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Binning the fluro!

Bob Watson

Bob Watson

Senior Member & Supporter
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?
 
I use Berkeley Fluoro in 15lb BS on the Swale in a lot of snaggy swims and tussles with willows a regular thing
No issues to be honest - if anything I have moved more to Fluoro over the last few years after having a few failures on braid hooklinks
What knots are you using Bob?
 
Personally I’m not keen on the stuff at all but for other reasons and certainly not it’s ability to deal with abrasion.
Fluro is usually the next best thing to wire for coping with a good knock or two. Some idiots as you know Bob use it for pike.
Perhaps the quality of your brand has gone down the pan and yes I’d do exactly the same in your shoes and drop it like a bad habit if it had cost me 2 crackers on the trott.
 
I've definitely got good fish back through snags and the flouro has clearly been ' stripped' with obvious abrasion.
Slightly off kilter but I had a session last week and decided to make a last minute change to a rig. I use 15lb Daiwa sensor and never had a problem but... as I re-tied a double overhand loop and pulled the knot it snapped like cotton. Cut a section out, retied and same thing happened. And again, and again...
I must have cut back 10-12ft of line and found the good line which was as as it should be and knots stood up to a good yank with a knot puller.( typically I had gone for a quick session into dark with minimum gear and had no spare spools with me)
The' damaged line' had no obvious sign of abrasion whatsoever and if I hadn't checked it, would have cost me a fish.
When I got back to base I did test several knot strength tests from random lengths from both reels with a spring balance and perfectly happy with the results.
Point is I don't think it was a manufacturing problem with the line, but something had happened in the previous session.
I've found some lines ( Guru in particular) can be very knot fussy but a palomar works well
On Fluoro I use a knotless knot and as I said , have every confidence in Berkeley & ESP Ghost.
 
Paul Richardson said:
I use Berkeley Fluoro in 15lb BS on the Swale in a lot of snaggy swims and tussles with willows a regular thing
No issues to be honest - if anything I have moved more to Fluoro over the last few years after having a few failures on braid hooklinks
What knots are you using Bob?
Click to expand...

Knotless knot for bait and figure 8 loop to attach to quuck link.

Tested with a good pull, with more firce than a fish would exert. I'm beginning to think it must be abrasion.

Any particular Berkley fluro? I'm guessing there may be a couple of varieties??
 
Same as me then Bob???
This one - on Amazon and pretty good value
91Z4K8CeqEL._AC_SX679_.jpg
 
Paul Richardson said:
I've definitely got good fish back through snags and the flouro has clearly been ' stripped' with obvious abrasion.
Slightly off kilter but I had a session last week and decided to make a last minute change to a rig. I use 15lb Daiwa sensor and never had a problem but... as I re-tied a double overhand loop and pulled the knot it snapped like cotton. Cut a section out, retied and same thing happened. And again, and again...
I must have cut back 10-12ft of line and found the good line which was as as it should be and knots stood up to a good yank with a knot puller.( typically I had gone for a quick session into dark with minimum gear and had no spare spools with me)
The' damaged line' had no obvious sign of abrasion whatsoever and if I hadn't checked it, would have cost me a fish.
When I got back to base I did test several knot strength tests from random lengths from both reels with a spring balance and perfectly happy with the results.
Point is I don't think it was a manufacturing problem with the line, but something had happened in the previous session.
I've found some lines ( Guru in particular) can be very knot fussy but a palomar works well
On Fluoro I use a knotless knot and as I said , have every confidence in Berkeley & ESP Ghost.
Click to expand...
Sometimes cleaning the line with a wet cloth before knotting to remove dirt stops these breakages. Abrasive particles collected from previous sessions can serverly affect knot strength.

To the original poster. I've had knots go just above the eye of the hook years ago. Came to find out that it was knot less knots and hooks with an overly inturned eye are not a good combination with mono/flouro (unless very high diameter line) Could this be a problem?
 
