Advice on braid.

[Stephen125]

Hi everyone, I could do with some advice on braid.
I'm a bit of a novice on the beach fishing scene and I'm still learning the hard way!
Anyway onto my problem.
Last October I bought my first beach fishing rod and reel....a Penn Rampage 13ft rod and Penn Surfblaster 7000 combo from Gerrys of Morecambe. Included in the combo was a pack of Spiderwire 30lb dura braid mainline which I was very impressed with......so impressed I was that I decided to buy the same rod and reel combo from a different shop which did not include the braid.
I spooled the second reel up with 30lb Daiwa orange mono but decided to remove the mono as I did not like the feel and stretch compared to the braid.......which brings me to the main point.
A week ago I decided to invest in some 30lb Spiderwire stealth smooth red and thinking that is more expensive than dura braid, it would be better quality.......how wrong!
I spooled up the second reel with the new braid and found it snapped far far more easily than the dura braid....which I was not happy about.
Can anyone advise why this happens?
Cheers guys and go easy on me!

[James Mully]

Are you using a braided shockleader with the 30lb Spiderwire if not that could be the reason as braid has very little stretch unlike mono I used Kastking 25lb braid with 100lb spiderwire on one of my outifts and it was brilliant. Abrassion on the line and knots can cause the braid to snap. After every couple of casts its worth checking the last few feet near your rig for any signs of abrassion such as fluff material showing. I fish 75 straight through now with no issues occasional wind knot if fishing in a cross wind but nothing major. P.S invest in casting glove if you don't already have one tronixs ones are only a couple of quid

[Stephen125]

Thanks for the advice James. I didn't get to use the Spiderwire Stealth smooth as it was a faulty batch apparently. Also I will get some of those casting gloves I've been reading about.
I know this sounds way way over the top,but I have spooled my Penn reels with 64lb dura braid. I was reading on a couple of forum sites that you don't need a shock leader if I am throwing out 4 ounce leads.
I maybe wrong about that but as a beginner I'm trying to keep everything as simple as possible.
I buy ready made rigs from the shop but one day I would like to make my own.
Having fished for years using coarse rods on rivers and lakes it's a little like learning to fish again when I go beach fishing!

[James Mully]

We go off 10lb of shock leader per 1oz of lead used. I personally don't use a shockleader when using 75lb braid straight through and I usually cast 6-7oz depending on where I am fishing. I only ever use a braided shockleader when fishing with my finer braid such as 20 - 25lb. Theres a whole debate out their about shockleaders and braid some love them some hate them some use mono ones without issues some struggle. All down to personal preference.

[Stephen125]

My rods are two 13ft 3 piece Penn Rampage with a test curve of 4 to 6 ounces.
The weights I will be using are 4 and 5 ounce breakaway grip leads and with the bait attached I should in total be around the 6 ounce mark when casting.
I was using 30lb braid without a shock leader.........again it shows my inexperience but after doing a bit of research I've switched to 64lb.
Cheers for the advice James......it all comes in handy!