I started using fluorocarbon a long time ago. Using it for bass fishing is a relatively recent thing. We used fluoro leaders for salmon and trout both in float and drift with pin or spin tackle, and for fly fishing. It was also starting to catch on in pike and musky fishing. It was clear, tough, and sank. Clearer than wire, almost as tough, and didn’t float a small fly. It came in small spools usually something like 25 yards for $10 TO $25, depending on the size. Sounds EXPENSIVE? Yep. But you only used a few feet at a time, and the salt guys swore by it, so…I, and many others looked for applications in our fishing where it would be an improvement.
This leader wasn’t appropriate for reel fill at all. I think this is where fluoro got its reputation for poor handling. It’s no exaggeration to say the leader material would fly off the spool. It wasn’t meant to be put on a spool. It was used for the business end, while the main line was traditional nylon line, or more recently, braided or fused microfilament line.
Eventually, line makers started making reel fill. Actually, I think I read that they tried selling this stuff as long as 40 years ago, so there might be a bit of prejudice and bias there, too. Reel fill makers tried to address the issue of handling on a small diameter spool, and casting by softening the formula. I have no idea how – co-fluorocarbons, copolymers, whatever they did, it wasn’t a standard thing. The different products vary greatly in their characteristics widely – much more widely than the four or five “mono” lines we became familiar with as bass anglers.
Truth, lies, fact, fiction, marketing, propaganda… This I know: there are few different things I do to catch bass, and fluoro – specifically, InvisX and Tatsu fit the program. I can say the same for braid like Power Pro, Hevi-Core, and 832, fused lines like Supercast, and so called copolymers, like CXX. Note, there is no traditional “mono” in that list. I’m rarely specific about brand recommendations, but line choice is so personal, and the selections so varied, I’m adamant about sharing what I use, how I use it, and why it’s working for me.
To make any declaration about any line in general terms is irrelevant and possibly uninformed to the point of being ignorant. But, if you tell me you tried, and it didn’t fit your program – how YOU catch bass, then I believe you and there is no room for debate. Only sharing experience remains. There’s some interesting things distilled in this thread, but nothing that sheds any new light on the topic to the point that I’m rethinking my line choices. I certainly don’t feel duped by using what I use – to the contrary – it’s the best system I’ve come up with to date. That’s always subject to change.
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