So i've bought a multiplier now which I intend to use for some piking. Thinking of putting braid on it but having never bought any braid I thought i'd ask what breaking strain for river pike and any recommendations on brands?

Thanks.

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The best things in life aren't things.

There are many brands of braid and I'm sure that they are mostly pretty good. However............I have stopped using it on my multipliers. I find that even in the higher breaking strains it is very thin in diameter and can lead to to the braid bedding into itself with disasterous consequencies. If you must use it I recommend that you get it wet, this helps a little. For me I prefer co-polymer........never a problem for me. I am sure that others on here will have their own thoughts................birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

Personally I love the stuff. I've got Berkely Fireline in 20 and 30lb bs on a couple 6500 ABU CT's. Used with a mono shockleader to cover power casting I find them brilliant for shore angling for all sorts of species at max range.
Remember when you retrieve to open out the line lay; don't "cotton reel" it as you might with mono; this stops the braid from bedding in under pressure. Using a multiplier with a level wind also prevents this. Also remember to wind on about 20 yds of mono onto the spool first to help prevent spool slip if the reels' arbour isn't designed for braid.
Been using it for about 12 years now, and got my 200yd Sea Angler casting badge with it Sad, I know

Brifly is spot on with all tips for braid/gelspun/spectra on overhead reels.

Another tip is to load it onto the reel wet and under some tension remembering to open out the line lay across the spool every so often.Piece of dowel rod through the spool and wedged across a plastic bucket of water will do the trick.Use an old bar towel or similar to control the line lay.Brands? well I use power-pro/bionic braid and Tuf XP.I am still using some spiderwire which is well old on one of my Shimano Calcuttas.

Use a good diameter which will aid casting and handling as pointed out.It will seem heavy BS but this is the way with these lines.Depending on the capacity/design of your reel spool you could topshot a mono or dacron backing with the braid to keep the cost down if you just plan to use it for pike fishing.
On the business end I use a mono leader of the BS I would normally use for pike fishing connected to the braid via a slim beauty or shock leader knot.This line is like a cheese cutter so grabbing a mono leader is a lot safer.

Best JP

JP

Don't ignore the tip about loading it on under tension. It makes all the difference to how it performs later.

Will you be bait fishing or lure fishing? I went through a few years where I did almost nothing but lure fish for pike, mostly with multipliers and braid. Breaking strains will depend on what type of fishing you're doing and what kind of weights you'll be casting.

Power Pro comes thoroughly recommended and has been used by thousands of regular lure anglers for years. Tried and tested.

Yep, Power pro is what I used to use and still have that on the last casting reel I own. I used to get it from my cousin in Canada before it became popular here.
If you plan on using jerkbaits (big wooden plugs worked topwater, so effective for summertime pike) you'll need to up the ante on all your gear, inluding the braid. Dave Lumb (DL Specialist tackle) used to import PP and had some recommendations on his site. For those big 4-6oz monsters he used to recommend 50-80lb braid because of all the stresses from that style of fishing. Of course plastics and spinnerbaits you can get away with 20-30lb.

Cheers

PS I used to put dacron (FF backing) as a base, before putting the braid on top. They used to say that lots of mono or braid could bend the spools by the pressure of the line when wound on wet and tight.