Savage Gear HD8 Silencer 8-strand braid review - around £15 for a 120m spool

So you know, Savage Gear do not ask me to write reviews of any of their gear, indeed apart from my UK contact who kindly got me a few spools of this HD8 Silencer braid to try a while back, nobody within the company has any idea I have been fishing with it. I really like and respect Marc Cowling of the excellent South Devon Bass Guide business, and in truth it was him telling me how well this dark green coloured Savage Gear HD8 Silencer 8-strand braid has been working perfectly for him for so long now that nudged me into trying it out. With the few braids I really know and trust I will admit to a bit of reluctance when it comes to trying braids out which I know nothing about, but I completely trust what Marc says - if it’s good enough for him and the rather lovely spinning reel he has it on then that’s me sold on at least trying the stuff out…………….

I have no more insight into this braid than any of you here, and in truth I do prefer a brighter coloured braid (with a clear fluoro leader) for my lure fishing. I can obviously live with a dark green mainline just fine if needs be, but (hint, hint) I sure would love to see a lovely bright orange or yellow version of this HD8 Silencer braid, and yes, it does make me giggle to know how much this distresses Marc Cowling! Go to page 22 of his outstanding book “The Lure of The Bass” (review here) and you can read about his dislike of bright coloured mainlines. I understand this, but it doesn’t mean I have to agree.

So we’ve got a dark green coloured 8-strand braid here which comes in at a good price. I am not quite sure why Savage Gear sell 120m spools of this braid when most braids tend to come on 150m or 150yd spools, but 120m/130yd is enough braid for my fishing, and they also do 300m/328yd spools which you can of course fill up with and then reverse over time to get at a load of brand new and unused braid. All my fishing time with this Savage Gear braid has been with it on my tried and trusted Penn Slammer III 3500 spinning reel, and I haven’t had a single hint of a wind knot or line management issue. This includes a lot of fishing with soft plastics right through to the 40g Surf Seeker, plus everything in between, and as much as I do love a nice bright mainline, I can’t find anything to dislike about this HD8 Silencer braid at all. If it’s any help at all, I found that a complete 300m spool of this HD8 Silencer braid in the 0.15mm/20lb version gives me the perfect line level on a Penn Slammer III 3500, no backing required.

This Savage Gear HD8 Silencer 8-strand braid knots well, the (dark green) colour doesn’t seem to be fading at all, it isn’t one of those uber-smooth 8-strand braids like the far more expensive Sufix 131 (I’d be a little bit richer if this Sufix 131 had never been invented because I can’t get enough of it as a mainline), indeed between my fingers this HD8 Silencer stuff feels almost like a cross between Sufix 832 and PowerPro which to any of you who know how tough these braids are is a good thing, I have had no unexplained breakages or anything like that, the 0.15mm/20lb version I have been using does actually seem to be 0.15mm thick when I measure it on this digital caliper thing I have here, and overall I know that I have fished with this Savage Gear HD8 Silencer 8-strand braid for enough time and in enough different lure fishing situations to be able to tell you that I think it’s another of those sub-£20 8-strand braids that just works. We’re talking about roughly £15 for a 120m/131yd spool, but if this braid interests you then do have a look for the 300m spools as they might be worth thinking about for Shimano 4000 size spinning reels especially. I do like the idea of reversing a spool of braid on a spinning reel and knowing that I am getting at a lot of brand new mainline. At the time of writing this blog post I have three 8-strand braids in my sub-£20 a spool category which I know very well and trust completely - Sufix 832, Sufix X8, and SpiderWire Stealth Smooth 8 (I can’t put Daiwa J-Braid in there because I haven’t used the newer versions). I see no issues at all with now adding this Savage Gear HD8 Silencer braid to this list of sub-£20 braids which I am completely happy to fish with. If it came in a lovely bright colour I’d like it even more……………..

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