Bye Bye Fluoro

[papajoe222]

I gave fluorocarbon main line three seasons to win me over. It didn't, but I still had half a spool of Sunline Sniper left over from last season. I spooled up my deep cranking reel with it and didn't have the occasion to use it until last month. I don't do much deep cranking anymore. After a couple of trips, I started rethinking about my dislike for the line. Then the witch showed her true self last week. I was targeting an under hump that topped out at 10ft. and dropped quickly to 18ft. By casting shallow and cranking into the deeper water, I was able to keep the bait on the bottom. I check my line frequently for nicks and knot strength regularly, but what happend next was the reason I'm saying goodbye to fluoro as a main line.   I made a long cast and my Poe's just kept going and going. The line had broken about 30yrds. up. Luckily I watched where it landed and recovered it and the piece of you know what line. 

I'll stick to braid when I want sensitivity and good ole Original Stren when I want abrasion resistance. 

[Efishin]

Sunline, Seaguar, and Gamma all make phenomenal  fluorocarbon lines. Never had this happen. My guess is that you frayed the line up and never noticed. Sunline Sniper has good abrasion resistance and has great characteristics but fraying off can happen with every line.

 

Stren makes great monofilament line but the sensitivity of mono is not good. If you want to move away from fluorocarbon as a main line, I recommend considering tying in fluorocarbon as leader material to your braid when needed for bottom contact. Good luck though

[Angry John]

Flourocarbon has a huge marketing campaign pushing programs.  Tons of money to be made on a product that has its drawbacks.  It's no miracle line and I believe not the best choice for most.  If you have several setups and understand its limitations and accept them then it's just another tool.  

[Glenn]

44 minutes ago, Angry John said:

It's no miracle line and I believe not the best choice for most.  If you have several setups and understand its limitations and accept them then it's just another tool.

That can also be said of all lines.  IMHO, braid has limited uses, but is very well suited for them (e.g. flipping, pitching, frogging).  But that's the same with all lines. Some are better suited than others for specific tasks.

 

There really is no one-size-fits-all line. But the closest all-purpose line would be co-polymer or perhaps mono.  But again, there are limitations in those as well.

 

It's really about matching the right tool (line) to the right situation, rather than using a  "favorite" line, or forcing one type of line to do everything. 

 

Personally, I don't use leaders.  Trying to make two completely different types of lines work together is simply a series of compromises where the outcome isn't as good as using the proper line for the task in the first place.

 

Again, that's just me.

[scbassin]

I too think Co-Polymer is about the best all purpose line. Right now I am trying the Sufix Advance to see what it has.

[GreenPig]

I only use fluorocarbon for leaders at this point and it's working fine. I retie prior to every trip.

[Catt]

@papajoe222 Came to the same conclusion my friend ?

 

If I gotta walk around with a gallon spray bottle of line conditioner in the hopes it'll make the line half way preform... I'm done!

 

Then we aint even factored in cost which is ridiculous.

[Mike L]

6 hours ago, Glenn said:

That can also be said of all lines.  IMHO, braid has limited uses, but is very well suited for them (e.g. flipping, pitching, frogging).  But that's the same with all lines. Some are better suited than others for specific tasks.

 

There really is no one-size-fits-all line. But the closest all-purpose line would be co-polymer or perhaps mono.  But again, there are limitations in those as well.

 

It's really about matching the right tool (line) to the right situation, rather than using a  "favorite" line, or forcing one type of line to do everything. 

 

Personally, I don't use leaders.  Trying to make two completely different types of lines work together is simply a series of compromises where the outcome isn't as good as using the proper line for the task in the first place.

 

Again, that's just me.

No, it's not!

 

 

 

 

Mike

[crypt]

tried the same.....went back to Big Game.......it's just not for me.

[Mobasser]

I'm one who has stayed with mono line for all my fishing. I like the way it cast and handles, and don't have any other problems with it. I don't care for using a leader also. I can tie good knots with no problem, but to me a leader is adding another link in the chain, which I don't need.

[Todd2]

Mono users unite..reject the fluoro propaganda! 

[Efishin]

1 minute ago, Todd2 said:

Mono users unite..reject the fluoro propaganda! 

Sell me all your fluorocarbon for $1 please lol ?

[Todd2]

4 minutes ago, Efishin said:

Sell me all your fluorocarbon for $1 please lol ?

