Which do you use or prefer and why? also, what knots do you use for your droppers and for your flies. Blood knots dont seem to work on very fine leaders like 2 and 3lb. Fluoro is obviously very fine and very strong if you can find a way of knotting it!!

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"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men" - John F. Kennedy

Stacks of info on here Maverick, try the search function.

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"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

Maybe get some answers here


flurocarbon and copolymer

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www.agiveyanglers.co.uk

I have had a quick read at my comments on this thread, and will have to admit than my opinions have turned about 180 degrees.

It has taken me a while to come to terms with fluorocarbon, but it would now be my prefered option most of the time when fishing sub surface. Two factors that have changed for me are brands and knots.

Firstly brands. It is so much easier to get on with the better quality stuff. One of those cases in life when you simply get what you pay for. I like Riverge. I can knot it and find that it is less prone to tangling. It's stiffness compared to nylon and copolymer is something that I find to be an advantage. Also find the Rio to be almost as good, but still pricey.

Knots. For joining sections a double grinner or water knot is good. For droppers I use a water knot and take the lower tag (furthest fom fly line) as my dropper. I never use more than three turns with fluorocarbon when tying water knots. Pitsford Pirate on many occassions has recommended a two turn water knot, and this really does work. The secret, I have found, is to tie the knots very carefully and tighten very slowly. For tying on flies I have had no problems with a simple untucked half blood knot. Again tie carefully and tighten slowly.

I don't believe for one minute any of this business about it being less visible than nylon. But it is much stiffer and sinks easier and quicker. Those are advantages that make it worth the effort. I am really glad that I have finally learnt to live with the stuff. Just wish it cost the same as Maxima.

Do you honestly believe that it's any better than Maxima Ultragreen or is it just the latest innovation that anglers feel they must use - to give them an edge?

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

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DISADVANTAGES of Fluorocarbon

One caution with fluorocarbon lines is that you need to be very careful when tying your knots to lures. Knot tying with fluorocarbon is VERY VERY critical to prevent break-offs. A lot of anglers discount the importance of knot tying with fluorocarbon lines and complain of line breakages. I can attest that poor knot tying skills are the most common reasons why anglers break off on fluorocarbon. No matter how long you have being tying knots with fishing line there is always room for improvement.
Here are the steps I take in getting a good strong knot with fluorocarbon. I prefer either the Berkley braid knot or the palomar knot when tying fluorocarbon to lures or hooks. The absolute key to getting a good knot with fluorocarbon is to make sure that your knot is NEAT and not sloppy. Meaning you can't have a strand of fluorocarbon overlapping where it shouldn't be overlapping and you must have a close to perfect knot as possible. Having said that, fluorocarbon lines are fairly stiff and slippery materials, and if you kink or damage the line while making the knot, then the line will be weakened dramatically similar to a single strand wire, once you kink the wire the wire has been weakened. So very careful, slow and systematic knot making, lubrication will help you to form a better knot and offer a stronger bind between your line and your lure. Once you wrap your knot and you are ready to cinch your knot you have GOT to slobber up the knot AND the eyelet of the hook very thoroughly!! Once you wet the knot, SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY, cinch the knot and put a lot of emphasis that your knot stays straight and neat during the cinching process. I take 10 seconds to cinch the knot and I keep checking it to make sure my knot is clean as I am cinching it downward towards the lure. What I do is cinch the knot a 1/4 of an inch and stop and slobber it up and keep repeating the process till your knot is cinched all the way down, but remember to be sure that your knot is PRETTY. If you did everything correctly test your knot by pulling on it.

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

The answer is easy.
Mono always.
Flouro has a half life of like a billion years.
It will still be on the bank when we are all gone.
There should not even be a discussion on this
I only use mono and catch my fair share.

I have come to think so. It is stronger for a given diameter. Maxima fares very badly in this respect. It is stiffer making it more user friendly to me for fly fishing. The downside was always confidence in knots, but Riverge has overcome this for me. I would rather use Maxima that cheap fluorocarbon, but given the choice Riverge is what I have settled on for now. All the advantages without the disadvantage of the knots.

Buzz, what nylon do you use? I caught my first fish on the fly yesterday, getting two using drennan sub-surface, they definitely didn't see the line!

As a student and newcomer to fly fishing, i can't really justify the costs of flurocarbon and its interesting that you say you don't use it. Personally i don't think its a make or break (excuse the pun) matter of which material you choose, you will still catch fish.

I use Stroft, Orvis superstrong or Rio.

Orvis superstong for most applications, its a wee bit stretchy which is good imo if you use stiff rods, great knotting strength and has the right combination of stiffness and flexibility to suit my needs perfectly.

Rio is a tad too stiff and i think has a blueish hue, where as stroft is verging on too flexible to turn over flies at distance. Its great for nymphing though.