This article is by 570
retiredbosn:
Fluorocarbon Line Separating Fact From Fiction:
Posted May 12, 2015
The newest industry darling is fluorocarbon line, the marketing of this line has been so successful that anglers are buying the line in record numbers and using it for every fishing application even those it is unsuitable for. If you don't believe that most of the reason people using this line is marketing, just look at your local sporting goods store. How many underspins are on the shelves now compared to February, never mind that Ashley won on a homemade lure, the fishing industry are going to exploit this to their advantage. The same is true with lines, why aggressively market the most inexpensive line, when you can dupe the market into buying the most expensive? With the exception of NASCAR anglers are the victims of most questionable marketing schemes, its not about getting the best product in your hands, its about what is going to make them the most money. Just look at 2014 classic, Livingston is still pushing the Howler, even though footage clearly shows he caught the majority of his fish on a Rapala. The market has been gobbling up every marketing myth and passing it along as fact, we see on this board numerous questions and myths being passed along as truth, this is not done intentionally but rather by well intended anglers who are misinformed. Today it is hard to separate fact from fiction concerning this line. The purpose of this thread is to shed light on the truths about fluorocarbon line and why it is not the cure all magic bullet that many think it is. I am going to list references at the end all at once.
What is fluorocarbon? What are its physical properties? Weaknesses? Strengths? These are some of the questions we will explore.
Fluorocarbon line is a fluoropolymer, what is that? A fluoropolymer is a fluorobarbon based polymer made up of carbon and fluorine, it exhibits multiple strong carbon-fluorine bonds. It is characterized by a high resistance to solvents, acids, and bases. You can readily see that this polymer has many applications and fishing line was a happenstance that was championed by two employees of the Kureha Corporation in Japan. Its first applications were as insulators in wiring, as film in capacitors and because of its resistance to UV rays an additive to paints. Fluorocarbon line is made of PVDF. PVDF is a specialty plastic material in the fluoropolymer family; it is used generally in applications requiring the highest purity, strength, and resistance to solvents, acids, bases and heat and low smoke generation during a fire event. The story of how this remarkable fluoropolymer became fishing line can be found here
http://www.seaguar.com/about-seaguar.htmlOther characteristics are that the polymer is crystalline in structure and possesses high density and has strong piezoelectricity properties. Basically that means it can take physical force and transmit that as electrical current when under strain. These three properties is what make fluorocarbon line so sensitive. But it comes at a cost, the worse being that it is brittle when compared to nylon, it deforms when stretched and weakens, kink it and it is broken only the outer shell is holding it together. Fluorocarbon line shares more properties of glass that it does to nylon.
Myth 1 Fluorocarbon does not stretch or stretches less than mono: this statement is incorrect, tests have shown that fluorocarbon line does stretch and many times depending on brand it stretches more than mono. Now the really bad news, fluorocarbon does not recover from being stretched, and in fact it weakens the line dramatically. Mono on the other hand being a nylon thread recovers from being stretched and retains it strength. So what does this mean to the angler? Any time you catch a fish, get hung up on the bottom and break off the line, pull the line free from being hung up; set the hook, you are inadvertently weakening the line. Not a good thing
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Myth 2 Fluorocarbon is invisible underwater especially when compared to mono this claim is hard to prove or disprove. For one we do not know how fish see, but from tests that have been published the difference in the visibility factor from nylon mono to fluorocarbon is slight to non-exisistant. For those who want to know, the refractive index of water is 1.333 Fluoro is 1.42 nylon mono in clear ranges from 1.53 to 1.62 the difference mathematically is extremely slight. Of more importance is how we use the line, many anglers will fish a larger diameter line when fishing fluoro, why not it's nearly invisible right? Here is the problem, increases of line diameter also increases line drag which increases vibrations put off by the line passing through the water. This increase in vibration will be felt through the fish's lateral line, making it more detectable. So it really is a toss up, but the refractive index of the lines are so close that this is a moot point.
Myth 3 Fluoro is stronger than nylon mono for its diameter size, this is not true, the published line diameters and testing results categorically prove this false. Example Berkley Trilene XL 10 lbs test line diameter is .011 Seaguar Fluoro lines 10 line is .012 diameter.
Myth 4 Superior knot strength Really? Please, the palomar knot retains 98% of line's rated knot strength when tying nylon mono and only 72% when used with Fluoro, the best tested not for fluoro was the improved clinch at only 78%, To keep the math simple it breaks down like this using 10lb test mono will break at 9.8lbs using the palomar, fluoro 7.2lbs.
About the only claims that manufacturers of fluorocarbon make that are true are abrasion resistance, sink rate and UV resistance. Let's talk about these and see what the trade offs are.
Abrasion resistance, the most abrasion resistant lines are stiff because of the hardness of the line, the memory is greater which makes the line harder to manage, but that can be dealt with using KVD line and lure conditioner. The real trade of comes in line strength, brittleness and poor knot strength. The harder the fluoro the more condense the crystalline bond, what this translates to is a line that is easily broken. Kink line like this and it is as good as cut, but the problem is that you don't see it, but as soon as the line comes under a load and snap the outer shell breaks and there goes your fish.. Stretch this line and it is weakened by at least 50% as documented by published tests. Anyone who has been in the Navy or Coast Guard can tell you how stretchy nylon is. Put a 5 inch line under load until it breaks and it snaps back like a rubber band destroying everything in its path. Nylon can stretch and recover without any loss of strength, stretch a hard fluoro and the crystalline structure fragments, the line is disfigured many times. But here is the problem, if your line stretches and becomes thinner can you really tell while on the water, we are talking about hundreds to thousandths of an inch. The entire length of line is compromised but you can't see it.Softer more supple fluorocarbons are available but then you loose the abrasion resistance advantage, the line is no more resistant to abrasion than your typical nylon mono.
