fluorocarbon line?

[lucky lure]

I haven't used fluoro too much except as a leader and would like to spool up atleast 1 reel this year with it. I may try Gamma and was wondering what is the heaviest pound line to try on a spinning reel without the line always coiling off the reel?

[Sproguy]

I think that 10pd is the max! I use a lot of 4-10 lb fluorocarbon and it works just fine. I would recommend a bigger spooled reel like a 2500 Shimano or a Okuma 30 for this instance. I would also use KVD's Line and Lure treatment on the line, it helps soften it up.

I also respool several times a season sometimes as often as every two to three weeks. Costly but keeps the head aches to a minimum. Just my two cents!

[Deitz Dittrich]

its going to depend on how large he spool is on your reel... I would also say that 10 lb is on the edge.. 8 would be better.. I have Gamma floro on 2 spinning reels, they are both my finess reels, and I have 6 lb on there.. love that stuff!!!!

[lunker651]

If you are going to try Gamma, I think you will like sunline shooter or FC sniper better. Don't get me wrong gamma lines are pretty good but not as good as sunline. I use sunline shooter flourocarbon and would not use any other flouro lines. It's better than gamma in my opinion, more limper, stronger, more abrasive resistant, and lower memory. The only thing I don't like, is that you can't find them in tackle shops like ganders or cabelas but the price is about the same. You can try gamma first and then try sunline but I bet you, you'll like sunline better .

Depending on your reel, but for the size of shimano's 750-2500 I would put up to 8# lines.

[RK]

Hiya -

I think 8 is maybe as heavy as you can manage on the kind of spinning gear most of us use.

I generally go up a size with the reel when I use fluro, as the bigger spool arbor seems to help keep the fluoro from spilling off as bad. The other thing is to remember to not fill the spool as full as you normally would with mono. The old rule of thumb was fill the spool to within 1/8 inch of the rim, but witfh fluoro, only fill it to within 1/4" or so. Helps a lot.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Crank It Up Pro]

There is a new line company called Vicious-fishing there flurocarbon is great stuff and you can't beat the price check them out at www.vicious-(Contact Us Please)

[musky999]

Anybody else know about this vicious line?

[Prairiefire]

Sorry guys but I think the whole fluoro craze is a bunch of hype. It has applications in saltwater as a leader, but as a freshwater main line it is junk. Ive tried it for about a month's time the last two years and I'll never use it again. If you watch the pro's who are using it you'll see they are breaking off more than ever. They will claim they are getting more bites but I think the additional bites come from the switch to the lighter setup in general (spinning rods, smaller diameter line). Use a high quality mono like p-line and you'll get the bites along with knot strength and abrasion resistance. This is just my opinion and my personal experience, but I think the line companies are putting quite a sell job on a lot of people.

[Deitz Dittrich]

everybody is allowed their own opinion!

[Central Bassman]

Crank It Up Pro... Tell me more about the Vicion Flor?? Whats you like about it?? Im going with gamma this year but i really like fluorocarbon so like trying new line!!!

[Bushwacker]

I bought three 550yd spools of Vicious(6lb, 12lb, 15lb) this winter and the stuff seems great. I haven't fished it yet, but knot strength seems very, very good. From what I have read about it seems like a good line and the price is great for a fluoro. I think I am going to order one more spool of 8lb for my shaky head rod.

[Central Bassman]

ic... let me know how it work for you this summer.

[Superduty]

Help me out guys, I'm not quite as down on flouro as Prairiefire but I'm getting close. I've used vanish, vanish transition, and seaguar. Tried 20 lb for pitching/flippin and it was too stiff and frayed worse than my favorite cheap trilene big game mono. Just can't be as accurate with the stiff line IMO. Tried 10 lb on my dropshots for deep smallies and it was ok-no complaints. Tried the same 10lb on a jigworm(shakey head if you want to be trendy) and caught fish but didn't seem all that special. Switched to 20 lb green powerpro and did better IMO with fewer missed hooksets and lost fish. I've also had similar results bed fishing clear water when I thought the thin braid didn't cost me bites and was much tougher once hooking up. I can make longer casts with braid than I can flourocarbon and probably catch more bed fish or any shallow clearwater fish because of that fact alone. Are other brands of flouro that much better than the ones I've tried? I guess there is also the confidence factor, which may be more important than any real or imagined benefits from a new product. I'm open to experimenting. But for now, when the money is on the line I'm not going to be throwing anything but a deep dropshot on flouro.

