Binning the fluro!

[Bill Walford]

Had a session on Sunday through til Monday. I was using 14lb Allcocks Tackle fluro for a hook link. Fish on and it parted just above the hook so I swapped over to pallatrax braid and had a chub later.

Been again today and upped the fluro (same brand) to 17lb, hooked into a decent size river carp, high double, possibly a 20 and same again, hooklink parted above the hook when the fish was near the net. This carp had me through some bankside overhanging branches so possibly frayed the hooklink during the fight and the lost fish on sunday night could possibly have done the same, narrow stretch with a few snags but two fish lost to fluro in two sessions has seen me lose my faith in this stuff. Never had an issue with it before but it's now redundant!

Anyone else had issues with fluro?

Bob,
I’ve only in the last week or so got my confidence back with fluoro, I had never used it before this past spring/summer but started using it for maggot feeder tactics for Tench. I lost several Tench and a Carp with the hooklink “going” either at the hook or the loop joining the quick link. Recently, due to the low water conditions in the rivers, I wanted to try it again with the Barbel. I thought long and hard and analysed my knot and loop which had been the grinner knot for the hook and a figure of eight at the loop end and then the Dave Chiltern “no name loop”. I switched over to the knotless knot for the hook end but persevered with the Chiltern loop (which I had been tying incorrectly). Taking time and care when making up my hooklinks I’m now confident again with using fluro having landed 20 or so Barbel including 3 doubles. The Chiltern loop is so easy to use when you get it right and lock it off properly!! The knotless knot also gives the bonus of throwing the hook at a nice jaunty angle.
Regards
Bill
PS. the fluoro I’m using is the afore mentioned Berkley.

 

[Bob Watson]

Bob, kryston mantis dark, thank me later, yes it’s expensive, but I can honestly say it’s never let me down

I have some kryston mantis gold, it's been in my carp tackle for years and that also went into my barbel gear the other day for a try out!

 

[Bob Watson]

Bob,
I’ve only in the last week or so got my confidence back with fluoro, I had never used it before this past spring/summer but started using it for maggot feeder tactics for Tench. I lost several Tench and a Carp with the hooklink “going” either at the hook or the loop joining the quick link. Recently, due to the low water conditions in the rivers, I wanted to try it again with the Barbel. I thought long and hard and analysed my knot and loop which had been the grinner knot for the hook and a figure of eight at the loop end and then the Dave Chiltern “no name loop”. I switched over to the knotless knot for the hook end but persevered with the Chiltern loop (which I had been tying incorrectly). Taking time and care when making up my hooklinks I’m now confident again with using fluro having landed 20 or so Barbel including 3 doubles. The Chiltern loop is so easy to use when you get it right and lock it off properly!! The knotless knot also gives the bonus of throwing the hook at a nice jaunty angle.
Regards
Bill
PS. the fluoro I’m using is the afore mentioned Berkley.

Bill,

Thanks, I use the knotless knot for everything except meat and paste fishing. I also use the figure eight loop knot to attach to a quick link. The knots haven't been the issue, the recent failures were just below the fig 8 knot and just above the hook.

I'll check out that chiltern loop and do some destructive bench testing but I think I'll be swerving fluro until my faith can be totally restored.

 

[Tim Marks]

I use Soft Plus fluorocarbon for several different jobs and think it is excellent stuff. But it is expensive.

I first used it in 24lb for permit fly fishing tippets. It worked fine, but because we couldn’t break it we went down to the 19lb version and we can’t break that either. It has landed several very large permit after fights lasting up to 40 minutes.

Then I used it for making combI -rigs for carp fishing again in 19lb and it is excellent for that job too. I’ve had carp to over 40lb on it and no breakages.

I also use it in 10lb for reservoir trout nymph fishing and it’s generally recognised as the go to leader material for that job.

For knots I use a non-slip mono loop knot for loops (!) and uni knots for fixed connections. I have never knowingly had a knot go and I pull hard on my fish, especially the salty ones.

re knot tying as per Bill W above; me and a group of mates once had a knot tying contest on a long bus journey in Cuba. Amazingly we found that between 6 of us we tied the non slip mono loop knot in 5 different ways. Obviously some are better than others…..so do test different knots with every material (nylon/Fluoro/braid) that you try. You might be surprised at the results……

If I need to change my current hooklink of choice (jelly wire coated braid), a combi rig tied with 19lb SP and an inch of supernatural braid will be the next stop.

 

[Bill Walford]

Bill,

Thanks, I use the knotless knot for everything except meat and paste fishing. I also use the figure eight loop knot to attach to a quick link. The knots haven't been the issue, the recent failures were just below the fig 8 knot and just above the hook.

I'll check out that chiltern loop and do some destructive bench testing but I think I'll be swerving fluro until my faith can be totally restored.

Will be really interested in bench test please Bob

 

[Deleted member 2708]

I am following this thread with great interest!

For the last couple of years I have been barbel fishing my local river Lot (France) using various leaders & hook-lengths. I was pretty well settled of Seaguar Ace Hard 19lb and Seaguar AbrazX 15lb, they are both the same diameter.

After loosing two out of three carp that took my barbel baits amongst the rocks I have been trying some mono (Gardner 60X) and have had this cut clean when snagged, something that has rarely happened with the fluoro. The fluoro usually frays but does not clean cut, it does give out eventually but not the sudden "snick" that results in a clean cut mono leader!

Maybe looking for the impossible but hope there will be some other suggestions on this thread. Otherwise it just means going thicker and accepting I have to use heavy carp tackle even when fishing for barbel!

On the topic of knots I have found the most reliable loop knot that copes with many line types is the "King-sling-loop-knot".....

How to Tie the King Sling Loop Knot (Video & Step-by-Step)

See how to tie the king sling loop knot, what type of fishing the king sling knot is best for and how to use it for braid and terminal tackle.

www.saltstrong.com

for mono and fluoro two turns is enough, braid depends on diameter but 5 turns works well on my 30lb lines.