I've been using Drennan Supplex Fluoro in 8lb and 10lb for long hooklengths for chub for a few seasons now and I've had a few accidental barbel along the way. I have to say its coped really well and I've been impressed with it. I wouldn't dream of using it in those breaking strengths for specifically targeting barbel but I would use it if stronger breaking strains were available. Palomar knot seems to be the way to go, I'm not happy with a mahseer knot on fluoro - just doesn't look right and seems to kink the line just above the swivel.

Are there any fluoro brands in stronger breaking strains that are as supple as Supplex that anyone can recommend?
 
Stuart Linton said:
Sometimes cleaning the line with a wet cloth before knotting to remove dirt stops these breakages. Abrasive particles collected from previous sessions can serverly affect knot strength.

To the original poster. I've had knots go just above the eye of the hook years ago. Came to find out that it was knot less knots and hooks with an overly inturned eye are not a good combination with mono/flouro (unless very high diameter line) Could this be a problem?
Click to expand...

Possibly, the thought had crossed my mind but with no previous problems I was sort of discounting it.

Just started using pallatrax gripz because "the hook" my usual go to is discontinued. I'll check the angle of the eyes against one another.
 
I suppose the question that needs posing is, what are the advantages of using fluro and do these outweigh this apparent unreliability ?
 
Do you have crays in the river Bob?

They can damage the hooklink when trying to nick your bait. I have to check every cast there’s been no damage just above the hook if I’m fishing the Kennet, Wey etc.
 
Yes, river is full of them but the stretch I fished recently hasn't shown any evidence of them (to me yet). Hook baits are coming back intact with no nibbles out of them.

The stretch is predominantly a big fish water, I reckon the chub and perch will be getting through them!
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I've been using Drennan Supplex Fluoro in 8lb and 10lb for long hooklengths for chub for a few seasons now and I've had a few accidental barbel along the way. I have to say its coped really well and I've been impressed with it. I wouldn't dream of using it in those breaking strengths for specifically targeting barbel but I would use it if stronger breaking strains were available. Palomar knot seems to be the way to go, I'm not happy with a mahseer knot on fluoro - just doesn't look right and seems to kink the line just above the swivel.

Are there any fluoro brands in stronger breaking strains that are as supple as Supplex that anyone can recommend?
Click to expand...
Have you looked at Grand Max Soft Plus Joe? But from a theoretical point of view, there would appear to be some logic in assuming that in a given type of material (e.g. nylon mono, braid, fluorocarbon) the more supple the line (i.e. the 'softer'/less 'memory'), the less abrasion resistance.
That is, you probably don't get owt fa nowt.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
Are there any fluoro brands in stronger breaking strains that are as supple as Supplex that anyone can recommend?
Click to expand...
SeaGuar Ace Hard is well worth a look, Joe.

I use the 11.6lb bs, which is 0.235mm and is mega durable, knots well and is surprisingly supple. Ticks all the boxes for me. It’s available in 13.6lb & 15.4lb bs too. The lowest bs is 8.8lb, which I use for Chub.

I used Supplex Flouro before the SeaGuar stuff was recommended to me and I haven’t looked back. It’s a bit pricier, but worth it in my opinion.
 
Grabbed the ESP two tone coated braid out of my carp (shut up) tackle and had another go last night. A nice 9lb 9oz was the result.

Went in my local today to buy some more as the spool was low and was told by dealer he thinks it's discontinued???
 
Nicholas Cole said:
If its the original sink link then he is right. Still comes up on ebay now and then eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Esp-sink...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
Click to expand...
No, I mean ESP two tone https://www.tackleuk.co.uk/Shop/CarpFishingHooklinksLeaders/ESP-TWO-TONE-Weedy-Green.htm but thanks anyway Nicholas.

I've used it for years for carp fishing and just about at the end of it, done very little carping for three or four years. Why do they discontinue good products such as this and sink link??
 
Bob Watson said:
Grabbed the ESP two tone coated braid out of my carp (shut up) tackle and had another go last night. A nice 9lb 9oz was the result.

Went in my local today to buy some more as the spool was low and was told by dealer he thinks it's discontinued???
Click to expand...
Bob, kryston mantis dark, thank me later, yes it’s expensive, but I can honestly say it’s never let me down
 
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