Fishing Line edition April 19th
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"Ive got a Line on You"
Spirit, circa 1969
I go back and forth between trying to analyze (read "buy") each and every new
"cant fish without it" innovation that hits the market and remembering
that I am surrounded by an army of successful professional fishermen who catch a lot more
fish than I do with 10 year old technology and the hand me downs offered by generous
gringos. I know that some of the new stuff is better, but also know that much of it is
just new. Trying to figure out where the real improvements are is the central conundrum.
One of the areas of fishing technology that has been moving the fastest over the last few
years has been that of line. For the last 30 years of so monofilament has been the
dominant line among sports fishermen. Its ease of use, practicality, and reasonable
price have made it the mainstay for all of us. But technology marches on, and now a myriad
of new choices in regards to line composition add to the always hotly discussed
traditional issue of color, to make the question of, "which line should I use?"
all the more debatable. While our staff of test engineers (Juan, Chris, Kelly, myself) has
not done much comprehensive or quantitative analysis, we have made some observations over
the years, and certainly have opinions. Weve started to try some of the new stuff,
particularly where the advertisement claims seem to address a problem that we are having
with current equipment. This is intended to give you the possibly dubious benefit of our
thoughts and experiences, at least as of today.
Monofilament. We are still monofilament advocates for 98% of the situations we see in
La Paz. This has both to do with the comfort that we derive from experience, and the
success that breeds that experience. Our currently implemented system of hardware (ie.
rods, guides, reels) and "software" (knots, methods of playing fish, etc.)
includes mono line as a central element. From the many brands of mono we have
traditionally recommended Maxima, in the Ultragreen color. This is driven by both general
and specific characteristics of this product. Maxima is a premium line, with very good
knot tying attributes, sufficient toughness, and is still limp enough to cast. What makes
it our #1 choice for all around line is that it is the most successful offering when
trying to catch the Pargo Lisos that dominate our late winter and early spring fishing.
After you have watched a group of these red beasts pick through a pile of bait leaving
behind only the one with your hook in it, coupled with their Mack truck like runs for the
rocks once you do manage to hook one, it is hard not to respect the combination of great
eyesight, wariness, and strength that makes these Mullet Snapper our most challenging fish
to boat. Over the years we have used this species as our yardstick for which line to
recommend and Maxima has consistently been the winner. This does not mean that we
dont catch fish on other lines, I have caught Lisos on Ande Green, Berkeley green,
and even grey lines by various makers, but over time Maxima has caught the most fish, and
there are days when it catches the only fish. We can, and have, debated this for hours but
over the last 5 years I have come to agree with Mr. Butler that this is the best line for
us during Pargo season, and since this is our most discriminating prey, we are comfortable
recommending this line for usage throughout the year. Maxima is one of the most expensive
monos, and is not always that easy to find in bulk, but we find it worth the effort.
During the times of the year when we are not fishing for Pargo, and for those of you
who fish exclusively in the summer and fall months, the choice is less clear, and perhaps
less critical. While I would still strongly recommend a premium line, there are many
brands that qualify, and even more colors that appear to be effective. Stick with the well
known brand names such as Ande, Berkeley, Jinkai, Stren, Maxima, etc. in the traditional
colors such as blue, green, grey, or smoke. Saving a few bucks on fishing line while
preparing for a $1000+ vacation will sooner or later result in the loss of fish, perhaps a
lifetime catch, and is not a good prioritization of resources. The other tips that I would
offer about using mono (and most other lines) is that you respool your reels regularly,
and that you cut off the last few feet of line often during the fishing day. We change our
reels between 2 and 6 times a year depending on the line test and amount of usage, and I
would recommend that even if you do not use your salt water gear often you change out your
line at least once a year, before you come down to La Paz. While this is not an
inexpensive regimen, the thoughts above about priorities apply here, and if you shop
through the catalogues you can save significant money over prices at the corner sporting
goods store. As for cutting line off during the day, you should certainly examine the
final few feet of line every time you change baits. Just run your hand along the line
feeling for nicks, kinks, or roughed up sections. While reeling in big fish can be
difficult, it approaches impossible when the last few feet of your 40 pound line are
really 15 pound test due to damage. I would also suggest that after every fish you cut off
a section of line slightly longer than the length of the fish just dealt with. Many times
you can feel damage on a line the length of the fish above the hook caused by the tail
rubbing on the line as your fish tries to escape the dinner table. That about does it for
mono. We have been using some of the other versions of line for the last year or two, with
varying degrees of success.
P Line, which is building copolymer lines, claims that its lines are tougher than
mono and smaller in diameter for a given breaking test. We have had very good experience
with both their green and blue colors, and I would not hesitate to recommend them in the
same breath with the premium monos mentioned above, and they are cost competitive.