Side note, How many of you guys use a flouro leader tied to braid. I've played with this with some success and some failures. Caught plenty of fish but have also broke off the leader when the straight braid surely would not have broke.

[st.crioxfishin]

To be honest I've never tried tying on a fluorocarbon leader and I don't think I ever will. I just feel there is too much risk for a break-off in that situation and am much more comfortable using all braid or all fluorocarbon. To each his own I spose.

[ocf1]

My questions....

Do you use backing for the cost of of the floro or is it for handling with the spool?

and

Has anyone used stren floro before, i picked up 4 spools for 10$ total

[Wayne Ek]

I use fluorocabon ( Vanish Transition) exclusively on my worm rod and tube rod. I have yet to break a fish off, with the exception of toothy critters. On my C-rig I use a fluorocarbon leader, without problems. I frequently us a 6 foot leader of fluorocarbon on my jig worm rod and drop-shot rods. I use the back to back uni-knot there with a dab of fishing glue. The line has never broken at the knot, I have broken the line at the jig head from not re-tying. I feel strongly that fluorocarbon used in clear water will up your bite ratio. That being said, I don't care if it's less visable or not, it still gives off vibrations just like any other line and fish know something is there.

[st.crioxfishin]

How often do you guys change your fluorocarbon line? I suppose it all depends on how much you fish, but I try and get out as much as possible. Does this line tend to wear down or get brittle faster than others? Just wondering if not changing my fluoro often last year was the reason for break offs in short line situations (pitching). Maybe a softer hook set will also help, I'll have to experiment.

[RK]

Hiya -

This is kind of the year of the grand experiment for me with Fluoro. I've been using it off and on the last few seasons, and used it a lot as a leader material for bass, walleyes, and muskies. I think I know enough about what I like it for and what I don't now, and generally how it behaves, to figure out which brands I like. So this season I'm spooling up several reels with different brands to fish them side by side.

I started using Fluoro with Berkley Vanish, and the first version of that stuff that came out was gawd-awful. Since they reformulated it it's a lot better though. So that's on the list. I do like Transition because it's easy to see. I also have some Gamma. Hear a lot of good reviews, but the price tag - youch. Also trying Triple Fish. All fluoro comes from one of two places, Japan or Germany. Triple Fish is a German fluoro. I hope I like it, because the price is less than comparable mono. I found one place online where I can get 200yd spools of 8# Triple Fish Fluoro for under $6. Compare that with 20-some for 120 yds of Gamma... So now, if I can keep track of what's on what reel, I'll see which I like.

One thing I have really noticed with Fluoro, which I learned using it as leader material for muskies, is that Fluoro is tough and abrasion resistant, but once it does get abraded, it loses strength rapidly and dramatically. It goes from pretty tough stuff to sewing thread. So you really have to watch the nicks and retie when it gets worn. Same with knots - if you goof up a knot with this stuff it's a lot less forgiving that mono.

I think it does have some properties that make up for those performance issues though. It's lower stretch. Mono's stretch increases dramatically when it's wet, fluoro stays the same. I like the fact that it sinks for some presentations. I think it's more sensitive - as a denser material it should be anyhow. The visibility might help some, but probably not a lot unless I'm on very clear water (which I am sometimes particularly fishing smallies.) And I do like the durability, with the caveat above in mind.

Anyhow...will be an interesting experiment this summer I think. Who knows. I may be back to XL, Big Game and XT by August

Cheers,

Rob Kimm