The saying "everything is bigger in Texas" cannot be any more accurate, especially in bass fishing. Bassmaster and Texas Team Trail go to big lakes like Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend Reservoir, and Lake Fork, which are full of giant bass. The lakes are bigger, the fish are bigger, and your fishing line should be bigger as well.

What Line to use with Deep Diving Crankbaits

Why is this? We talked about this topic with Sunline America pros Clark Wendlandt and Todd Castledine. Wendlandt says, "Deep cranking plays a role from pre-spawn to summer in Texas and is something I do a lot to catch big fish. My go-to line for that technique in Texas fisheries is 18lb or 20lb Sunline Sniper.

"In most states, I would crank with either 12lb or 14lb test, but with those big baits and the possibility of fighting them in either grass or wood, I prefer bigger line". Sometimes you do have to use lighter line to get the bait down to the deepest depths; however, the pros do not care as much about doing that as they do about getting big fish in the boat.

Sunline pro Todd Castledine has a long history of success in Texas in many different seasons. “I crank anything that is a 6XD or bigger with 20lb Sniper because you are usually cranking around stumps and brush. We also have a lot of 6lb to 10lb fish in Texas lakes, so you have to be able to fight them around that cover”.

The use of deeper-diving crankbaits allows these pros to upsize their line and still reach the desired depth range. A 10XD crankbait on a 20-lb line can easily reach the same diving depths as a 6XD crankbait on smaller-diameter lines.

Castledine also adds, “After traveling the country and fishing all sorts of lakes, I have found that you can take Texas fishing and apply it everywhere. My go-to size of line day in and day out is 20lb Sniper or 20lb Shooter. Most co-anglers I fish with are shocked when I get more bites than them, even though I am using lines as much as 10lb larger than they do on their local lakes. Sunline uses true diameters when it comes to their lines; that’s why I tell everyone, don’t worry about the size of the line that is advertised; just look at the diameter, which is the real number to look at.”

To learn more about the differences between diameters vs. pound tests, check out our article on why you should buy fishing lines based on diameter, not lb test.

What Line to use While Flipping 

In Texas, flipping is another technique to catch big fish, and Sunline sells more 20lb to 25lb tests in Texas than in other parts of the country. Wendlandt says, “Most of the time when flipping, I go with either 20lb-25lb Sunline Sniper. If the cover is really thick, I might go to an FX2 Braid, but for the most part, in these Texas fisheries, I prefer clear fluorocarbon for flipping”. Castledine says, “I throw big worms, jigs, swim jigs, Carolina rig, and flip all with 22lb to 25lb pound Shooter”.

Line Suggestions for Top Texas Techniques

• Swim jigs and swimbaits around any vegetation -> 50lb Asegai braid.

• Flipping grass and frogging -> 50lb FX2 braid

• Bladed jigs and spinnerbaits -> FC Sniper in 18lb or 20lb. *Depending on how gnarly the stuff is your fishing.

• Walking topwaters -> 30lb Asegai.

• Buzzbaits and ploppers -> 50lb Asegai.

• A-Rigs -> 50lb Asegai.

• Floating worms, wacky worms and stick baits around grass, hay, hydrilla, etc. -> FC Sniper 14lb.

• Flipping clear water and pressured fish -> Clark-20lb-25lb Sniper and Todd-20lb-25lb Shooter. Todd also adds, “braid can make too much noise on pressured fish sometimes- especially if you are flipping bushes in water that has been pressured. We have proven this multiple times. Seems to be later in the Spring when this starts to happen more.”

Following these line suggestions from top Texas anglers will increase your success in Texas and beyond!