I fish lots of places with zebras (Oneida, Champlain). It's been good to me so far. I would stick to the 12lb though.
I have been tournament fishing for years now and have learned a lot. Also, my best friend, and member on here, is one of the best bass fisherman in the country. Fishing line is tricky, but can be dumbed down a lot. Here is a quick run down: Mono: mono is the easiest and most popular line. I just use old school stren clear. I use mono on a lot of my baitcasters. Its great for things like spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and top water also for the most part. Not what you are looking for. Braid: braid has only one place in my boat, grass fishing. Its awesome for thick grass. Things like flipping and pitching, frogging, toads, and so on. Some also use it for top water, and most recently it has picked up a lot of fisherman with the Alabama rig. Very strong, but it can be seen for miles and is tough to tie good knots with. Not what you want either. Fluorocarbon: this is what you want!!! smallies have the best eye site out there, and are very picky eaters (the big ones anyway). Most rivers tend to be more clear, other then after rain, and you want a line them brownies can not see. 6-8lb bass pro xps Fluorocarbon is where its all. Tied on all my spinning rigs, its the best of the best. KVD uses it, and yes, he really really does. Perfect for tubes and shakeyheads, which is the main things you want to be throwing in the river for them small jaws. I promise you, I am not the best bowhunter in the world but I know a thing or 2 about fishing.
Does it really matter? We are talking about spin fishing here. Its like gun hunting. You don't even have to try. Everyone calm down...I'm mostly kidding. A lot of good info here. Crazy how many line options there are for spin/bait fishing now. Fluoros have come a long way in the last 10 years.
Don't I wish. 50" muskie in Michigan are like 120" bucks...few and far between. Now Minnesota is a different story. I need to get a teleporting machine. Know anyone selling one? The smallmouth fishing here is redic though. Especially Lake St. Clair. You can catch 4 pounders without trying. 6+ are pretty common.
I do a lot of bass/crappie fishing down here VA, that being said it all depends on the presentation and type of lure used for each rod. For my 7 1/2ft flippin' stick i use 50lb powerpro (heavy football jigs and tubes). Topwater setup i use 12-14lb mono for it's obvious reason it floats. I use small diameter fluro on my crankbait rods since the smaller diameter the line the deeper the lure will go. You get into the drag and resistance compared to line diameter blah blah blah but it makes a difference. Sometime i use down to a 8lb test for deep diving crankbaits. We have some decent smallies in the upper parts of the rivers which i usually fish with a light spinning setup with 10lb powerpro which is actually 3.09848394839 diameter HAHA nice and easy casting for smaller spoons and spinners but plenty of strength. Hope this helps.
