Spider Wire EZ braid review

I've used braids of one kind or another for nearly 15 years as my reel line for pike fishing. After trying various brands, I settled on Powerpro and have fished with it ever since without any problems.

I wanted something thinner for sea fishing with lures and plumped for 20lbs Spider Wire EZ braid to load up a new reel. First impressions after its maiden trip is the stuff's brilliant. The coating's very slick and it just flies through the rings.

I'm not sure how long the coating will actually last, but by the time it goes the line should be well bedded-in on the reel. This probably sounds daft, but I've noticed the dreaded tangles you get with braid almost invariably happen with new braid. Once you've used it a few times, it's usually fine.

Pike fishing with the stuff's taught me to spool it on tightly, slightly under-fill my reels and exercise a bit of care after casting, ie shut the bail arm manually and check the line's going on tight.

It's that slacker coil or two that gets onto the spool if you close the bail arm by winding the handle and don't make sure the line's tight that can get you into trouble in a cast or two's time.

After a few chucks, I was seriously spanking the Spider Wire last night, casting those little 35g Storm spoons as far as I could throw them with a whoosh of the rod. No tangles, no problems right from the word go.

This is one of the cheapest braids you can find at the moment - it's £19.99 for 300 yards. I'm going to get some of the stronger stuff for using bigger lures when I get round to it. I'll probably end up using the 30 or 50lbs for pike fishing, when I get round to that again.