The birth of Trilene Flouro

[burleytog]

On the Water

Field-Testing Fluorocarbon

Monday, June 18, 2007

Photo: Berkley

Eric Naig is a former pro walleye fisherman and now might fish even more as a senior marketing manager for brands like Trilene, Berkley and Abu Garcia. He's a fish-head, like many another sites are, the same way a lot of NASCAR fans are motorheads.

In short, he's always tinkering with his fishing gear. The great thing for him is, the guys in the lab are always helping him find new things to tinker with. Last summer he was messing around with what eventually became the new Trilene Fluorocarbon line that several pro staffers like Skeet Reese, Jay Yelas and Peter T have been fishing with as prototype product for the last few months.

Pros + Science = New Stuff

"Our pros always come to us with requests and suggestions and ideas for new stuff, or things they'd like to change about something we already have," Naig said. "Fluorocarbon line has grown in popularity, and it seems like all the pros are switching to fluoro because they feel that it helps them get more bites.

"It's not only the low visibility, but it has other properties, such as the fact that it sinks. Mono and braided lines float, so there's always a bow in the line (under the water)," he added. "But since fluoro sinks, it provides a straight shot to the lure, which gives them better sensitivity. It's also hard and tough stuff, so it's abrasion-resistant."

It's also stiffer than mono. "When we created Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon, we wanted to make a fluoro that handled more like mono something you could actually spool on and fish with," he said. "It was all about manageability and ease. You could think of it like the Trilene XL of fluorocarbon." (Editor's note: XL stands for "extra limp," for ease in handling, vs. XT, which stands for "extra tough.")

Naig continued: "But as more and more bass anglers replaced mono with fluoro, they started using it for power techniques like cranking, swimbaits, and pitching and flipping. Vanish really wasn't designed for that.

"Skeet and the other guys wanted a better tool, an 'XT-type fluoro' that was more of a baitcasting line," he said. "So Tim Wiedow one of our engineers and I got together, and I spec'd out what I wanted. I asked for a line like XT and Berkley Big Game, but fluorocarbon." (Berkley Big Game is a high-impact line Ed.)

Tinker Time

Wiedow came up with 12 different sample spools of line and dropped them on Naig's desk. One of them may have been Berkley Vanish, and the others were new formulations. "He didn't tell me what was what," Naig said. "But I couldn't send 12 samples to each of our pros. I had to narrow it down to four."

So he did what tinkerers do. He tried them out, he tested them, and he used his angler's intuition. "It wasn't scientific, but it was what most anglers do," he said. "I got a flipping rod and tied each sample to a hook. Then I hooked that to my trailer in the garage and set the hook 12 times.

"Some broke almost right away, and some didn't break at all. Then I decided to take a wood file and see how many scrapes they could take before they broke. And I put them in front of a flashlight to see how clear they were, things like that."

Then he fished the finalists all summer, "around docks, cables, posts and other cover," he said. "I think I broke off only once, and that may have been a pike that bit it.

"I was extremely excited when I got to send the final four samples to the pros," he said. "I knew they would like it."

As it turned out, Samples A, B, C, and D became A, B, C, D, and E. The "E" was a further-tweaked version of D that became the new Trilene Fluorocarbon line, which Berkley introduced in May.

Another became improved Vanish.

Not bad for a year's worth of tinkering by a few avid fishermen.

Notable

> Contrary to some manufacturer's claims, fluorocarbon lines do not have significantly less stretch than nylon monofilament lines, Naig said. "I think the feeling of increased sensitivity is a result of the density of the line. You don't have that bow in the line like with mono, so you have a straight shot to the lure."

> "Vanish is the lowest-stretch fluoro on the market," he said, "But that makes it hard on the line with (regard to tying) knots and shock (resistance). We've added a bit of elongation over the last few years to help." The best use of Vanish is still in lighter pound tests on more forgiving rods.

> Boyd Duckett won this year's Bassmaster Classic with a prototype of the new Trilene Fluorocarbon line.

[Ky_Lake_Dude]

Any idea on how much a spool will cost?

[burleytog]

http://www.***.com/descpageLNEBERKLEY-BTFCC.html

[dodgeguy]

dick's sporting goods has it also.

[WhiteMike1018]

How will this be any different than VANISH?

they are both made by the same company.

[Michael H]

Why would you have two flouro in your line up? So are they saying this line is stronger? Why not just make Vanish better?

