if flouro is invisible

[dodgeguy]

then how come on shaw grigsby's show today his flouro leaders are visible in underwater shots?i have seen this numerous times on shows and have wondered about it.i just don't see that it's as invisible as it's claimed to be.

[RoLo]

then how come on shaw grigsby's show today his flouro leaders are visible in underwater shots?i have seen this numerous times on shows and have wondered about it.i just don't see that it's as invisible as it's claimed to be.

Technically, the claim is that fluorocarbon is "nearly" invisible.

The mean refractive index of water is 1.33, while the mean refracitive index of fluorocarbon is 1.42

For comparison sake, nylon line (monofilament) has an mean refractive index of 1.57.

That said, the importance of line invisibility is open to debate.  

Roger

[flechero]

It may be important to consider that the camera does pick up more than the eye...  that could account for something.  I know what you mean but in person I don't see it that well, like on tv.  All I can vouch for is that fluoro is much harder for my eyes to see in the water than mono.

[The_Natural]

It's definitely visible...I can see it in my little bait tank I use to test baits.  Fluoro is just less visible, and anglers these days are looking for any edge they can get.  Light passes through fluoro with nearly the same refraction as water, hence a 'perceived' invisibility to fish.  I fish stained water, and could care less about how visible my line is...I fish fluoro because it is more sensitive and has lower stretch.  The fluoro I use has low stretch anyway; I have fished with a few that were stretchier than Trilene XL.  I think is is inaccurate to claim all fluoros have low stretch when compared to other lines...many are stretchy.

[earthworm77]

The concept is very much like Cajun line. Most anglers think that at a certain depth the red line becomes invisible. That is not true, red filters out and the line appears black which is very visible.

[dodgeguy]

craig i would agree with you but it actually turns greyish because it is translucent and not opaque.being that it is thin it tends to blend into backrounds.yes if you had perfectly clear water i think you would see it.most of the water is not clear and light decreases as you go down.that coupled with the fact that there are other objects in the water for the line to camoflauge against would make a thin grey line not easy to see.and of course there is always the arguement that fish are not line shy in which case we would be talking about a useless point.we also don't know if a fish sees things like we do.maybe their eyes adjust and can see things we can't.maybe they can see every kind of line made!!!i wonder if we will ever know.