Getting a Line on Line

Your fishing line represents one of the most important parts of your fishing system. It is literally what connects you to the fish, maybe to a personal best. It is the part of your system that wears out the fastest and is subject to the most abuse. Why then does it seem it is one of the least talked about and last considered pieces of most peoples’ fishing tools? I say most people because one of the ways that I can tell the experience and level of expertise of a new fishermen is the emphasis they put on their line choices. Our very best fishermen are conversant in the different makers and colors. Whose line casts the best, whose is the toughest against the rocks, etc? At the other end of the scale are the guys that brag about how much money they saved buying their line at WalMart. Not to cast aspersions towards ol’ Sam, but he ain’t known for his fishing acumen. Choosing line is important, and can be confusing. Here’s what we’ve learned, and what we think, and what we’ve talked ourselves into.

Bait Fishing – By this I mean if you either still fishing with live or dead bait, or slow trolling live bait. For years we here at Fishermen’s Fleet recommended Maxima Chameleon Green. It is absolutely the best mono filament for catching the very touchy fish like pargo. I’m not sure if this is universal from a geographic point of view, or if it is specific to here, but year in and year out I’ve proven to my own satisfaction that this line was the best mono for fishing the pickiest fish we have. I say was because there have been some changes. Even though the Maxima is expensive, and their factory personnel very difficult to deal with, it caught the most fish, and all other things even not being equal that has to drive the choice. Nowadays, with the advent of fluorocarbon line, it’s different. A couple of meters of fluorocarbon tied to the end of your mono make a big difference in any of our shallow water situations. Tuna, pargo, yellowtail all hit the fluoro on days when no mono will do the trick. An positive externality of this development is that we no longer have to deal with the high price and low attitude of the ever teutonic folks at Maxima. There are many companies that sell premium quality lines at very reasonable prices. We here at Fishermen’s Fleet have chosen to deal with the folks at Izorline. The emphasis is on the folks, they are very nice guys who all fish. Their products are developed by fishermen, for fishing. They have different kinds of mono, and a palette of colors. If you are at all confused by their plethora of products, call ‘em and ask ‘em. While many of you may have other favorites, and I’m sure that your choice is based as unscientifically as mine that is our thinking on the mono issue.

NonMono – Here is starts to get pretty detailed. In the last few years there has been a lot of people experimenting with “alternative” lines. Spectra, hollow Spectra, Hi Vis, and FluoroCarbon all have their jobs to do in your fishing system. Spectra was originally used, as I understand it, as a means to provide greater line capacity. 135lb. fluoro is about the size of 50 pound mono. Guys on the long range boats got really tired of hooking up a second rod to their $1500 rod and reel combo and throwing theirs in water when being spooled by large tuna on anchored or stationary boats. The spectra allowed them much more capacity and they didn’t have to rebuild their reel every time it got marinated in the briny. Technology solving a problem, oh boy. Do you need Spectra to fish La Paz? Probably not. Pangas are much more flexible machines than the Red Shogun 105 out of San Diego, and we just crank up the motor and chase that fish. But there are other advantages beyond capacity that spectra can bring. Depending on how often you change your line it can be cheaper. Spectra on a reel will last at least 10 years, and so instead of changing 500 yards of mono out at least once a year you can just change the topshot. (What the heck is a top shot? None of our fish will hit spectra tied straight to the hook, so it is necessary to put some mono “on top” of the spectra, hence the name.) Specific application, swamp gas, and personal preference dictate whether you use 100 yard topshot, or 25 meters. By changing out the topshot periodically you save an awful lot on throwing away all that mono. If you change your line several times a year you can quickly recover the high initial cost of the underlying spectra. Another attribute of spectra is that it does not stretch. Mono can stretch as much as 15% and this has two negative results. First is in the “feel” that you have when trolling live bait, particularly large baits. I ‘ve taken to using a short shot of 10 yards of 100lb. fluoro on spectra when trolling for dog snapper. You can feel your bait swimming in great detail, its’ nervousness when in the proximity of imminent death, and even the first attempts by the pargon to suck it in before he really gets a hold on it. This adds a lot of fun and interest to the trolling process. Second is the hook set when trolling. Experts such as Fred Archer believe that the stretch in mono is a deterrent to sure hook sets, particularly when fishing wahoo. As the fish grabs the lure and the mono stretches, there is time for him to identify the lure as a non food item. With spectra and it’s lack of stretch the bait is pulled through the fishes mouth and they are often hooked from the outside. Fred Archer, who many mistake for Slim Whitman refers to a 50 yard stretch of spectra or Dacron added in front of the wahoo lure as Grabthar’s Hammer, and swears by it. Although Fred swears a lot he knows his fish. What’s wrong with Spectra? It’s expensive, and our guides don’t like hand lining

HiVis trolling line, actually a mono subspecies, is used primarily while trolling lures. Yellow, orange, or lime green this stuff stands out in the sunshine and particularly when trolling from a large boat with multiple lines out, up to 10 or 12 if Demon Bobo is on board it really helps to distinctly see each line. It really allows all of those on board to keep track of which line is which, which line is getting hit, and eliminates a lot of potential confusion. Berkley is the only one of these made in the U.S.A. to my knowledge and I would recommend it highly.

Fluorocarbon looks like mono, to you and I, but not to our piscatorial friends. With a refractive index virtually identical to that of water, it disappears when in the water. Does it really? I think that maybe it does. When dealing with picky fish like pargo or cabrilla, or structure related tuna we’ve proven to ourselves over and over again that it really does work. It is expensive, but you only need a few feet. The really good fishermen tell me that not only is it less visible, but that it has much better abrasion resistance, a double advantage when dealing with teeth and rocks. You should have 25 yard spools of fluoro in denominatons between 20 and 80 when fishing down here. So far we’re using SeaGuar, it seems to be one of the best and available most places. I’ve also had experience with the P-Line fluoro in 50lb. for chunking tuna and would recommend it. You can get it in 50 yard coils, tie it straight to your spectra. Then cut off 4-6 feet every fish and retie.

That’s it for line, for now, but that retie comment reminds me that it’s just about time for knots. Next article…….