Howard Cooke
Senior Member
What with the rain and no river fishing etc I embarked on an experiment that was a bit foolish as I have zero technical ability to interpret the results. Basically, I took a large(ish) plastic container (about 8 inches deep) and decided to test the sinking ability of a variety of materials. No rigs or anything, just a 6 inch section dropped into the container of water and left for a few hours. I tested: Slolar Unleaded (25lb); Rigmarole freefall tubing; Korda heavy tubing; Tiger Line fluro (12lb); Korda sub mono (12lb); Korda Ntrap; Powerpro braid (9kg); Drennan fast sink braid (12lb) hook length. Results were unsurprising at frist. The Solar stuff sank very quickly as did the tubing (Rigmarole very close to the Korda stuff but was a lot thinner and more supple-and just as easy to thread). The fluro also sank very quickly and disappeared. The Korda Sub mono sank pretty well too. The Drennan braid had to be prodded a bit but did then sink. The Ntrap also sank really well. The PP just wafted about just below the surface. No revalations then. But after 3 odd hours, when I looked again at the container, all the braid based material was floating on the surface and half of the Solar stuff was sticking up in the water almost as though it was desperate to reach the surface for air. Even the Ntrap was on the surface. The tubing and the fluro remained pinned down. What could have caused this? When I prodded the material it did sink again but after a few hours came back up to the surface. Obnvioulsy its not very scientifc and there would be quite a difference in the river with weight attached blah blah, but I was struck by this and what it means, if anything, for choice of hooklink/leader material etc. Nothing earth shattering here for most of you but assume there is some technical reason why braid material that "sinks" etc doesn't end up sinking at all but will, ultiamltley, reach for the surface? Thoughts or am I just weird?