What is mono line?

[WRB]

Thought I would start a thread on this topic because of the confusion surrounding monofilament or mono line.

Looking at TW who has a seperate listing for fishing line by category types Braid, Copolymer, fluorocarbon and mono that should shed some light on the topic and it only confuses the issue further.

Techinically speaking mono is an term used for single or single filament line that should cover all single filament fishing lines but it doesn't.

The first monofilament fishing line that I recall was Du Pont Stren followed by Western Filament W40 back in the early 50's when the first French spinning reels became popular. Working on a boat landing we sold monofilament line to trout fisherman in the 50's, those were the 2 brands available.

Somewhere along the line the term mono became attached to Nylon polyimde monofilament fishing line. 

The first copolymer line I recall was a German line Maxima and blend of 2 polymers; polyimde and polyester claimed to improve strength and abrasion resistance. Copolymer is a single filament line extruded a blend of 2 polymers. Trilene came out with XT and XL monofilament lines that are a blend of 2 types of polyimde or Nylon, technically a blend with UV additives to reduce degradation from sunlight. 

Lets go back to Stren one of the original monofilament  Nylon lines now called mono, it also was a blend with UV additives giving it the blue glow coloration. Stren and Trilene were considered mono line and Maxima a copolymer.

Enter fluoroploymer introduced by Seaguar a new single filament line called Fluorocarbon. Marketing needs to separate the new from the original so new claims can be made to sell the new line. There are problems with fluorocarbon line, high cost, lower knot strength, higher memory so Yo-Zuri introduces a lower cost co-extruded fluoroploymer line with polyimde core and fluorocarbon jacket called a hybrid.

So now we have; Polyimde mono, polyimde blends called copolymer, copolymer blends of polyimde and polyester called copolymer, co-extruded flourocarbon over polyimde called hybrid and sometimes called copolymer. The lines have become blurred beyond definition.

Tom

 

[Josh Smith]

Excellent. Thank you for addressing this.

I'd like to see this made into a sticky.

Josh

[soflabasser]

Interesting subject.My favorite monofilament line is Berkeley Big Game.

[S. Sass]

Got to love technology. 1/2 BS mixed with 1/2 who knows what. 

I have seen numerous times guys standing in front of the 50 different kinds of line scratching their head. It's absurd and many of those looking to buy line have used that exact word absurd. 

 

[A-Jay]

Great Information Tom.

There's plenty there to confuse me (and before someone else says it - "Doesn't take much" ).

I could probably get away with just Two categories and still be OK.

Stretchy & Non-Stretchy.

A-Jay

[rippin-lips]

Although I enjoy the technical aspect of it all, things like this make it even more complicated for a lot of people. 

 

[MickD]

A significant issue relating to lines is that the different lines have different specific gravities which can significantly affect how they fish different techniques.  Nylon has a specific gravity very close to 1.0, which is the specific gravity of fresh water.  Therefore the line will tend to stay at or near the surface when fishing surface lures, so will not tend to pull the surface lure under.  FC has a specific gravity of about 1.5, so it readily sinks and will pull surface lures under, affecting their actions, usually detrimentally.  Co-polymers will be in between 1 and 1.5, so will have less effect, but still some.

It has for a long time been thought that FC has less stretch than mono and is therefore more sensitive, but that "theory" seems to be under serious challenge these days.  I have no data, but expect the inherent difference between materials is slight if any.  My own experience with a popular co-poly is that it's really stretchy, so I expect the differences in stretch have more to do with specific line formulation than with which material it is.

Most braids are about 1.0 specific gravity.  Some have a Gore strand which increases the specific gravity.

[Molay1292]

I would just add that most of the tests of line I have seen seem to focus on the amount of total stretch that occurs at breaking strength.   Lines do not stretch in a parabolic curve, it is much more important to know the amount of stretch that occurs during the normal course of fishing.   The results I have seen do show that FC line stretches much differently than nylon.

Too many people only look at the data that supports their claim, rather than looking at the data and interpreting it unbiased.

 

[kickerfish1]

Regardless of what the line is, to me it is inexpensive, versatile, readily available, and proven. I can use it to cover a good chunk of techniques and not have to spend a lot on line. I like my fluorocarbon too, but I fish a good amount of mono. While some use it for moving baits and treble hook topwaters only I can appreciate the versatility of the line to use it for jigs and plastics though it may not be favorite.