Fireline Crystal

[Gadgetman]

I have been reading that some of you guys are really pumped about the new crystal line. Bought some one pound for crappie fishing and had a chance to try it for the first time tonite. I had a very tough time getting a knot in it as the line kept breaking. I am using a palomar knot and when I cinched it down it would just break off with very little resistance. I did finally manage to get a knot to hold but am now very leery about the tensile strength of this stuff. Did I just get a bad roll of the stuff or what. I liked the way it fished but was really hoping that the occasional random walleye wasnt going to stop in and give me a tussle as I am not sure if the line was up for the challenge. any thoughts?

[hanson]

Are you getting your knot wet before cinching it down?

Either use water or saliva.

With line that fine, the friction generated when tightening the knot down can weaken it.

Speaking of walleyes, I had a little 15" walleye grab ahold of my Optic Stealth & Nuggie combo the other day. I was fishing 2lb P-Line and managed to play that fish to the hole. Fun, fun but he didn't get the best of my 2lb line.

[Aberdak]

I started tieing the knot that shows up in the WEB site your bobbers down. Try tying the Wolfram Jigs with a loop knot. it is describe in the sight. I now tie all the little jigs with this knot. I am using two pounds test yet so I don't know for sure how this knot will respond with the 1 lb. test line. I am dreaming about moving to the one pound test line because of the ease and strength on this knot. I used to tie the palomar for my knots and have change to this knot instead. Have great weekend! Sounds like some ice weather is coming.

[CALVINIST]

For my Fireline applications I always use a uni-knot. I never tried Fireline Cyrstal so I couldn't tell you how well it does on that line though.

[sticknstring]

I just took the mentioned line off my reel and replaced it with 3LB mono. Knots held fine and strenght was great with small diameter which was why I put in on in the first place but it wouldn't allow the drag on my Tica's to function properly so it's back to Trilene for me.

[Corey Bechtold]

Fireline cannot be tied directly to the spool for just that reason. It will just spin on the spool which gives the false feeling of your drag not working properly. If one chooses not to use some mono for backing while tying the Fireline using a uni-knot than you should at least put a piece of tape on the bottom of the spool before filling.

As for the knot's breaking. I have had a few problems with this as well but when the knot is secure it is "GO" time. The feel and hook setting power definately make up for some knot tying difficulties. I hauled in a very nice Bass the other day and it was really circling the hole before I landed it. The line held up great and the Ice didn't cut it. It seems like most small diameter lines will break from time to time when cinching the knot to the hook. Last year I tried some P-line and had a very difficult time getting a jig tied. I know that some guys really love the stuff but maybe I just had a bad spool. If you are not happy with the line I'd call Pure Fishing and talk to someone in the Customer Service department. They will probably ask you to mail in the line and they will replace it with something else you might like. They seem to really strive for keeping customers happy.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Tofishem]

I use the "Crawford Knot" aka the "Figure 8 Knot" for tying knots in fishing applications.

In-Fisherman did a study on this back in the 70s-80s and came up with the strongest knot being the "Crawford" according to tensile strength.

They used bags of flour for the study. I've been using this knot for many years and have found it to be the strongest!

[sticknstring]

Well it's good to know the false feeling can be overcome. I like having the anti-stretch sensitivity for fishing deeper holes. I'll have to tie some back on to my exising line...