I don't have any to sell. ?

[Efishin]

1 minute ago, Todd2 said:

I don't have any to send. ?

? I was drooling and couldn't help but ask lol

[Krux5506]

Only thing I like it for is leaders, as in braid to fluoro leaders. I rigged up a couple different reels with straight fluoro and had awful results, granted I was using "cheap" stuff but I'm really just not willing to drop ridiculous money on the "good" stuff. Cheap fluoro works fine for me as leaders. 

[scaleface]

Coincidentally , I just watched a video by David fritz on using Fluoro and crankbaiting . He stated that floro gets weaker when it gets stretched and after  some use it will just start breaking .

[Efishin]

18 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Coincidentally , I just watched a video by David fritz on using Fluoro and crankbaiting . He stated that floro gets weaker when it gets stretched and after  some use it will just start breaking .

Wouldn't mono follow the same? Mono can be overstretching and compromised as well

[Catt]

10 minutes ago, Efishin said:

Wouldn't mono follow the same? Mono can be overstretching and compromised as well

 

Not anywhere close to the degree fluorocarbon does

[MN Fisher]

13 minutes ago, Efishin said:

Wouldn't mono follow the same? Mono can be overstretching and compromised as well

 

1 minute ago, Catt said:

 

Not anywhere close to the degree fluorocarbon does

Both stretch, FC later than Mono for the same stress. But Mono does 'rebound' to an extent, whereas FC doesn't. I had FC on my Trion, but after a couple breakoffs, switched to Hybrid...best of both worlds.

 

I also don't use leaders...ever.

[MIbassyaker]

8 minutes ago, Efishin said:

Wouldn't mono follow the same? Mono can be overstretching and compromised as well

No, not the same. Mono is more elastic when stretched and, up to a point, will return to its original shape, fluoro will deform and weaken.

 

Fluoro seems incredibly overrated to me. I get the benefits of greater density for increased sensitivity, to not absorb water, and for the tendency to sink rather than float, creating less belly in the line and a more direct connection to the bait...but in practice, when I have tried flouro, I have not found these advantages anywhere near dramatic enough to outweigh problems I had with breakoffs and general manageability, not to mention the cost. If it were less expensive, that would be one thing. But at several times the cost per length than a mono like big game, a Flouro would need to be proportionally superior to be worth it to me.

[FishingGeekTX]

I had similar experiences when trying flouro.  Random break-offs on fresh line, coily, harder to cast (than braid), costly..not for me. 

I have 10 combos with PP braid 20#-65#, I don't generally have line issues and it casts like a dream compared to all polymer lines I've ever tried.

I understand for deep, rocky applications, that braid would be less appealing.  Or bank fishing jigs where you break-off all the time. I don't fish those ways, so it's not an issue.

 

[king fisher]

I have a friend who hunts with one rifle, and fishes with mono only.  I try and tell him mono is not sensitive, he just smiles and shows me pictures of his fish.  I tell him floro is invisible, again more pictures.  I bring up the fact floro sinks making your crank baits dive deeper, he tells me his crank baits dive deep enough, more pictures.  Braid is stronger, again more pictures.  When I ask him about his rifle, he says it goes bang when he pulls the trigger, and again more pictures.  I use every type of line made, and sometimes combinations of two, but don't have the pictures.

[islandbass]

14 hours ago, Efishin said:

Wouldn't mono follow the same? Mono can be overstretching and compromised as well

Not necessarily.  While both stretch, generally speaking, mono is more resilient compared to fc. In other words, mono is more prone to rebound back to its original length before stretching while fc generally does not bounce back but tends to remain deformed (ie, still stretched out) afterward. 

 

Now, I imagine that there might be some fc lines out there that might have better resiliency than other fcs, but that’s not the topic. 

 

FC for me is extremely limited to 6# sea guar invisx, if and only if I feel like splurging on it for drop shotting. It used to be $12 but now it’s $22.99 now. 

 

6# mono is also pretty darn good too for finesse and as a result, I use this over fc most of the time.

 

 

[Team9nine]

No right or wrong answer here. For me, outside of frog fishing or another specialty app, it’s all fluoro all the time on BC gear - and yes, I have the pictures...lots of them ?

[Lasher]

I've switched back to almost all copolymer, P-Line Cxx 8lb moss green to be exact.  Floro is useful in some areas, but it's quirky and inconsistent.