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Lines Fireline vs the rest…who wins?



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  #1  
Old 07-07-2016, 06:57 AM
sam.c sam.c is offline
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FC vs Braid

Hi guys,
Now I don't want to start any wars, but what are your guys thoughts on the fluorocarbon vs braid battle (specifically for bream)? I was thinking of picking up a new reel for my birthday, and was wondering if I should go braid or FC. From what I've read, flouro for hards and braid for everything else, is this factually correct? I started fishing with mono, and as I got into lures I made the switch to braid. I've been using various braids since then and loved the feel, but nowadays a lot of people are going to flouro. What are your thoughts? Any answer is much appreciated.

Thanks, Sam.
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Old 07-07-2016, 09:20 AM
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Sloth Sloth is offline
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The best thing to do is to figure how you like fishing and then pick the most appropriate line choice. What you're really picking between is the characteristics of the lines:

Zero stretch vs some stretch
Opaque vs transparent (not invisible mind)
Limp vs stiffer (and associated line memory issues)
Line sink rate
Abrasion resistance
Line management

.... And it's hard to find a straight answer on some of the above as to which are the "better" characteristics or even if they actually really make a significant difference.

You kind of just have to give it a go - you'll likely love it or hate it. The most important thing I think is using it for the right application.

Personally I only use straight through when fishing banks with bibbed minnows/cranks and I'm fishing relatively open water. I like straight through for this because the water is usually clear and shallow so I feel straight through increases my stealth and reduces line shadow and visibility of the line. I'm fishing with lures with small trebles so the extra cushioning of the line stretch and a parabolic rod action mean less pulled hooks, I'm using tight line techniques on the retrieve so I'm fishing by feel and not reliant on spotting "tics" in my line for bite indicators. I'm not having to tie leaders and as I'm open water I'm tending not to get rubbed on anything so quite often it's just a nice session of flicking lures with minimal re-rigging involved.

For the other nine months of the year I use braid. I'm fishing around structure or I'm fishing deep where I want to watch the belly of the line to look for tics/bites. If I'm deep or long casting I want minimal stretch when I hook set. I'm also using single hooks or jigheads so I want more penetration power to punch the larger single hook through. If I'm fishing blades I want to feel the blade working and that's just easier with braid.

Now ...: I have quite happily fished braid with long fc leaders using bibbed lures and it's fine. You may need to tie a popped leader here and there and sometimes I believe I've pulled hooks because there is less "give" in the system.. But it still works.

If I could only have one spool for all my fishing it would have braid as it's the most versatile. If I'm heading out the door on a beautiful spring day with a few minnows then I'll always reach for the fc outfit.

Give it a go - put it on a reel with a decent spool diameter to reduce memory issues, pick a supple spinning fluoro, keep an eye on line management when you start off to avoid expensive foul-ups at the reel and periodically check the business end of the line for abrasion and trim it short as necessary (and that's the hidden expense of straight through .... It slowly disappears whereas leaders can just be replaced on braid).

Oh and the above is just me ... I know some very good anglers who swear by fc for blades .... You kind of have to tread your own path but it's always worth experimenting because that's how you find out what style of fishing suits you
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Old 07-07-2016, 06:45 PM
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yellow door 1 yellow door 1 is offline
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You could always tie a 30m flourocarbon leader to one of you existing reels and see how that feels before fully committing to the idea.
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Old 07-07-2016, 06:55 PM
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Sloth Sloth is offline
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Top-shotting is definitely an option. I don't like having a leader-to-mainline knot that close to the surface of the spooled line though. Less expensive and worth a shot but I'd try to make sure I tied it so the knot was near the base of the spool, out of the way and less likely to snag a loop on the cast. I tend to sit my leader knots just off the spool.
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Old 07-07-2016, 06:59 PM
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yellow door 1 yellow door 1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sloth View Post
Top-shotting is definitely an option. I don't like having a leader-to-mainline knot that close to the surface of the spooled line though. Less expensive and worth a shot but I'd try to make sure I tied it so the knot was near the base of the spool, out of the way and less likely to snag a loop on the cast. I tend to sit my leader knots just off the spool.
Yeah top-shot of flouro negates some of the advantages and is not ideal - I mainly suggested it so he could reacquaint himself with how it feels to detect bights, retrieve and fight a fish on flouro.
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Old 08-07-2016, 03:32 AM
sam.c sam.c is offline
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Thanks for the advice guys.
I've tied some long leaders before but I will try putting a 30m one on, I fished lures with mono (while I didn't know how to manage braid) so I know how the stretch feels. I'll try it out.

Thanks, Sam.
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