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?
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
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
Quote from: east wind on October 30, 2008, 10:03:23 PM
what have you got to lose except that belter of a Don brownie :x
och well, these big Don broonies, easy come easy go.................... :D
Fluoro has it fans and its detractors. So does Maxima, Stroft.....
I've found Berkely mono very good, but not tried their fluoro.
QuoteMy 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
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!
Quote from: haresear on October 30, 2008, 10:41:37 PM
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. :D
Quote from: admin on October 30, 2008, 10:24:41 PM
och well, these big Don broonies, easy come easy go.................... :D
Unfortunately not had that experience, at least not for a few years now :(
came close though.
Quote from: haresear on October 30, 2008, 10:41:37 PM
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
QuoteTo 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
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
John, how many and what lengths are your droppers? When using a fly that I want to be as far from the leader as possible and this will be no more than four inches, I tie a single knot after tying my two turn blood and this keeps the dropper at 90 deg from the leader without noticably decreasing the breaking strain of the line. Despite many experiments to "prove someone elses point", I have always come back to maxima because whatever it's shortcomings, they are usually much less than other lines which may have an advantage but not usually all the advantages of maxima.
Davie
I have been considering a project to quantify all this leader / knot strength stuff. I have the engineering skills, what I lack is the time and to some extent the money. I might do it some day. I am also sceptical about this refractive index stuff or rather how significant it is. Anyone fancy taking underwater photos of various nylons / fluorocarbons?
Quote from: admin on October 31, 2008, 01:15:09 PM
I have been considering a project to quantify all this leader / knot strength stuff. I have the engineering skills, what I lack is the time and to some extent the money. I might do it some day. I am also sceptical about this refractive index stuff or rather how significant it is. Anyone fancy taking underwater photos of various nylons / fluorocarbons?
I'll give the underwater photos a go over the weekend. Best done in natural daylight.
Alex
Was given a wee talk the other day about how trout see things. Something about having more rods than cones or vice versa, I was trying to listen to two conversations at once so got kinda lost. The outcome was to tie flies or use lines that trout could see/couldnt see rather than what us human beans could see/couldnt see. Just more confusion to contend with before the season starts again and all the rules go out the window as usual.
Davie
QuoteWas given a wee talk the other day about how trout see things. Something about having more rods than cones or vice versa
I remember reading something along those lines too Davie.
Still, as we can only guess at what they really see, it would be a useful exercise to photograph the various lines underwater. It will give us something else to debate over the long close season :(
Alex
Trying to view you Alex, eight feet under water at the swimming baths on your underwater phone saying "Right, cast in the Maxima now!"
Davie
I used fluro for many years, liked the turnover it gave and remember defending it on a previous thread. Found some better than others, the dodgy stuff included Vanish and Airflo Sightfree.
The best make i found which was superb tied to a fly or on a dropper was Ashima Flurocarbon - no problems with it, but it was awfy shiny and not too clever in the sun.
The final straw for fluro was this season after laying out more than a few bucks for Orvis Mirage. It was the strength to low diameter that turned me. Only offer i got after two flat calm days on Loch Monzievaird resulted in the hook and line parting (no wriggly end, clean break)
Now thanks to advice on this forum, I'm using, and perfectly happy with, Rio Powerflex. And I'm also back using the good old Maxima Clear.
Cheers,
EW
ps never had the bottle to go below three turns, two seems sound and will try it out.
Quote from: east wind on October 31, 2008, 06:08:52 PM
the hook and line parting (no wriggly end, clean break)
This is why I stopped using the stuff a few years back. I had droppers break-off, not at the knot but 1/2 way along the dropper which was a little odd to say the least
Quote from: east wind on October 31, 2008, 06:08:52 PM
Ashima Flurocarbon - no problems with it, but it was awfy shiny and not too clever in the sun.
I read somewhere that although counter-intuitive the shinier the nylon the less visible it was. Quite possibly a load of rubbish. However, as a dedicated Hardy Copolymer man it wouldn't have made any difference.
For sea trout (at night) and salmon I now use 8 or 10lb Silver Creek from Steve Parton which is made by Bayer and is probably identical to clear Maxima.
QuoteI look forward to seeing those underwater pic's if you get the chance Alex, that is something that I have always wanted to see out of interest.
good luck
Aye, snorkel in hand :shock: and with the good ship Calypso attending, I'm ready to jump into the bath :)
Alex
A friend of mine has been using the Vanish all year, got a bulk spool from Mullarkeys. He's had no problems with it, says it 's good stuff, been on at me to get some.
Greenwell
I have found that the wild brownies have such sharp teeth that the vanish is just cut like a knife. I got fed up watching them literally eating my droppers off the main leader. The final straw came with the Vanish a few years back when I lost every single GRHE from my box in an hour or so and lost numerous fish to boot. I still have spools of the stuff but am not too keen to experience the frustration again.
Sandy B.O.
Dear Fred,
I do believe that Sandy is warning you off your friend :). Is he Greek perchance? Perhaps you could get him an ashtray for his motorbike or teflon soled wading shoes when you visit NZ?