Fishing Line

[jgp12000]

I have seen twice in my 58 years where fishing line made a difference in freshwater ponds,and was curious of any of you had similar stories or seen it make a difference in saltwater fishing?The first time my uncle and I were fishing in a pond he was catching bream left and right with clear line while I caught zero on high vis line.I changed my line to clear and began catching fish.Another trip I was using this black line while my buddy was using green mono and he was catching 3 times the bass than I with larger diameter green mono.Next trip to the same pond, I used his line we caught same numbers with same plastic worm as before? I recently splurged and got some 4lb Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon just to see the results,I am curious?

[Dominick]

When fluorocarbon came on the market I now usually use it as a leader.  There are a lot of line shy fish.  Dominick

[philaroman]

for really thin leader (well under 10#), I like
fluoro for better abrasion resistance & sink-rate & moderate stealth
for best stealth, only -- I prefer premium pre-stretched nylon tippet,
tinted correctly to match environment (olive covers most, but rose, grey, etc. nice to have)

[Midway Tommy]

Most of my fishing is freshwater slow trolling with live bait. I use exclusively clear Trilene XL  6# on my C3 ULs & 8# on my C4s. I can't stand hi-vis or Cajun Red. I opted for 15# florocarbon with a 10# stinger for leaders when it first came out. I still use it that way but don't especially like it because it's heavy and sinks too easily. When trolling for walleyes (modified Lindy Rig style) being close to the bottom is optimal but bait sinking all the way onto the bottom is not a good deal. I've found I need to add florescent styro beads to keep the bait from dropping directly to the bottom. I may go back to clear XL leaders because I think I got more bites & fish on that than the floro crap.        

[Bill B]

Lake Arrowhead is a line shy lake.  Moss green or no fish.  My buddy out fished me 5:0. Changed to a moss green leader and caught 2....Bill

[Tiddlerbasher]

Fluourocarbon tippet for my fly fishing (unless I'm using dry flies, then I want something that floats better).

[akfish]

About 15 years ago, I went to Lake Asswan on the Nile River to fish for Nile Perch. It was a great trip; we slept on a mother ship and fished out of panga like skiff during the day. I used fluorocarbon leaders but no one else on the trip did. Really: I caught at least as many fish as the other 7 fishermen combined. The only explanation was the fluorocarbon. My guess is that stealth is very important in Lake Asswan. Nile perch are native to the very murky Nile River and have huge eyes to see. Once the dam was put in to make the lake, the lake settled and became very clear and very cautious. The picture is of a 75# Nile perch I caught on a Rapala I was trolling.

[Gobi King]

On a cold September morning I was standing at the mouth of a small river, the chinook were in thick,

I had a spawn bag on red 10lb line with a small sinker 24 inch above it.

The guys next to me pointed out that I will never catch anything with it as the salmon is line shy.

Being 130 miles away from home, I did not have any other option.

I casted, nothing, casted again, bam, 9 lb chinook.

[quabbin boy 62]

 i went back to trilene xl leaders (10 lb) for lakers and landlocks (3-10 lb fish) off leadcore and copper setups, knot strength w/ fluoro is too low, and numbers of fish are the same. i use 8 lb leaders for rivers, seems to work well.

[jurelometer]

About 15 years ago, I went to Lake Asswan on the Nile River to fish for Nile Perch. It was a great trip; we slept on a mother ship and fished out of panga like skiff during the day. I used fluorocarbon leaders but no one else on the trip did. Really: I caught at least as many fish as the other 7 fishermen combined. The only explanation was the fluorocarbon. My guess is that stealth is very important in Lake Asswan. Nile perch are native to the very murky Nile River and have huge eyes to see. Once the dam was put in to make the lake, the lake settled and became very clear and very cautious. The picture is of a 75# Nile perch I caught on a Rapala I was trolling.

Sensitivity comes at the expense of acuity.  Sort of like  when you open up the aperture and slow down the shutter speed to take a photo at night.  Something fuzzy is better than nothing.  Which also explains why my Bigfoot photos are all kind of fuzzy   There area some pretty cool adaptions in some species to make out prey in a visually compromised environment. So Nile perch may see "better", but it seems unlikely that they see more clearly.

Compared to a camera, the ability of a fishes vision to adapt to different levels of light and water clarity is more limited, and eye structure will not evolve that quickly. But a Nile perch in a clear environment may feel a bit more exposed and gun shy.


Most fish don't see that clearly, and don't have the advanced reasoning skills to equate the presence of fishing line to danger, so we probably overestimate the importance of making the line hard to see.   But changing the line can have a profound effect on sink rate, drift, and lure/bait motion, which can be important.

Ever notice how a fish will track a lure or bait, but not bite?  My theory is that the fish used its vision to lock on to the target, but once in range  of the lateral line (usually six feet or less), something was not right about the pressure waves from the movement.  Going to lighter or limper line would allow that bait to swim more freely and create a more recognizable motion signature.  

As a bit of an exception, I do have a bias against high visibility lines near the hook in shallow and clear water.  It is a bit complicated, but fluorescent  colored objects reflect certain visible light waves and additionally reflect UV light waves converted into visible light, making the line extra visible to the fish.  UV colors on lures and flies can be  useful as it makes the target profile stand out, but a long thread of extra brightness next to the target might be viewed as distracting or even a threat.

-J

[jgp12000]

That makes sense Jurelometer, one of my uncles used Stren 8lb clear for everything, I would have to say he has caught his share of fish. seems like u can't go wrong with clear in any case.

[philaroman]

nothing wrong w/ good, reputable nylon running line like XL or Stren, as leader material...  for every-day use
HOWEVER,

• let's say you can't decide between 4# (more bites) or 6# (better catch ratio)
  nice to have pre-stretched tippet that's same diameter as 4#, but tests 5+
• if you think fish seeing your clear line adversely effects the bite, going down one notch in diameter
  may matter less then selecting a tint, which makes your line seem less out-of-place
  (olive for weeds/mud; grey for rocks; pink for deep/clear...  or, whatever works)

[swede 53]

  Most of the time I'm fishing a river or flowage with stained water and can't really say that line color makes that much difference.I have hi-vis braid on some outfits where I need to watch the line but have 10-12 ft leaders tied on.I bought into the fluoro hype a few years ago but went back to mono for this year,either clear or lo-vis green XL or Big Game.With the mono any mishap like a bail snapping shut on a cast might sent the bait or lure coming back at you but the fluoro would break and send it out into the lake. Never broke at the double uni,always at the snap or swivel and took extra care tying the palomar. Also lost a few on normal casts and I didn't see any noticeable increase in bites to make up for the problems.                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Ice fishing I had 4# fluoro,4# hi-vs orange mono,3# and 2#,green and blue mono.Early ice it made no difference,as the bite got tougher late into the winter the line size made more of a difference than color or whether it was mono or fluoro. The other thing with the fluoro is tying on those tiny ice jigs,you might as well forget using a palomar on those jigs at -10.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              i I'm sure there are a lot of waters or applications where the fluoro is an advantage,but for me I have more confidence in Trilene or Ande mono.

[Makule]

Saltwater fishing using big line always gives the nod to fluorocarbon.  Even using lighter lines, fluorocarbon beats anything else.