Why not have two different flouros in the line they have multiple types of mono. Its like XL and XT  vanish is for light line techniques and the new one is stronger for spinner baiting flipping and pitching ect.

I definitely will give it a try.

[dodgeguy]

sunline has more than one flouro.some companies have green flouro and clear flouro.if it's invisible why are we making it green?i've also seen cabela's has a pink flouro.

[burleytog]

Good asnwer , But is the new 15# stronger than Vanish 15#. Alot of people have had bad things to say about Vanish. Just looks like an attempt to make up for Vanish having breakage problems. Why charge $7.00 more because it says Professional Grade. I know what they are doing an anyone that has lost fish on Vanish knows also.

Have you fished Vanish?

[Maxximus Redneckus]

I think vanish has operator error more then anything,i seen a young boy hook a bass yesterday it jumped and he lost it he said it was brand new 12 lb stren and swore up and down it wasnt  his knot i had to look and low and behold his knot unravailed i asked him to show me how he tied it.... YUP he tied it like so many do and have bad experiances with all line a knot i wouldnt even USE to tie a tomato plant up with i showed him a trilene knot and pulled on that thing till the line went into my finger .I do beleive 80% of ppl fishing TIE knots that they do on there own shoes ;D ;D

[The_Natural]

I was actually getting ready to make a post about the new Trilene Fluoro.  I read about it and saw it on Tackle Warehouse's website and thought I would give it a try...there have already been a thread or two about it.  No big deal...just another fluoro to try.  But I spent fathers day having a barbeque at my uncle's house whom is a Skeeter Pro that fishes the Stren Series.  He mentioned it, and said the word on the street (the water ) is that it is VERY good...and he currently has no line sponsor (he uses Cabelas No-Vis Extra/Seaguar Inviz-X right now).  Berkley has always been a company that promotes value...their powerbaits and Gulp cost no more money than other manufacturers plastics, yet cost more to produce and had a lot of $ in R&D spent to develop them.  If they are charging as much as Sunline for their new fluoro, I'd wager it's high quality stuff.  I will be ordering some this week, and will post an honest report soon.  I was extremely excited that they offer it in 2000yd spools.  I've been waiting for a good fluoro that is available in a true bulk spool (15lb Trilene fluoro in a 2k yard spool is $199 I believe).  I'm ready to read some reviews from some respected folks.

[OkobojiEagle]

"When we created Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon, we wanted to make a fluoro that handled more like mono something you could actually spool on and fish with," he said. "It was all about manageability and ease. You could think of it like the Trilene XL of fluorocarbon." (Editor's note: XL stands for "extra limp," for ease in handling, vs. XT, which stands for "extra tough.")

"Skeet and the other guys wanted a better tool, an 'XT-type fluoro' that was more of a baitcasting line," he said. "So Tim Wiedow one of our engineers and I got together, and I spec'd out what I wanted. I asked for a line like XT and Berkley Big Game, but fluorocarbon."

Is this portion of the article relevant to the original discussion?

[largemouthslayer]

Burley,

Sorry for your post turning into this....my fault and I will take 100% blame. Flechero and I must both be type A's.For any new people reading this post it's not what the intent of this forum is about.

As for you Flechero....My friend has 2 ranches in Coleman Tx. I go out there to hunt a few times a year or (that's what he thinks) they have what you guys in Texas call "tanks" that are loaded with trophy bass. PM your # and I would like to have you over as a piece offering.

[flechero]

As for you Flechero....My friend has 2 ranches in Coleman Tx. I go out there to hunt a few times a year or (that's what he thinks) they have what you guys in Texas call "tanks" that are loaded with trophy bass. PM your # and I would like to have you over as a piece offering.

largemouthslayer,

a very generous offer, thank you,  but it's not neccessary.  I need to take at least 51% of the blame for this...  after all, I did challenge your original post.  As no one here could know, I've had a few rough days which NO DOUBT played into my responses.  I will ocasionally call people out but 99% of the time it's on fact, not me taking shots at your charactor.  I am sorry for making it personal.  I'l follow up in a PM but wanted to publicly right the wrong.

I'll be deleting my above posts, because they add nothing to the thread.

[roadwarrior]

*** MODERATOR NOTE ***                                                                                                               Okay guys...I tried to clean this thread up a bit. If anyone was trying to make a pertinent point that was inadvertantly edited out, resubmit your post. What has been erased is gone and cannot be retrieved.

-Kent  a.k.a. roadwarrior

Global Moderator