The article on the record brown trout on 4# line got me thinking. Understand I'm NOT discounting that achievement! Amazing!!

But things have changed.

1) The break strength of light braids is way stronger that the equivalent monofilament lines of my youth (born in 1953). There is (in my experience) no comparison between 8# Fireline, and #8 mono. I fish for crappie in the winter in deep brush. Once in a while, with a really solid snag and a good knot, I can't tear 8 lb. Fireline without wrapping my hand to protect it, and even then it seems almost impossible. That NEVER happened to me with 8 lb mono. Conversely, I occasionally run into someone else's long length of obviously heavy braid which appeared to be cut, and leaves behind a mess. Probably because tearing it was impossible?

2) The drags on reels today are amazing compared to the old days, and so (if in open water), one can land huge fish on light lines without even needing to backreel. With the drag quality/break strength improvements, landing a lunker on light line isn't quite as big a deal as years ago. My personal bests in the BWCA and Woodland Caribou are 45 inch pike, 29.5 walleye, and 21.5 smallmouth (using 8# or 6# Fireline), and I can't remember losing a big fish to a torn line.

3) I love to play large fish on light line. But the science is coming to a pretty clear consensus that the longer a fish is played, the less the chance it will survive the release. Playing a fish to exhaustion is to be avoided. I need to take this much more seriously, IMHO. I somewhat shamefacedly am remembering playing fish way too long because I thought it was more fun. I wonder how many big fish I've killed along the way.

Just some thoughts with my first cup of coffee.

I agree line has gotten better over time, as it should. Drags on reels too I'm sure.

I'm not sure many people purposely go into a place severely under sized hoping to break a record or play a fish out real long. But it happens when you're not expecting it of course and a big one comes along while you're panfishing or something.

I'm not too worried about fish of my past, I don't think I ever tried to lengthen any fights. I'll keep going armed to try and match what I'm throwing and trying to catch. But good points

good post barehook. Don't beat yourself up. We all do things that we question later on once perspective evolves.

The lighter the better. Typically I have 4lb on my shallow jigging poles. Deeper I'll go with 6.
Some of my trolling poles have 8
My trick is keep the line new. No Knicks.
Landed many a 4 lb smallmouth on 5ft ultralight with 4 lb line. A good knot. No Knicks and your good to go.

#3
The reason many large fish are caught (or hooked) on light lb line is obvious- esp in clear waters. They can't see/sense the line and or FAKE presentation. Larger fish are older fish that have likely seen presentations before and got cold feet. I feel no issues as far as Sportsmens issues when it comes to fighting fish on light lb line- trophy fish are around for a reason- many of those because they have sensed things not being right and swam on. IMO- hooking a big fish on light line is not being non-sportsmen. Much of big game is the same in as far as being spooked, as a rhetorical question- why so??? I'am not worried about what chooses to LEGALLY bite my lure using light tackle-- I'am more concerned about how many of those fish are not released ASAP. One could make the case for the + .243 rule in rifle hunting in MN - but the hunter is making the final choice to harvest - not the game.-- and not with .22 bird shot. Good topic here.

When I was a young, impressionable lad, I read an article where the author challenged you to lift up two pounds with your fishing rod. Surprisingly hard to lift, and the author's point was that there was no need to use anything heavier than 4 pound test. I came to realize that there were other factors in play like knot strength and abrasion resistance not to mention pulling off of snags that made his idea impractical. But it's food for thought anyway.

Next time you have some time watch a YouTube on musky fishing. There’s a great reason they use 50-100 pound braid line. Hook set is better on big jaws with heavy line. I’ve seen hundreds of fish caught on YouTube where they hook a large Pike or Musky. If you were to start a stopwatch from the time they hook the fish to release it’s not very long. They set the hook, real it in fast, net it, remove hooks, lift for a picture and put it back in the water. All in about 3-4 minutes. There is so much less stress on the fish this way than fighting it for 10-15 minutes with stretchy mono. My advice if you catch and keep, or catch and release is to use the proper line size for the targeted fish. Panfish 2-4#, Bass and walleye 8#, pike and musky at least 50#braid. You also need the proper rod, reel, and drag setting for those fish. Just my thoughts.

You don't have to worry about it as much in the BW, but vegetation and wood come into play when choosing how light of line you can be comfortable with.
Also taking into account what you might have better odds with on highly pressured waters.
I've dialed back my usage of braid in recent years and am more in favor of mono.
Especially on my baitcasters bass fishing, from 30 lb braid to 14 lb mono for casting cranks.
Still love braid for jigging walleyes though, and trolling crankbaits.
You do have to let bigger fish play out longer on lighter line, that's just the way it is, can't be in as much control as you would like, especially in a canoe.
These days I play out the non pic worthy fish for the fun and get the large fish in as quickly as possible.
The longer you dink around, the greater chance of seeing a hawg throw that lure back in your face.
The quicker you get them in and the greener they are, the healthier the release, it can make for some active fish pic attempts though.