What pound test best for.....

New to fishing salt water.
What pound test is best for:
1. Stripers off the beach?
2.  Kayak fishing for rock fish in PG?

I use 20 to 30lb for Striper & RF.

25lb Fluoro Seaguar Blue Label for most sportfish.

I use 20 to 30lb for Striper & RF.

+1. And just use plain old mono for leader. Stripers and rockfish aren’t line shy. I’ve caught stripers from the surf using wire leader with a bunch of terminal tackle attached to it.

I prefer braid with about 10' mono topshot. It is a pain to break off mono when you get stuck because of the stretch. It is also easier for me to feel the bottom and hits with braid.

30lb braid is about as thick as 8lb mono, and a good all-around line for what you're talking about. Mostly strong enough to muscle yourself out of a kelp snag.

What kind of reels are you using?  On a spinning reel, be aware that thin braid cuts a wet finger like a knife... you might need a glove or some tape to wrap your finger.

For SB plugging I use 30# on my big rod and 20# on my smaller one.  For RF, 40# is the strongest I am comfortable having to breaking off in my Revo 13

I run 30lb braid with a 20 or 25lb mono top shot for bottom fishing and trolling. As others have said, I like the sensitivity of the braid, but the durability of the mono down in the rocks.

Cheers,
Brad

What kind of reels are you using?  On a spinning reel, be aware that thin braid cuts a wet finger like a knife... you might need a glove or some tape to wrap your finger.

Good point about cutting yourself with braid. When I need to pull hard on braid I wrap it around the handle of my pliers or fish gripper a couple of times and then pull that so I don't cut myself. I have a pair of pliers with rubberized handles that is perfect. This is also a good reason to use heavier braid with lighter mono topshot, as chopper mentioned.

As far as RF,Cabs & Lings, I seen Rock Hopper on numerous occasions bang out some hefty fish on 12-15# Mono on a spinning reel

He ain't the only one either.

Most guys don't know how to use the rod & reel

We know, just don't want to loose the fish of a life time if it ever happened to be on the line 

Of you only have 1 rod, 25# is all you will need. On your 2nd rod drop down to #15. This will cover 99% of our local fish.

As you can tell there are a lot of different opinions on fishing line. Braid mainline to a mono or flouro leader.

I prefer a braid coming in around .30mm and for RF a leader coming in around .45mm.

Different brands rate their lines differently so I like to look at line diameter when considering line. One manufacturer may advertise a line as 10lb test that is the same diameter as another’s 15lb test.

There have been some independent tests for break strength that are floating around on the internet which are an interesting read.

Gettting into lb test I use braid in 40lb most of the time with a 20lb leader while fishing RF. Same with salmon. For stripers it all depends on the lure or bait when it comes to leader. If I’m drifting anchovies I might go all the way down to 10 lb test to keep the little guy alive and lively as long as possible.

No single best answer...different strokes for different folks...but this is what i use

Plugging for stripes off the beach, I go with 20-30# braid with fluoro leader on spin setup.

Rockfishing off the yak, I go with 60# braid and mono topshot leader on baitcasting.

I use 65 lbs braid and 20 or 30 lbs fluoro for leader (depending on early or late salmon season).  I use 65 lbs braid because I sometimes use 1.5 lbs sinker with sinker release to get my lure down when I go after salmon.  If I go after something else, I would just hook whatever direct to my main line via swivel with snap.

However, if I am to do it over, I would down my main line to 30/40 lbs instead (and use my downrigger).