Switching to Med. Lay 1/4" line for my next trotline....

[cja313]

So the first line I bought last year was #5 Locktite and it served me well till it got knotted/tangled up.  Brother ended up cutting the line enought times and attempting to retieit and I said, forget it, Lets just buy a new line.   I hear Medium lay 1/4" is less likely to tangle.  My question is, can you tie (Slip Knots) chicken necks to it securely as you would with the #5 Locktite?  or is this line better off for Snoods?

Thanks!

[Crabbyd]

Personally I wouldn't do it.  Medium lay will not tangle as easily as locktite but I think you will find it too stiff and too big to tie slip knots in it.  I have one medium lay snood line and about a dozen soft lay snood lines and I still prefer the soft lay lines over the medium lay line.  The medium lay line, being a lot stiffer than soft lay takes up more room in the orange baskets and is tougher on the hands working with it and laying it out.  this is just my opinion and I'm sure other will have different opinions.

[cja313]

Never crabbed with snoods, scares me honestly just thinking about tangles with the baited line of necks in the basket when going to lay the line  (I know like with anything, you learn how to pack your baited line to reduce the chances of tangeling but still...) .....looking forward to what others have to say, since Im not familiar with the medium or soft lay lines....

[ChrisS]

I run softlay, best line ever! Use it for everything, even pull my gun up into my stand with it when the season is over.

Snoods are fantastic, altough not necessary, and are nothing to be sceerd of.

[Summertop]

I switched to medium about 4 years ago and wouldn't go back.  I like the fact that it doesnt absorb water as much as soft and makes for a quicker dry storage and I like the way it pans out in the basket better than soft which balls up in my opinion  ( but NEITHER TANGLE, other than a quick shake when laying it out).  I don't think it would do well with direct tie as it is more rigid and the knots would stay too tight for de-baiting.. works great for snoods though. I had locktite lines way back and they always tangle...unless you stack like Domino (but I don't have his pic of stacking in a crate).  Good luck.

[ChrisS]

I'll have to try the medium lay, sounds like good stuff. I took all my locktite and rigged my duck decoys with it.

[cja313]

Well in response to the Med. Lay being TOO tight and hard time debaiting, What I have done in the past for Locktite is at the end of the day, I pull up one anchor and bouy, grab the line and run with it for about 30-40 yards, pulling until the other bouy goes under.  You can feel all the necks popping off.  then you pull the line in by hand and there are no necks on it.   Thinking this would work for med. Lay also, but these are the things Im wondering before I purchase.....

[ChrisS]

I doubt you could do that with medlay, if attaching directl to line was possible. I wouldn't recommend it anyway regardless of line. Kills the line

[Summertop]

Well in response to the Med. Lay being TOO tight and hard time debaiting, What I have done in the past for Locktite is at the end of the day, I pull up one anchor and bouy, grab the line and run with it for about 30-40 yards, pulling until the other bouy goes under.  You can feel all the necks popping off.  then you pull the line in by hand and there are no necks on it.   Thinking this would work for med. Lay also, but these are the things Im wondering before I purchase.....

Tried once...only worked for a few and then I was left with tight azz knots that I had to work way to hard to get out.  My guess is the line is too thick to really act like a knife to cut the neck well.  Locktite is thin and does this well..  I drove alot further than 40 yards and my anchor wasnt moving    ...

[cja313]

yea, see thats not gonna work for me.  I'll stick with locktite, maybe try a #6 or #8.  I appreciate everyone's input, saved me the trouble of buying a line that wouldnt work for how I wanted to bait it.!!

[rdbeard]

some guys are using both softlay and medium lay without snoods by untwisting the the line and inserting necks. i don't do this but i've been told it works well.

[cja313]

some guys are using both softlay and medium lay without snoods by untwisting the the line and inserting necks. i don't do this but i've been told it works well.

Sounds a little more time consuming than a simple slip knot, but I have read that people also do that too.

[crabster2]

Another BIG advantage to 1/4 med or soft lay snood line is you can tie it to a cleat and drag it if its not producing in one spot.

[reds]

I switched to medium about 4 years ago and wouldn't go back.  I like the fact that it doesnt absorb water as much as soft and makes for a quicker dry storage and I like the way it pans out in the basket better than soft which balls up in my opinion  ( but NEITHER TANGLE, other than a quick shake when laying it out).  I don't think it would do well with direct tie as it is more rigid and the knots would stay too tight for de-baiting.. works great for snoods though. I had locktite lines way back and they always tangle...unless you stack like Domino (but I don't have his pic of stacking in a crate).  Good luck.

I agree with John.

Medium lay is so much better then soft lay, for water absorption and tangles.

Works well with snoods.