Help! Line Constantly Breaking

[chmeyers]

I went fishing this AM, hit a few different spots then finally settled in a little pond. I went to change my hook to a jig head and every knot i tied broke. I tried on different poles with Mono and Fluro and every time i went to tighten it on the hook it broke. Ive never had this happen before . I was thinking maybe its the weather, today is the first day in the 40s that we've had in a very long time. Could it be the weather. I was thinking maybe i went to a spot that had some nasty water thats eating up the line? I have no idea, but all of the sudden every know i tie to a hook or a crank would break. I was tying every common type of knots. I came home let the pole sit in the house for a few hours same result. Anyone have any suggestions on what  is happening ??

 

Thanks

Please tell me I'm KNOT crazy

[00 mod]

I am going to assume a couple things:

Your line is old?

You were tying "dry" knots - you didn't get them nice and wet before tightening?

Jeff

[A-Jay]

There is a very simple reason as to why your line is breaking and it truly comes down to one of four possible situations.

1.  You have very bad line.

2.  The line is too small (in test) for your situation. (like 4 lb mono)

3.  You are tying a knot that is failing under the simple pressure of your knot test.

4.  All of or Any combination of 1, 2 & 3.

 The solution is to purchase a new quality line that is suitable type & test for your fishing application and ensure that the knot(s) you select are applicable to that line type and tied correctly.

A-Jay

[gulfcaptain]

I'd have to agree with the old brittle line and possibly dry knots as well.  

[GetBent]

What kind of knot are you using? If you're having trouble with all your rods it could be knot type or maybe where or how you store them? Is it the same brand of line?

[chmeyers]

My line is new, the Fluro i put on last week and the mono is less than 2 months old. 10-12 lb line, using palmer, trilene knot, and so on. On the reel with the fluro i caught a little 2 under this am, he put up a good little fight. the line was fine. Ive never had anything like this happen before. Also different brands of line.

[the reel ess]

The cheaper the line, the more often it needs to be changed. I use braid on 4 rods and mono on one. The mono is 15# Berkley Big Game and I change it at least twice a year. But you only need to strip off half the spool unless you want to.

[quanjig]

Are you "wetting" the line when you cinch your knots??

How much line to you discard when you tie on a new bait or hook??

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Are you 100% sure that it's breaking at the knot? A cracked insert on a rod guide or the tip top can eat up line like it's nothing. I read that you tried this on multiple rods, but if you're storing the rods where the tips can become damaged it wouldn't surprise me if more than one were cracked. 

A good way to check for damaged rod guides is to run a cotton swab over the guide. If cotton gets stuck to the guide, then it needs to be replaced. Tip tops are easy to replace, but the other guides are a bit more work. 

If it's breaking at the knot, I would sit down and tie away until you figure out what's going wrong. Make sure to follow all of the advice in this thread about wetting the knot, etc. 

[WRB]

If you didn't have a problem knot tying a few weeks ago, something has changed!

Mono, FC, copolymer lines all can be affected by freezing temps,however only slightly not a major weakness.

my guess is your line is old and brittle, the cold temps pushed it over the edge or....you have a cracked rod guide fraying the line. 

Look at the line for nicks or rough areas, pull off about 5' of line, cut it off!

now pull off about 5' of line and wrap around your hands with about 2' of line between the hand, then snap your hands apart to test the line strength. If the line breaks easily, it's bad.

Tom

[chmeyers]

The fluro is on a brand new Abu Garcia Vengence bait caster. The rods are in good shape. I do keep the rods in my suburban. The rods stay in a Simms rod bag when they are in the truck. I have been wetting the knots as well. 

[the reel ess]

Did you leave the rods out in the cold? My buddy has line get more brittle in the winter in the boat outside and he changes all of it.

[WRB]

Name the line, can't help without details.

Tom

[chmeyers]

Its Trilene 12b Fluro. I literally just put it on a week ago today with brand new line i bought a week ago today as well. I just respolled the reel and and had no issues. I spooled it off the same line i bought last week. I am lost at how it went bad that quick. I checked the rod tip and its in good shape. 

 

Tom,

Thanks for the tip, seems so simple but i took your advice and snapped some line on the reel and of course it broke, tried it with some new line and i couldn't break it.

[WRB]

Berkley Transition line has a poor shelf life, avoid it!

If mono type lines, including FC, gets over 105 degrees it can degrade quickly.

There should be a date code on the line spool box, check to make sure it's fresh when you buy it.

Tom

[blckshirt98]

Is it breaking at a knot connection or random places along the line?  Are you using say, a double-uni to connect the fluoro to the mono?

[Paul Roberts]

2 hours ago, chmeyers said:

 The rods are in good shape. I do keep the rods in my suburban. 

As WRB said, if they get hot, or are in direct sun, line degrades very quickly. Never store line in an automobile.

Otherwise, everything's been covered above that I can see.

[hawgenvy]

I never really thought about the fact that fishing line might be too old when you buy it, way past its prime. I suppose it can sit on a store shelf for ages.

[K_Mac]

1 minute ago, hawgenvy said:

I never really thought about the fact that fishing line might be too old when you buy it, way past its prime. I suppose it can sit on a store shelf for ages.

Many of us have had bad spools of normally great line that don't measure up. I lost a couple of good fish on a bad batch 15# copoly that I had never before, or since, had any problems with. Stuff happens.

[the reel ess]

20 hours ago, WRB said:

Berkley Transition line has a poor shelf life, avoid it!

If mono type lines, including FC, gets over 105 degrees it can degrade quickly.

There should be a date code on the line spool box, check to make sure it's fresh when you buy it.

Tom

I had some rods leaning against the corner of a room near a baseboard heater that the line got very weak on. Had to change them all.

[papajoe222]

On 12/19/2015 at 5:43 PM, chmeyers said:

The fluro is on a brand new Abu Garcia Vengence bait caster. The rods are in good shape. I do keep the rods in my suburban. The rods stay in a Simms rod bag when they are in the truck. I have been wetting the knots as well. 

I don't recommend keeping your rods stored in your vehicle. The temp. inside on a sunny day can get very hot. That, along with the line cooling quickly can have an adverse effect on, not only the line, but the rod.