The Best Fishing Lines For Trout That Top Guides Use 2025

The author holding a nice big brown trout in the water for a picture and then quick release. — I catch a lot of large trout like this 26-inch brown trout, and to do so, I need to use good fishing lines for trout.

I’ll keep this short and sweet. You already know I am a trout fishing guide and use many fishing methods, but did you know that I use different fishing lines for some methods?

I do this because some lines do not work well with some methods, and some lines have qualities that make certain methods better or easier.

I’ve also tested many different brands of fishing lines. Companies would send me free lines because I owned a fishing store and I am a top fishing guide.

I’ve also seen lots of lines used by the thousands of clients I have guided over the last 20 years.

Contents hide

1 Best Lines For Float Fishing

2 Best Lines For Casting Lures

3 Best Fishing Line For Drift Fishing And Bottom Bouncing

4 Best All-Purpose Lines

Best Lines For Float Fishing

This is the Raven mainline monofilament line. — This is the Raven mainline monofilament line, which is my favorite line for float fishing.

The best float fishing lines for trout must be thin but strong, supple, and buoyant. Lines with these qualities sag less, cast better, are more manageable, and allow you to mend the line easier, which provides a better presentation and better hook sets.

The two lines I recommend to my clients and the ones I use are monofilament and braided lines. I DO NOT recommend fluorocarbon lines because it sinks.

These are the monofilament fishing lines I use for trout:

8 Pound Raven Mainline Monofilament: I use High Viz Yellow on all my float reels and some of my spinning reels. – Check Best Price.
Sunline Iso Special Fine Float Line – Floating Monofilament: It is more expensive but has all the qualities of a good float fishing line. Check Best Price.

These are the braided lines I use for trout fishing:

Suffix 832 Braided Line: I use the 20-pound test. – Check Best Price
P-Line Hydrofloat Thermal Fused Spectra Line – The 20-pound is the best – Check Best Price

This is also the same line used for the Bobber Doggin method.

Best Lines For Casting Lures

This is a spool of Sufix 832 braided line, which is a good line for casting lures to trout. — Half my spinning reels have this braided line on it, and the other half have Tatsu Fluorocarbon. I like this line the best for lure fishing.

I like to use braided lines or fluorocarbon lines for casting lures because of the low stretch and the thin diameter. These are the best:

Best Fishing Line For Drift Fishing And Bottom Bouncing

This is a spool of the Sufix 832 braided line, which is a great line for drift fishing for trout.

I like to use braided lines or fluorocarbon lines for drift fishing and bottom bouncing.

Best All-Purpose Lines

This is a spool of Sufix Elite Monofilament line which is the best all-purpose trout line. — This is a spool of Sufix Elite Monofilament line, which is the best all-purpose trout line.

The best multi-purpose line for all methods is Sufix Elite monofilament.

There you have it; these are the fish lines that I use and recommend for trout fishing.

It’s also important to know what line and leader sizes you should be using. You can use my line sizing chart as a guide.

Species and Size Class	Flourocarbon/Leader	Braided Line	Monofilament	Flourocarbon Mainline
Brook trout: 8-20 inches	2-4 lb test	8-20 lb test	6-10 lb test	6-10 lb test
Rainbow trout: 8-20 inches	2-4 lb test	8-20 lb test	6-10 lb test	6-10 lb test
Brown trout: 15-30 inches	2-8 lb test	8-20 lb test	8-15 lb test	8-15 lb test
Steelhead: 20-30 inches	8-10 lb test	15-30 lb test	10-15 lb test	8-15 lb test
Salmon: 20-50 inches	10-20 lb test	20-30 lb test	15-20 lb test	15-20 lb test
Lure Fishing	8-10 lb test	15-30 lb test	10-15 lb test	8-15 lb test