Flourocarbon on ice?

[slick814]

I've been using flouro's for a couple of years for open water fishing now, and I'm wondering if anyone uses them through the ice? If so, how is it?

I'd think that the visibility factor, low-stretch, etc would make it a good ice line, but how well does it function in the cold?

[Steve Foss]

I use it in any clear water situation. Does it help? Hard to say. But why not give yourself every advantage? For lakers, which is always a clearwater deal, I always use it.

As for how it does in the cold, it does as well as your general mono, though it's a bit stiffer. It' far better than braids. They absorb water and get stiff as a board, and fluoro does not.

[andy j]

I use it for leaders in clear water if I am using braid (PowerPro ICE) this braid only gets stiff if it gets cold, not a good line to hole hope without a heated shelter if temps are well below freezing, but in a heated shelter it is fine. I don't like Flouro for panfish because if I use lighter jigs which I do alot the line has to much memory (stiff) I have had good luck with Berkley Mirco Ice for panfish. You can get away with using flouro with heavier baits.

[CrappieJohn]

Straight up fluoro is all I use in the 2 and 4 pound test for pannies and crappies. Vanish and P-Line are my go to's and I have no problems with it being too stiff even outside of the shelter.

One big bonus with fluoro is that it sinks. When we have to get into micro sized tacle and baits to tease fish into hitting, getting the bait down TODAY is an issue that fluor helps to overcome.

Then too, it is vitually invisible to the fish. Durabitlity is another plus...a knick in this stuff does not mean line seperation. Sensitivity finally seals the deal for me. This stuff has a minimal amount of stretch as mentioned before which helps to translate to a very sensitive link to the fish.

I love the stuff for everything from sunfish to walleyes. And, speaking of waldo, my winter open-water jigging (light action baitcasting) rods are spooled with fluoro of 6 pound. Nary a problem there either.

[markkstanley]

I'm with Tom. P-Line is the way to go. I've had some issues with Transition stuff loves to coil up on me but it is also a good choice. I use Pline on all my rods that don't have braid on them.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ive been using the floroice for 3 years now in the 3lb for panfish and 6lb for walleye.... worked well enough I will be doing it again!

[slick814]

Sounds like that's my new direction line-wise, then for most applications. Like I said, I love the stuff in open water, and have all but eliminated mono and only 1 reel with a braid for the heavy cover bassin'.

I really like the "invisible" function of the flouro, and the extra weight that Crappie Tom talks of is, IMHO, a great thing to get those smaller pannie jigs down where you want them in a hurry.

Thanks for the replies guys, made my decision that much easier for me!

[FullTilt]

I'll offer up an opposing opinion on the subject of fluoro. I bought a spool last year to give it a run. I like to pre tie a lot of my rigs with a leader and swivel and wind them on a lindy rig keeper for quick changes. The fluoro never did make it to the ice because I was so dissapointed in the knot strength. Many of the knots would break if you gave them a tug when cinching tight. I understand that this line needs to be wet when cinching but I still had problems. A big part of fishing is having confidence in the gear you're using and I had little confidence in fluoro's knot strength. I stuck with small test fireline and it worked great in all but the coldest environments. Lots of guys swear by the fluoro and I'm thiking about giving the P-line a run this year. A friend of mine used fluoro last year for the first time and I personaly watched him lose more than one fish because the line was cut on the bottom of the hole. I have never had this happen with fireline.