I've typically used braid on spinning reels, mono on baitcasters. But it's so much more fun feeling the fish on the braid.

How thin of braid can you go on a baitcaster and not run into problems? 20 pound breaking strength?

I use 40lb. on my baitcaster and love it.

I have 30# on my oldest Ambassaduer, and it's been fine. However, I used 40# on my main salmon fishing Ambassaduer, and must not have installed it tightly enough as it dug in so bad it stuck, and I had to break it of. No easy task. I really like it for salmon trolling on the Columbia though for the direct feel when my lead is on the bottom.

I hate braid, but love it at the same time. It has it's place. I recently got a new spinnging reel for steelhead bobber fishing and put braid on it, for the bobber thing everyone says to do. I tied the braid onto the spool with a basic knot to keep it secured while spooling. Something happened while fishing that hasn't ever happened before. The braid dug into the spool on a snag and spun the whole layered spool of braid around and around the shaft of the spool. I couldn't retrieve. I should have taped the first layer to the naked spool to start. Live and learn. Another thing I hate is how it gets caught in the guides and tip of your rod and doesn't flip around to free. Takes personally getting to the rod tip in hand to unravel. However, wouldn't use anything else trolling PS salmon, ocean downriggers for salmon and estuary lead salmon/ Spring Chinook. Choose what you want, but old school mono still has it's place.

Sure, you can go 20# braid on a baitcaster, no problem, but it's not really necessary, at least in the fisheries I participate in. I use 30# on my salmon and steelhead rods, 40# on my ling reels, 65# for salmon mooching reels and 65 or 80# for halibut. For most (except the hali setups) I use a topshot of mono. Like 12 or 15# UG with an FG or uni knot. When I initially line them up I usually put 10 yards of junk mono on there as a base, and then junction knot the braid on there and wind on under pressure. After a few yrs or whenever the braid gets funky, I reverse it on the spool and retie the junction knot, good as new! Good luck,
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I tried 20lb and it's too thin. It bird nested easier, got tangled with the terminal gear more easily and was hard to tie knots in. The only time I used braid is for float fishing and twitching. In both cases the terminal end is mono or fluro so visibility to the fish isn't an issue. I really like 40lb braid for these conditions.

i only use it on spinning rods for spoons and float fishing, i will use it for drift fishing as well...

with one exception..

i use it on a bait caster for pulling plugs for Coho, #30 PP, with 20-30 feet of a 12 pound top shot...

with baitcasters it tends to bite into itself , and that drives me nuts...

Thin braid say 20lb and under is fine on a baitcasting reel however its important to spool the braid on under quite a bit of tension to avoid the braid digging into itself. I spool my reels as such and never have problems.

So, I'm Old School. I used a Spinning Reel when I was a kid back east. When I came out here in the late 70's I was taught to Steelhead & Salmon fish with a Baitcaster. The old Red Garcia was the choice back then when you were starting out. Back then if you used a Spinning Reel, you were considered a "Cracker" by the old timers.

Fast forward to today and the improvements made to Reels has been tremendous. Spinning Reels are more advanced and easier to use. I joke if they Outlawed Spinning Reels 1/2 the rivers gear fishing community would go away.

Now to the Braid question. I use 30# Braid on all the Baitcasters I use for Float Fishing. And this time of year, I do a lot of Float Fishing. Currently I'm using multiple Curado 200's and have very little to any issues.

A lot of it depends on your "Talent". If you have no problems using a Baitcaster with Mono, you should not have problems with Braid once you get used to it and figure it out. It is different though.

One last thing. There are advantages and disadvantages to using Spinning Reels vs Baitcasters with Braid. There are a few occasions I think "it would be nice to have a Spinning Reel to cast further". Then I'm like "Nah".

I use to 30lbs on my spinning and bait casters, with mono bumpers. Anything less than 30lbs is likely to be too thin and hard to manage.

Tie it on your spool and put a piece of tape over the line and it won’t slip. Apply a fair amount of tension when winding it on and you won’t have issues with it digging in.