Spectra. Many of the line makers offer versions of this woven, small diameter line.
While originally coming to vogue on the long range boats because you can load a much
larger amount of line on a given reel due to the smaller line diameter and therefore
possibly avoid the need to clip a second rod and reel to your personal favorite before
throwing "ol Betsy" over the side, I believe that Spectra does have
its uses in La Paz. I have switched the tackle that I use for large Tuna and Marlin
over to Spectra. This comes after having a Penn 6/0 reel loaded with 50 pound Maxima
spooled in under 30 seconds while fishing for big Tuna with Juan one day. This was
undoubtedly the largest Tuna that I have ever hooked, and the helpless feeling of watching
every bit of line say Goodbye in a very short period of time was not one that I want to
experience again. One could go to a larger reel, but I feel that a 6/0 or 50W
International is up to the task, if properly stocked with either 50 pound or 80 pound
Spectra. When using Spectra you must do some things differently. Biting this line, or
trying to break it with your hands, are two ways to hurt yourself. A very sharp knife, or
better yet a good pair of scissors is what Ive found to do the best job. Similarly
you should not try to hand line any snags or fish or anything while using Spectra,
its small diameter can be deadly. Knot tying is different as well, and you should
read up thoroughly on this issue before using Spectra lines. The small diameter of the
line can also cause you problems with guide wear as the point of contact is smaller,
therefore sharper, on your guide surface. The applications that I use Spectra for already
call for roller guides, so this is not such a big problem, but your guides, roller or
conventional, always need to be in good working order when using Spectra. Spectra is
relatively expensive to purchase, but the claims are that it will last 12-15 years on a
reel with little or no maintenance. The last issue with Spectra is that you must use a
different form of line to connect the main body of line, the Spectra, to your hook. The
Spectra itself is very visible to the fish and is not convenient for the regular retying
required at the business end of your line. The long range guys usually do this with a
"top shot" of one of the premium monos. This could be 100-150 yards of what ever
line test is appropriate and is often accompanied by a leader of higher breaking strength
mono tied on the end. Nowadays many people are using another new technology flourocarbon
line, for the leader. We have adapted some of these techniques for specific circumstances
in La Paz, with a slightly different twist, and will discuss that in the next section.
Flourocarbon. As I understand it, flourocarbon technology produces a line with a
refractive index very similar to water, that is to say that it "looks like"
water, especially when surrounded by water, making it next to invisible when used for
fishing line. It is expensive to produce, and consequently its usage has been almost
exclusively limited to leader material. I have used it in several different circumstances,
with varying degrees of success. I have used flourocarbon for Pargo Lisos, trying both the
same line strength to take advantage of lesser visibility and trying a leader of greater
line strength hoping to both capitalize on the lesser visibility to enhance hook ups and
the higher breaking test in order to be able to boat more fish once hooked, and have not
noticed any higher chances of success than the regular ol 40 pound Maxima being used
at the same time on the other rod. Weve also used flourocarbon for leaders on Marlin
jigs, as recommended in all the Marlin mags, and we just cant tell whether its
jig color, place in the pattern, or the line that makes the most difference. It probably
makes intuitive sense that flourocarbon would be good in this application, but we
havent seen data to back that up. The place that we have found flourocarbon to be of
certifiable value is when Tuna fishing, especially for the big ones. As hinted at above,
weve slightly modified the common long range set up for Tuna with positive results.
Instead of putting a mono top shot on the end of the Spectra, weve taken to tying a
leader of flourocarbon directly to the line from the reel. This eliminates the extra set
of knots associated with the top shot and still gives us the advantages of Spectra and
flourocarbon. The P-line CFX flourocarbon leader material is as limp as they come
(sometimes a drawback with flourocarbon) and in 40-50 yard coils costs $23-30 depending on
the test. I tie 50 yards of 50 lb. CFX on the end of the Spectra and that lasts about
12-15 trips, depending on the amount of fish encountered. Ive caught Tuna with as
little as 12 feet of the flourocarbon remaining. In several dozen trips comparing this set
up with a straight 50lb. Maxima Ultragreen setup on rods fished at the same time
weve had 2-3X more fish with the flouro. Good enough for me.
The Future. Well, weve got a couple of new things to try in the upcoming few
weeks. YoZuri has a line called "Hybrid" thats a nylon and flourocarbon
combo with a nylon center and flouro sheathing, and at a reasonable cost. That and some
new leader wire that we ran across in Long Beach, that you can tie conventional knots in,
are two things that we will get around to using and commenting on shortly.
That about exhausts our current thoughts on line. There is much more out there that
weve not tried and any of you that have additional or contrary experiences should
feel free to share them with us on the website. Either through E-mail or the new Message
Boards. Next Tackle Talk, which reels are real?
Thanks for reading, David Jones.
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