight- weave braid, meaning it has eight different strands of material that are all wound together,” he said. “It is more of a round- type line. This makes it have a little more friction in the guides, but it is silky-smooth and ultra-limp. Because it is so smooth, the Smackdown is much quieter and stealthier; so I know when I use it, I am not going to get that ‘squealing’ line sound that the fish can really sense.
“It has a really thin diameter compared to the pound-test rating; so the 15-lb braid actually has the diameter of a 4- to 5-pound-test line. The thinner diameter has a bit less of a parachute effect for less drag. The less drag there is under the water, the more direct feel you have.”
He ties his flip rig using a Snell knot with four wraps.
BRAID TO FLUORO
Zaldain doesn’t only use Smackdown for flippin’ heavy-cover. He also spools it up for the smallest of his spinning presentations.
“I have it on all my spinning reels in either 15- or 20-lb test – again, in Moss Green,” he said. “A lot of times with spinning reels, we’re using really soft rods. With that soft rod, you’re able to detect light bites; but with the zero stretch braid, you can still get good hooksets, even with the softest rod. Aside from the
50
hookset, I like it because of its stealthiness and limp feel. I don’t notice the friction in the smaller diameter line and am able to make really long casts.”
Zaldain uses two different kinds of fluorocarbon (InvizX and Tatsu). For his braid to fluoro conversion, he always goes from Smackdown to Tatsu.
“Tatsu is super-strong with a thinner diameter,” he said. “It has just a little bit more stretch than InvizX and since I am using the braid with no stretch, it is nice to have a little bit of a shock absorber. That’s why I go with the Tatsu.”
Typically, Zaldain will use an 8- to 12-ft Tatsu leader. He marries the two lines with an Albright Special knot.
“The Albright Special is the absolute thinnest, most streamline knot that I have found to date,” he said “It is eight wraps down and eight wraps back up, so it is longer (lengthwise) but has a smaller profile (in girth) so it doesn’t hang on your guides. You can trim the tag ends all the way down to nothing. Little to no tag also alleviates getting hung on the guides and doesn’t interfere with castability.
“Another plus when I am using an Albright Special is that I know, practically 100 percent of the time, if I get hung up and break off, it will break at the hook knot, not at the joining knot,” he said. “That is a big plus, because after a break, I am not in the bottom of the boat retying leaders.”
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