Drennan Double Strength line

[JerryC]

Mainline is generally a very personal thing and there will always be a lot of difference of opinion. I've used Pro-Gold/Clear or sometimes Krystonite for most of my fishing without any problems. For surface fishing on waters without snags I would generally go for 8/10lb Pro-Gold with a long .19 reflo vaselined hook length. For trotting it's usually Drennan floatfish.

I much prefer to use a Fox bubble to a controller together with a 1.5 or 1.75 rod.

[Davyr]

I much prefer to use a Fox bubble to a controller.

Are these the "Bolt Bubbles", Jerry? I did give those a try, but found the carp kept going for them in preference to the hookbait! Also, I found them a bit hard to see at distance. Not being one of those eagle-eyed people that can easily distinguish their hookbait from the freebies, I find watching the orange top of an ESP controller a lot less of a strain.

I never did quite get the knack of getting enough water into the Fox bubbles for casting weight, either. Or of getting all the water out again at the end of the day.

[JerryC]

I much prefer to use a Fox bubble to a controller.

Are these the "Bolt Bubbles", Jerry? I did give those a try, but found the carp kept going for them in preference to the hookbait! Also, I found them a bit hard to see at distance. Not being one of those eagle-eyed people that can easily distinguish their hookbait from the freebies, I find watching the orange top of an ESP controller a lot less of a strain.

I never did quite get the knack of getting enough water into the Fox bubbles for casting weight, either. Or of getting all the water out again at the end of the day.

Davyr, yes they are bolt bubbles and the smallest size is generally all you need for casting up to about 30/40yds - further and you need to step up in size (also rod size) Unlike controllers, being bolt bubbles, you don't really need to see them or the bait - just watch the line disappear (also the shock of being hooked normally makes the fish leap about).

Another advantage of the bubble is, if it gets too choppy for surface fishing (or the feathered things are giving you a hard time) you can use a sinking pellet instead and catch them on the drop - you soon get used to watching your line rather than a float/bait. Also if the fish go deeper you can over fill the bubble so that it sinks slowly and catch at whatever depth they're taking it.

[Julian]

A lot of my fishing is on the surface.
I use Reflo Power for most of my fishing, so far without any real problems.
For surface fishing for carp I use this line in breaking strains of around 9lb to 12.5 lb, depending on the circumstances, straight through to a Drennan carbon barbed or micro-barbed hook - size 6 or 8 if using mixers with two softened mixers on the hook.
I find this line is really reliable and it takes a great deal of effort to actually break the 11lb or 12.5lb strains.

[Scott Thompson]

If you want to use some of the more high tec lines as hooklengths then you need either a soft rod (as mentioned) or you need some type of stretchy buffer.
Anglers that used to fish a pole to hand found that breakages were common till they started using a buffer, once over it was common practise to use a short length of power gum which just had enough give so the line didnt break when using a pole strong enough to swing in fish up to 1lb in weight.

All the new high tec lines are designed to be used with pole elastic providing a buffer as modern poles now get cut back further(with most disgarding the No1 section) to be made stronger and so its the elastic doing the buffering and not the pole.
Of course a much longer hooklength helps but for days you want or need to use a shorter one put some power gum in your rig to take the initial impact.

[The Tuesday Swim]

Thanks gents, the hook link was about 5 feet so a longer one makes sense, a palomar was used with a separate hair, no knotless knot.
I'll give Double Strength one more trial and see what happens.

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

An orange dot of float paint can help to see spot the bubble in a chop or at range. I too use them on occasion.

I must say I've never used double strength due to a few bad reports, ie. breaking unexpectidly. I tend to use Maxima, and have recently started using the green variety, it's very good and extremely strong. In fact, I use it for a lot of my fishing including stalking........

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAXIMA-ULTRA- ... 3a6ecc145e

[SeanM]

I've done a lot of experimentation with low diameter monos over the years and found that there is a huge variation in performance. The trouble is that the variation isn't just from line to line, but from angler to angler. This is probably because these lines are very sensitive to the type of knot used and to the way knots are tied. Here's a review:

Drennan Double Strength

I've not used this line since the mid 90s. I tried it as a hook length and found it very unreliable.

Stroft

See Drennna Double Strength!

Reflo Powerline

I use this for hook lengths for most of my trotting and still water float fishing. I've also used it as a main line for trotting and it has worked well but isn't very durable - needs changing at least every season. I don't use this for barbel fishing as it does tend to go at the knot under shock loads.

Shimano Antares Silk Shock

A bit of a curates egg of a line. I've used it in the higher breaking strains and it's been fine, including some epic battles with good barbel. In the lower breaking strains I've found it very unreliable. This has eroded my trust in this line and I no longer use it. Graham Marsden has had almost exactly the same experience as me with this line.

Silstar/WB Clarke Matchline

I use this for both hooklinks and as a main line. It's been very reliable and is an excellent trotting line. I also use it in the 9lb (ish) breaking strain on a centre pin for carp and I've had wildies to low doubles on it with no problems.

Sagitar Dip

This is a pole rig line that works really well for hook lengths and has great knot strength. I was put on to it by Graham Marsden whos been using it for a good while now. I've used it in the 12lb bs for barbel fishing on the Trent and it performs as well as fluorocarbon line. One thing to watch is that the surface is very slick and you need to use a few extra turns on blood knots and water knots. It makes an excellent fly leader line.

Sagitar also do a nice feeder line which I suspect is fluorcarbon coated. It works well for trotting when treated with a floatant, but migh not work well for floater fishing. You can get this stuff from http://www.italiafishing.co.uk

Fox Rage Reflex

This is designed as a lure fishing line, but if you can stand Fox's current hip street cred wannabe style ("This line is ideal for short distance fishing such as street fishing, popper fishing, soft jerking or fishing clear streams or small rivers") it is really good. It breaks exactly on the stated breaking strain when knotted so if you're used to Maxima then buy it in a size up.

Maver Jurrasic

This is a really good line, thin, knots well and is totally bomb proof. I use it in 10lb bs on my light barbel rod. It's a dark line so I haven't used it for hook lengths but it is very thin - the 10lb is .23mm and this is a good knotted strength.

I've mentioned Graham Marsden a few times on this as we've had a few discussions on low diameter lines and have shared info. I like using low diameter lines for trotting and for general medium fish feeder fishing. They work well on rivers and are less conspicuous than standard monos. The rise in carp match fishing had given us some great lines and there will be others out there that I haven't tried.

If you're having problems with these lines then I would suggest using a knot lubricant. Airflo do one called Knot Perfect which works well. I suspect that the reliability of the Sagitar Dip is due to its smooth surface which gives a consistent knot.

Phew! :ugeek:

[RBTraditional]

Drennan have not long released a new line Supplex....it is superb, very limp and without getting a micrometer out I'd say very thin for each given breaking strain. We used the Double strength stuff on opening night back in the eighties when it first came out, what we didn't realise was that it was pre-stretched (there was no info at the time to indicate this was the case).....you can guess.... every run met by a resounding CRACK! as the bloody stuff snapped. In the morning light we re-spooled with trusty old Sylcast. If memory serves me right Big Game came out on the UK market the following year....what a blessing that was. Ha!

[Nobby]

Drennan really should have re-named this line as it is confusing everyone.

The original idea was that you would fish with a higher breaking strain than usual and end up with a line of the same thickness.

So for example, if you usually chose 6lb. line in a given situation, you would instead use 8lb. Double Strength, and the result was that you had the same fishing properties as the line was of the same thickness of your old 6lb line but with a little extra strength if needed.



There's nothing 'double' about it at all and it was a bl**dy silly name to use!