Thoughts on Flourocarbon line

so we tried somethin going back to 2012.....some of you that have been out with me know I love my Punisher rod


that is an 11 foot 10 color leadcore with a 160 foot floro leader........it sits in the sun for at least 100 days every year and the leader has not been swapped out.....obviously the last few feet require retying now and then due to nicks etc...

manufacturer recommends 100- 200 hours of use..that's more than an average year for recreational anglers so I was quite amazed it has stood up so long, but quite happy about that.


reading hundreds or articles on floro and guys on the tournament tail......they swap out for new line every tourney or even every day on the water as they wish to take zero chances on lines.I understand that, but the jury is really out if that's necessary....they generally use the top 4 floro lines....


more on that later



now as for sinning rods, for sure there is memory, but that can be fixed

I’ve used 40 pound fluoro for pike leaders instead of steel for years now. I’ve never been bitten off yet.
I fish lures for steelhead in the rivers and I use straight mono and don’t even bother with Fluoro leaders. I honestly believe it makes no difference as I catch as many or more than my partners using fluoro. I think it’s a reactionary hit hit not a look and decide. My two cents.

That’s impressive Longshank, makes me wonder if I’m changing lines too often….

I've seen same baits on leads outfish braid, been using it for so long now I can remember. Alway run a mono main line and flouro lead for steelhead and in clear water make a difference. One thing I saw on the Wicked Tuna show was they wipe the leads religiously to keep slime off. I think it's easy to forget the simple.fact that if there is pollen or shmeg on it, it's not invisible anymore.

I've been using 8lb fluorocarbon line for about 15 years, i find i have to change it out every 2 to 3 years, due to it losing its strength. I can't even cinch up the line without the line breaking sometimes. I've always wondered if the line was contaminated somewhere I have been fishing.
I keep track now of how long it's on my reels.

I've been running straight flurocarbon line on peer and downrigger rods for too many years. To save some pennies, after a couple years I re-spool each reel wiith the same line, only putting it on in reverse (what was old is now new). Over half of the line is naturally buried on the spool. This doubles my use/time with each spool.

great comments so far guys....

we found that the lighter the line, the faster it will go.......also brand comes into play as well as a few other factors.....slime, contaminents etc and storage

Sorry guys........I can't finish this for a while cause I had a comuter glitch and lost some data on my files.


once we figure it out......will share results


thanks for the replies to date

I put a 3’ leader of 10lb on all my lighter lines where I’m not worried about sharp toothed fish.

15-20lb where there are Muskie and pike.

Intentionally fishing for pike 30lb.

Musky I buy 100lb pre-made flouro leaders.

Now what confuses me Longshank, is your using lead core but add 160’ of flouro. Does the lure stay down in the strike zone or would it float up?

I spooled a baitcaster and spinning reel with 10lb but didn’t really like the way it cast.

I can answer that.

No it doesn’t float up.

Drag any lure behind a down rigger and no matter how long the lead it will not float up.

Same principal on the lead core. The lead core takes the lure down. Whether you have a five foot leader or 500 foot leader the lure runs the depth the lead core is at. It runs horizontal unless your running a diver which will run a bit deeper.

Disco is correct.... no impact on lure depth whatsoever.


reason why we put on long leaders way back when is that often we would use a jettison release for a 2, 4, 6 and 8 oz weight to get much deeper.........after a couple of years i stopped using those since i was not happy dumping so much lead into the lake


also all my older flouro to leadcore sets were done with the simple willis knot which never failed..........the newer lead cores have a smaller diameter so not always possible to use this knot

Great, I’ll have to give that a try.
Is 10lb flouro enough for Lake O trolling?

I used 20lb floro for the first year of trolling lake O. I broke off one but King. Other than that I found when I went to release a big King it was WAY to exhausted to swim away with confidence it would survive.

I then went into experiment mode.

I used 30lb, 35lb and 40lb floro since then. There is zero difference in the amount of hits I get. Landing fish with 30-40lb floro, that I want to release, is better for the fish.

Just like any other fishing you CAN land fish on 2lb test. Doesn’t make it effective just because you can.

Hope this helps and you catch a bunch.

Also, depending on time of the year a 10 lb. line would not work long once the spiny water flea emerges..


best to go with 25-30 for lures etc and 40 for flashers and the like.


just use a leader, do not require a full spool of floro

When using downriggers, do you just use something like 40lb mono as a mainline?