The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I tend to avoid flouro if there are any obstacles around, very brittle under tension and doesn't taker a lot to go. I use Maxima for almost everything these days, in conjunction with Drennan Wide Gape Specialists. A winning combination.

The Sweetcorn Kid wrote:I tend to avoid flouro if there are any obstacles around, very brittle under tension and doesn't taker a lot to go. I use Maxima for almost everything these days, in conjunction with Drennan Wide Gape Specialists. A winning combination.

Yes, SK, - but it depends on the make of the fluoro and the BS - I think there's room for improvement, but it has its uses, certainly. Spiderwire at 12lb will take quite a bit of hammering. I've had it dragged over sunken branches without it parting. As for knots - I think we all have our favourites, as with hooks - and I think we must allow that some folks are brilliant at tying one knot and others, a different knot.. with fluoro, when testing 12lb BS Spiderwire, wet, and with the line attached to a hook with a double-looped, four-turned tucked half-blood, I've had it going consistently - mainly at the knot, at 11lb BS to 11.5 BS, which I think is acceptable. However, attach the same hook to the same make of line with a knotless knot - it breaks at anywhere between 7.5lb BS and 9lb BS - which obviously isn't acceptable. Fluoro, as I've said, also seems to be made of fine strands, and it is these fine strands which feather off, sometimes, with lower breaking strains. I agree that Maxima is a strong mono- I've used it for pike, but I do go for the more modern monos when I use mono these days - say Ultima Power Plus, for example and, for surface work, Korda Kruiser Control.
I must admit, the subject of knots and line can really do my head in! My mishap year was 2009, when I caught over 300 carp but lost perhaps twenty, including some pretty nice carp, mainly due to knot failures. I started to experiment then, because I felt I had to - and one result was the ditching of the palomar knot. I also had a horrifying experience with Berkeley fluoro, - that brittleness you mentioned. I arrived on the bank one day to find that every knot I tied was breaking under a testing tension - luckily before I cast in! Only the week before I'd landed a very hard-fighting double-figure common on the same line - and the thought made me shudder. That really turned me off fluoro for a while - but my faith did return with the discover of Spiderwire, to some extent, but only for 10lb plus breaking strains.

I have since been advised that winding the line so that it exits on the opposite side to the end of the wire of the eye, (if that makes sense) and double winding the knotless knot back to the eye relieves the pressure on the hooklink....

Bluelabel wrote:I have since been advised that winding the line so that it exits on the opposite side to the end of the wire of the eye, (if that makes sense) and double winding the knotless knot back to the eye relieves the pressure on the hooklink....

Thanks Bluelabel - I do wind that way, to avoid the wire end, but I've not double-wound. I shall try it.