Wundering what y'all think about fluorcarbon

[victor101]

It really depends what you're going to use it for.

Salt or fresh?
Line class?
Target species?

Exactly....I would spool with spectra and just change out flourocarbon leaders as conditions and target species change...Unless your a baller and have a different setup for everything...then by all means spool straight flouro...

[bsp]

If you want to try flouro, try the mid range stuff like Seaguar InvisX before anything else. It is what a good fluoro should be: Very sensitive, consistent breaking strength, slight give, strong, very abrasion resistant, not too much memory, and it casts well. You can use it for high impact applications near cover and it will turn the fishes head without getting snapped off by the rocks or vegetation. It performs very close to level of a $40 spool of fluorocarbon (Toray Solaroam Upgrade or Sunline Shooter), but is only $16 or $18. If you like Seaguar, then feel free to experiment with other fluoros, but if you don't you probably aren't going to like any of them. You don't have to respool it for a few months too. You could even use it for a year if you weren't fishing it near cover or otherwise putting a lot of stress on the line.

I used Berkley Vanish for a year before stopping because it just kept snapping. It's inconsistent breaking strength and horrible knot strength wasn't worth it. It had major memory problems too. You could get away with Vanish if you were using 12lb or 15lb and hooking fish in open water, but try landing anything near cover you are asking to get busted off. Don't even touch the lighter stuff, or toss heavy lures on it. Also, plan on changing it every other trip if you want some security. That defeats the purpose of cheaper line though, so in the long run you are much better off with a higher quality fluoro that will last.

Also, you could buy Seaguar Red Label for close to the same price, and it performs a lot better than Vanish.

I haven't tried the 100% Tournament Fluorocarbon, and I won't because it is the same price as Seaguar InvisX.

You might come to a different conclusion though. I haven't used Vanish in 3 years, so they may have improved it. I just am not willing to downgrade to it now that I found InvisX.

As for the really expensive stuff, it might be worth it if you are fishing in high stakes tournaments. Otherwise, there is no need to spend that kind of money on line. I have tried the Toray Upgrade, and it's nice but not $40 a spool nice IMO. I really don't think it gets you more bites, but the confidence boost you may get from using a $40 spool of line could be beneficial.

One last thing to realize about fluoro is that it is not as forgiving as nylon or copolymer lines to backlashes. One gnarly backlash and you really should respool unless you feel like taking risks. I personally avoid the fluoro blended lines too because I have had bad luck with them, but, again, you might like them. I just think that the blend negates the purpose of having fluoro in the first place.

With all that being said, use the line that you have confidence in. If you are perfectly happy with one line, don't change because you feel like you have to. You will fish better with a line, lure, rod, or reel that you have confidence in, and that is the whole point of gear: To give you confidence so you can focus on fishing as opposed to worrying about something going wrong.