Daiwa J-Braid Expedition X8 braid review - around £38 for a 150m spool or £60 for a 300m spool

This is not remotely a “budget” braid, but there is something rather interesting about it which I can’t really prove but which I am convinced makes this Daiwa J-Braid Expedition X8 braid a really good choice for wind and waves especially. From the very first time of fishing with this stuff I got the distinct feeling that this very smooth and quality feeling braid was cutting through wind and waves a little bit better than some other mainlines I am more used to…………..

This of course is entirely subjective, and you need to bear in mind that I fish a lot on the open coast with the Berkley Sick X8 braid in what they claim is a 36lb breaking strain (I choose to treat it as a 25-30lb braid because I think it’s more realistic). Because it’s slightly thicker than a high-end 20lb 8-strand or 12-strand braid, it naturally doesn’t slice through wind and waves quite as well. But I trust the Berkley Sick X8 braid so much that stuff like this has never remotely bothered me. Same with the outstanding Samson '36 Strong braid - my Braid of the Year 2024 - which is a fantastic mainline I can trust completely. I don’t believe it’s the absolute best braid for cutting through wind and waves, but again it’s subjective, and again I am not sure it really matters that much when you have such a tough, no-nonsense mainline.

Or does it? The more I have fished with this Daiwa J-Braid Expedition X8 braid in the bright orange colour - it also comes in a dark green - the more I have convinced myself that it is indeed literally “slicing” through waves especially particularly well. I am sure I have noticed it when I am surf fishing and banging out mainly the Savage Gear Seekers into a hectic sea and I am faced with annoying crosswinds. It feels so much like there is less “wind-grab” if you like on the line and therefore the lure. I put a 150m spool of this Daiwa braid in the 27.2lbs/0.18mm/PE#1.5 version on a Penn Slammer IV 2500 spinning reel, and a 150m spool of the 35.3lbs/0.20mm/PE#2 version on a Shimano Exsence 4000MXG spinning reel which I have here and which gets almost saved for special occasions!

I turn to the Slammer for any kind of bass lure fishing where the reel runs a good risk of getting drowned, and I have fished enough now with this Daiwa braid to trust the stuff in a big way. I am not about to change away from the braids I fish with all the time such as Sufix 131, Berkeley Sick X8 and Samson ‘36 Strong, but that’s for no other reason than I know those braids inside out and I see no reason to change these mainlines up for the time being. But I do love trying different stuff out. I find that Sufix 131 cuts through the wind especially well, so perhaps this is why I am sure I have noticed this rather lovely Daiwa J-Braid Expedition X8 braid doing the same thing, and perhaps a smidgen better. Completely subjective as I said, but when you fish a lot like I do, and you fish with a lot of different gear, you tend to pick up subtle differences if your brain is as inquisitive as mine seems to be. This Daiwa J-Braid Expedition X8 braid is a really impressive mainline and you can find it for around £38 for a 150m spool or £60 for a 300m spool. You all have a good weekend……….

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