Sink rate. Fluoro is denser than nylon and sinks 3 times faster, no offset in performance. Except it makes this line useless with topwater baits like Spooks, sammys, poppers or any floating presentation. Great for deep water presentation of jigs, worms etc, less line bow but again it is so slight to be negligible in real world applications.
UV resistant. Again fluoro is almost impervious to UV rays so yes its better than mono in this category. But lets take a moment are really see how this plays out. Mono starts breaking down after being exposed for 100 to 300 hours, do you leave your stuff laying around in the sun without moving it for 5 days? Then the only part of the line that is compromised is the top layer of line on the reel and the line going through the guides. If you are actually using the rod then the line exposure to the sun doesn't cause any degradation to the line. It is in movement and being submerged etc. So unless you are laying your rods out in the sun for 5 days at a time this is a moot point. Add to the argument that the line that is exposed is constantly being trimmed when switching out baits and retying your line you quickly realize that this supposed benefit does not equate to added performance of the line.
Now lets consider some other factors, I'll start with weight. Since fluoro is denser it also weighs more, which results in higher force needed to get the spool rotating, which only adds to the problem of the line being stiff and harder to manage. On average fluoro weighs 75% more than mono, so on a reel's spool the weight added requires more force to start and stop rotation.
Fluoro is stiffer than nylon mono, this is due to the cellular make up of the line. I keep going back to this because it can not be overstated. Because of its cellular make up the line is brittle, which results in weaker knots. Add to this the fact that the line does not "bounce back" after being stretched but weakens and I start questioning the use of fluoro for anything besides a short leader. Due to the fact that a kink actually breaks the line and it makes no sense to put it on a reel, its going to kink, crush and deform.
I also want to touch on knot strength again. You hear people state over and over to tie your knots carefully especially when using fluoro, people automatically assume it is because of the line's stiffness and you don't want to deform your line while tying a knot. However more importantly is fluoro's low burning temp, tighten a knot with out spitting on it and you will scorch the line. Tie a palomar with fluoro, don't lubricate it, cinch it down tight, now look where the standing line goes into the knot, see that little crushed spot? It's not crushed, its burnt and it will break right there on a hook set.
Sensitivity; due to the density of the line and crystalline structure of fluoro it transmits vibration nicely, or in other words its more sensitive than mono. But how much is a very subjective thing. Another element adding to sensitivity is closed cell construction, fluoro is very water resistant sure it absorbs water but only microscopic amounts, nylon mono soaks up allot of water, which is why almost all tests conducted on mono has to be conducted on line that has been soaked. The open cell construction of mono also lends itself to loosing vibration to the water column before you can register it.
In conclusion what is the angler to do? Mono has its drawbacks, and fluoro has allot too. In my mind the answer is simple use a hybrid line, by this I mean a line that is composed of fluorocarbon and nylon that is combined at the molecular level and not just a mono that is coated with fluoro. A line that has closed cell construction so sensitivity is amplified, a line that stretches and bounces back without compromising integrity, a line that is denser than mono but not so dense that it interferes with lure presentation. In short a line that gives you the best qualities of nylon and fluoro and none of the negatives. That's a tall order but there is a line that meets these requirements and anyone who has been a member of this site for very long already knows what it is, the only line that is currently marketed as a hybrid line, Yo-Zuri Hybrid. There may be others on the market, I truly do not know. Most lines are marketed as a copoly, and there is no real definition to that, is it a line that has a core of mono and a fluoro coating? Honestly it is useless as a improvement to either type of line. Actually most lines are a copolymer, what I mean by that is the lines are a mixture of two different types of nylon;marketed as a copoly or a mixture of different fluorocarbons. This is how they make lines that have more abrasion resistance or a line that is softer, etc. So what you are looking for is a hybrid line, where the fluoro and the nylon are mixed on a molecular level to give you the best properties of each without sacrificing performance. Of course you could always go with a braided mainline with different leaders and do just fine. But the problem there is where the lines join, because there isn't a leader knot that retains 50% of the original line's strength. Your 30lb braid mainline tied to a 20lb fluoro leader will break at 10lbs, just the nature of the beast. So good luck in choosing the line for you.
EDIT: After reading Tim Kelly's post and being reminded of the FG knot, I need to redact my original post to read. When using a braid mainline and fluoro leader consider tying the FG knot. This knot which really isn't a traditional knot provides the angler with the best knot available. It is ultra thin and retains at least 98%of the original line's strength. Tutorial on the knot here
https://youtu.be/pjzUb5QRKukSources:
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfluorocarbontest.htmlhttp://www.tackletour.com/reviewfluorocarbon2.htmlhttp://www.bigindianabass.com/big_indiana_bass/the-truth-about-fluorocarbon.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoropolymerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinylidene_fluoridehttp://www.seaguar.com/about-seaguar.htmlhttp://www.seaguar.com/applications/myths.htmlhttp://www.seaguar.com/applications/faqs.htmlhttps://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/156815-fluorocarbon-line-separating-fact-from-fiction/