Clear Answers on Fluorocarbon
Avoiding the issues with an otherwise great fishing line.
By Frank Sargeant
from The Fishing Wire
Most experienced anglers now make regular use of all three common varieties of fishing line, monofilament, fluorocarbon and braid. Of the three, fluorocarbon probably causes more issues and gets more cussing than the other two put together, with good reason.
While fluoro has some very obvious benefits which keep it on the playing field–extreme clarity, durability, low stretch and a high density that causes it to sink, taking diving lures deeper–it can be very difficult to cast.
Because fluoro is a “harder” line than monofilament, it tends to be stiffer, and this stiffness can cause big problems both on baitcasters and on spinning reels.
Most of us who have loaded up a baitcaster with 15 to 20 pound test fluoro of any stripe have had the unfortunate experience of a “professional over-run”, AKA a backlash or bird’s nest, when trying to make long casts.
Fish Caught On Fluorocarbon Line
Dave Burkhardt, company president of Trik Fish lines (formerly Triple Fish), was one of the first to start selling fluorocarbon as a fishing line in the U.S., though it had been used as leader material for some time previously. Burkhardt, besides being a businessman, is also a hard-core angler who regularly fishes both fresh and salt water, and he understands the needs of his customers well.
“There’s no question that a lot of fluoro is just too darn stiff for good fishing,” says Burkhardt, whom I interviewed at the recent ICAST show in Orlando, Florida. “The stiffness never mattered when it was only used as leader material–in fact, a stiff leader can be helpful for keeping the hooks from tangling in the running line when you’re working a topwater, for example, and the hardness of the stiffer lines is a plus because it helps prevent cutoffs.”
But, says Burkhardt, when some standard fluoro is used as fishing line, trouble begins.
“Standard mono has a specific density of about 1.0, which means among other things that it floats on water. Most fluoro has a density of 1.8, almost twice as dense as mono, and that means it sinks. It also means it’s a harder material, and that it tends to be stiffer–and those two characteristics are not good in fishing lines.”
Burkhardt said that the work-around solution, for anglers who need sinking, nearly invisible line, has been in the past to use a lighter test line than they would normally–the thinner the fluoro, the less likely it is to create snarls on casting, so lighter tests are one solution.
“Of course, the problem with that is, if you’re fishing rough cover, you lose a lot of lures, and you’re likely to lose your big fish when it finally bites,” says Burkhardt.
Trik Fish Line
The solution, he says, may be in a new version of Trik-Fish fluorocarbon just released by the German labs where his line is made.
“By changing the chemistry, they’ve been able to extrude a line that is still very dense and strong and tough, but that’s also very soft and flexible. That means the angler can still spool up with 15- to 20-pound test and get casting qualities that are close to what he’d expect from monofilament in that strength range.”
Another benefit of softer fluoro is that it holds knots better. Particularly in the heavier tests used in saltwater, harder, stiffer fluorocarbons are known for slipping in many common knots–the new Trik Fish doesn’t, says Burkhardt.
The line is not cheap–a 200-yard spool of 20-pound-test goes for around $18. But Burkhardt points out that like braid, fluoro has a very long lifespan. It does not break down in sunlight like mono, and it stretches only a fraction, making hook sets much more positive than with monofilament.
Bottom line, says Burkhardt, is that the new generation of fluoro solves a lot of problems for anglers, and should make believers of many who have had problems with past versions of these products.
For details, visit www.trikfish.com.