Hello ladies and gents! Going to be back wetting my flees again soon! got a question regarding tippet i have been using. ive been useing berkley flurocarbon at 8lb for pulling lures and useing buzzers, last season i had a few problems with breaks at the knot and wondered if its just the line or maybe it a little weak for the hits im getting? should i go up to 10lb? Could any one advise me on a good fluro line that you have had great success with? Thanks for any help Vinny

Tight Lines

I find it a little hard to believe that 8 pound tippet is too light. The combined shock absorbation of the flext of the rod and taking the slack from the line makes it hard for me to see that this is the factor. I've fought wild steelhead on 6 pound so I have my doubts that the fish alone are to blame.

Knots are always the weakest link and in any situation where fish are breaking off.

You don't say when, exactly, you are breaking off. Which could provide some clues. There are some other things that could be going on:

- How old is the tippet? Has it been stored properly?
- What knot are you using?
- Are you using spit or water to lubercate your knots when tying?
- Are you sure you're breaking off versus you knot coming undone?

The first thing I'd say is to buy a new spool of tippet to eliminate age-rotted tippet as the cause. Secondly, I'd consider what knots you're using and how you're tying them.

Grouse

Fluorocarbon apparently does not degenerate like standard mono, so that should not be a factor.

Ditch the berkley and get yourself some ASSO off skb,been using it for nearly a year now and not had a single break off.Been using it in 8 and 6lb for most of my fishing,recommend knot is a uni to tie your flies on with

Neil

Neil do you have problems with tangles using the asso?

So do I (or a grinner)...............fluorocarbon can be b*gg** at the knot. Also make sure that it is well wetted when you draw it tight................birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

Specialist sunk line boat fishermen on the big reservoirs usually use much heavier nylon than 8lb and it's often standard nylon which tends to be more reliable. I don't fish the big English reservoirs any more but I spent a lot of my life after the big brownies of the Midland reservoirs.

A good fish can pop 8lb nylon just my pulling against the line. You hook up and the fish makes a run against the big bow of sunk line then the line can go and sometimes you won't even feel the fish as the speed of the run is against the sunk line without it being transmitted to the rod. I was warned about this very early on in my boat fishing career my a certain Mr Steve Parton nearly 30 years ago but not before I had lost a couple of fish. I've never seen any articles warning of this danger. It's a long time since I did that kind of fishing but I'm fairly sure I used 12lb b.s.

I don't trust fluorocarbon although I've not tried the later ones the one I tried was shockingly bad when wet and knotted. I'd certainly test any brand for real breaking strain when it is wet and knotted before using it.

Malcolm.

I use 8lb Fulling Mill Fluro for most reservoir fishing and rarely have trouble with breakages.

Use the four turn water knot, lubricate the knot with spittle as you tighten the coils. Take care not to cut into the last and first coils as you trim off the waste ends. It's about the strongest knot for joining two lengths of line.

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

When I first started fly-fishing I found that knots I had used reliably for decades coarse and sea-fishing, were failing.

So, back to the drawing board.

A sunny afternoon spent in the garden surrounded by spools of different line materials and of different strengths saw me joining lines, tying line to rig-rings etc using 'old faithful' knots and some new ones, and breaking lots of knots by pulling, sometimes much to my surprise, especially as some had been recommended by experienced fly-fishers.

'Twas an afternoon well spent because I've now narrowed down a few reliable knots that deal with most situations and which (touch wood) haven't let me down.

Especially if joining two different materials, or materials of different diameters, I prefer to use a rig-ring for the join.

(But again I've found at least one make of rig-ring that causes problems, cutting into the knot!)

And when I'm working a fly, I keep the rod tip pointed away from the fly, so that it can better cushion a smash-take.