Fluorocarbon

[Wildfisher]

An angler I work with  at the moment  is just back from Florida and kindly gifted me a 250 yd spool of 6 lb  Fluorocarbon he bought there. The make is Berkley and the product name is  ?Vanish?. It's pure fluorocarbon according to the label and seems to be fairly soft.  It looks OK and I know this guy is competent so I'm pretty sure it'll be fine. Anyone know it?

[silverbutcher]

I've used it in the past Fred. It's good stuff for the price, and it is 100% fluorocarbon, not the coated stuff.
As you say, it is fairly soft and I found that when I used it for droppers it wrapped round the main part of the cast too easily, often knotting itself. However, I never had a problem with breakages unlike with some of the other fluorocarbons.

Billy

[east wind]

My experience was a bit different. From my fluro days (ended this season) i bought quite a few spools of 4 or 5 lb Berkley Vanish. I found it one of the more dodgy makes, particularly for knot strength. Also felt it had a poor shelf life.

Still, if its a freebie what have you got to lose except that belter of a Don brownie  :x

Would suggest trying it out on the 'bows when you get cabin fever during the close season.

Cheers,

EW

[Wildfisher]

what have you got to lose except that belter of a Don brownie  :x

och well, these big Don broonies, easy come easy go....................

[haresear]

Fluoro has it fans and its detractors. So does Maxima, Stroft.....

I've found Berkely mono very good, but not tried their fluoro.

My experience was a bit different. From my fluro days (ended this season) i bought quite a few spools of 4 or 5 lb Berkley Vanish. I found it one of the more dodgy makes, particularly for knot strength. Also felt it had a poor shelf life.

Out of curiosity, what knots were you using EW? Did it break at the fly or at the dropper knot?

Fred, bring some along to the grayling stravaig, will you? I've always found fluoro far stiffer than nylon and I'm curious about this stuff.

Alex

[mike mac]

Used it on and off for the past couple of years for the 'bows mainly in the 6lb form. Never had any real problems with it but when using droppers it seams to spin round the main cast very easily. It is cheap and its performance is maybe reflected in its price!

[Wildfisher]

Fred, bring some along to the grayling stravaig, will you?

I certainly will. I'll likely be catching  f**k all so it'll be a safe place to try it oot.  

[east wind]

och well, these big Don broonies, easy come easy go....................

Unfortunately not had that experience, at least not for a few years now 
came close though.

Out of curiosity, what knots were you using EW? Did it break at the fly or at the dropper knot?

Use the three turn water knot and the breakages were at the dropper.

To be honest i have been a bit of a tight arse in the past which I'm now trying to change and perhaps held on to the stuff too long. But i never really liked the feel of it, and as Billy says it was too soft when i prefered my fluro HARD.

Did lose fish with the stuff and remember the last straw was when standing on the platfrom at Drummond Loch tying cast after cast which all snapped too easy when testing. Bad batch ? don't know, moved on anyway.

Cheers,

EW

[haresear]

To be honest i have been a bit of a tight arse in the past which I'm now trying to change and perhaps held on to the stuff too long.

Mmmm, don't know...

Was it not the case that people were saying fluoro didn't deteriorate with age?

Mind you, CDs and DVDs were meant to be unscratchable :roll:

I've been using a two turn water knot for years now. I've never had a particular problem with fluoro breaking, but I don't know if that one turn less on the knot has been a factor?

Alex

 

[Wildfisher]

I have to admit my past experiences  using fluorocarbon were not happy. Too many mystery breaks even with small fish on places like Lochindorb. . However this has always been using 3 / 4 turn water knots and blood knots and when pulling flies. I had similar probelms with these double strength   lines when pulling so I use Maxima for that now.  Like Alex I have used 2 turn water knots  for a while now with no problems so I may try this with the fluorocarbon I won't be using it for pulling flies anyway. I feel I kinda owe it to my pal to at least give it a try although I can't see a huge scope for using it