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What line do you use ???

Rob Smith

Rob Smith

Active Member
I have been using fireline on my barbel reels for over 10 years now in 14lb gunsmoke and have only changed it twice. I only changed it then as I had lost a fair amount of it carping in France.

I find fireline to be absolutely awesome, because the line has zero stretch you feel every move the fish makes, making the fight all the more exciting. I even use fireline as the hooklink in 10lb with an animal hook in size 8-10.

Using braid I just need to remember to keep the clutch a little slacker than with mono to cater for fish surges, but apart from that its great stuff. I have heard all sorts of stories about fish being damaged by it, but to date I have had no issues using it what so ever. I can honestly say that with 14lb main and 10lb bottom I have not lost a single hook or rig and I have lost very few fish once hooked and have caused no injuries at all.

The other good thing with fireline is that it has such a small diameter, 14lb fireline is only 0.23mm which is equal to 6lb Diawa monofilament line.

I suspect cases of injured fish are from people who use the reel as a winch and just drag the fish in with 3lb test curve rods and size 4 mega barbed, hooks.
 
After using Power Pro as a mainline in 30lb for about 3 seasons, and banking a fair few Barbel, hand on heart i have never injured any fish whatsoever. One thing i do with the line is cut back and retie the braid when i see it feathering or after every other session. My hooklength however is fluoro in varying breaking strains. Quite interested in how low a BS you use Rob, and not knocking it whatsoever and if it works for you, then thats OK with me.
 
Ive tested many lines over the last few seasons. Best 2 lines I have used are gardner
GT80 and sufix elite, both in the 10lb versions. Never used braid but it obviously has its advantages, although why people fish for barbel (even in snaggy swims) with 30lb braid is beyond me.
 
Diawa sensor during last summer/autumn for me. Tough as a pub cooked steak, stronger than an unwrapped belachan block and cheaper than a Rover. The 12lb actually breaks at 17lb, 0.33mm. Tried some riverge reel soft in 10lb and appears OK but im not yet sure it was worth the outlay. It was about £26 for 450m! It breaks at 10lb. It does sink quick, which suited my style of fishing last back end.
 
The Chairman on Monday


Nearly stopped fishing altogether when they stopped making Cuttyhunk, but managed to soldier on, going through many nylons, both Lady Guide-worn and monofilament, Aristoc and Maxima among them, until settling for Ultima Power Plus a few years ago.


As ever,

B.B.
 
Sticking with Gardener GT80 in10lb
I had xline and had real trouble with line twist so much so that if I used flying back leads it would coil up inside the centre of the lead and lock it up so effectively the only way to reel in was to walk backwards once the lead had reached the rod tip.it has been removed and burnt.
 
For open swims,devoid of snags, i couple a 1.25lb test curve rod & 8lb Gardener GT80 line.While my snag swim set-up consists of a 1.75lb test curve rod & 12 Pro Gold main line. Both set-ups have been consistent for the past three seasons with only one fish lost (still one too many), due to fluro hooklink parting.

Kind Regards
Andy
 
Paul Bromilow said:
Sticking with Gardener GT80 in10lb
I had xline and had real trouble with line twist so much so that if I used flying back leads it would coil up inside the centre of the lead and lock it up so effectively the only way to reel in was to walk backwards once the lead had reached the rod tip.it has been removed and burnt.
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Paul, the twist will have been caused by spooling up with the line spool the wrong way up, the original X-Line instructions gave the wrong recommendation..........

I used Powerpro in 15lb for years, only went back to mono last year, never damaged a fish using it...........using GR80 at the moment but have used and would also recommend:

X-Line, Big Game Clear, GT80, Fox Soft Steel, Insight, Terry Eustace Clear.

There will be many, many opinions and most will be good and based on people's experience, probably better to take notice of the ones people say don't use.
 
Fox soft steel is a good reliable line. just got some x line to try. makes a nice fly fishing cast/ leader. cheaper than most trout stuff too.
atb, dave
 
been insight gr60 in 12lb for me for last 3 years, never let me down, smaller clearer river for me this year so going to drop down to 10lb. been considering the gardner gt80 but am loath to leave a line i trust for a line i don't know?
cheers, leon
 
Regarding fireline

I used fireline in 14lb around 5 years back; however due to its flat and twisted structure, at times I had problems with it bedding in. Since this time I've switched to 20lb Powerpro braid, and although I do occasionally suffer minor bedding in problems, it much better than fireline in this respect due to its cylindrical structure.
 
Leon Dodd said:
been insight gr60 in 12lb for me for last 3 years, never let me down, smaller clearer river for me this year so going to drop down to 10lb. been considering the gardner gt80 but am loath to leave a line i trust for a line i don't know?
cheers, leon
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree with you, Leon. Better off not considering the change, in my opinion :)
 
Now't wrong with 14lb Fireline, I changed to PowerPro when I had 2 cut offs with Fireline.

I still had cut offs from the swim - it turned out to be a steel snag acting as a scissor.

I have now changed my approach when fishing the swim and use a 20lb nylon shock leader and a different style of fishing - the steel is still there.
 
Big Game Clear in 10lb, Daiwa Sensor in 8lb and Maxima Chameleon below that. Bayer Perlon for trotting reel in 4lb.
 
my reels have two spools ,one with ultima power plus in 12lbs b/s ,the other spool has braid in 25lbs

people see the differential in b/s between braids and mono and think 20-40lbs breaking strains eccessive but what has too be taken into account is the actuall dia of braid compared with mono .and that different brands have differing dia to b/s
so in comparison

12lbs mono as a average dia of 0.30mm
20lbs b/s fireline dia of 0.30 (b/s =8lbs mono)
30lbs b/s fireline dia of 0.38 (b/s =12lbs mono)
40lbs b/s Powerpro dia of 0.32 (b/s =12lbs mono)

plus braid isn't as abrasive resistant as mono ,so it makes sense too go thicker rather than thinner .finer dia braids can act as a cheese wire effect ,so you have too factor in a mono leader .so why bother with braid ,well it does have one advantage over mono ,its lack of stretch

as with all things ,you scale your tackle too the river/conditions ,the above is based on the middle/upper trent .
 
X-line all the way for me on the Thames, 15lb mainline, 12lb hooklenghts, to avoid problems when spooling up, put the spool in a bucket of HOT water, and just loadup , sits perfectly on the spool Works with all lines, try it!
peter
 
Dean Aston said:
Rob I stay away from Braid as main line on rivers like the severn or teme if I was you
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Any reason for that sweeping statement Dean?
I have gone back to using mono because I like to have a bit of stretch in the system but I went three or four seasons using braid (Spiderwire) with no problems.
The only thing I will say against braid is that if you do loose some in a snag it's there forever, unlike mono which will rot over a season or two.
 
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