Best Mono line/ or what to stay away from

[1javelin]

Halo was 10 lb on spinning gear throwing tubes, and made the mistake of winding on with line coming off the top.  Probably where my problems were occurring.  Seems like I read that it comes off the top somewhere, but as much as I read and don't retain, who knows.  Could have said don't reel it off the top.
  Evolution was 8 lb throwing tubes the day before.  Lost one tube to a 1 1/2 lb smallie at the boat lifting him out of the water , lost one casting , and lost a third pitching .  No reason for line to break like that.  Checked my line on all occassions, after every fish and rock contact.  Maybe my palomar sucks, but why don't I ever have this problem except with these 2 lines?  Used Vanish before and it was crap in all aspects, but never had problems with PLine before, even the cxx stuff.  Wierd.

[matt]

Man i love that Pline halo,but i got it on a baitcaster,i can't stand any fluoro lines on spinning reels though for some strange reason(that's just me personally).I have yet to break off with halo and i've been pulling in tree stumps without breaking my line.I've gotten a few birdnest with it,but they were all my fault as i'm still a novice with a baitcaster.

[joshimoto son]

Here is a great tip for spinning gear.

After every cast, close the bail with your hand,grab the line and give it a short tug.

This helps control your line and keeps 90% of the mess' from happening even when the line is twisted.

You gotta pay attention to what you're doing, and belive it or not, it's not a hard habit to get used to.

I promise... you will have MANY less problems on your spinning gear.


joshimoto son

[MBell]

Sounds like you had some bad line.  Pline is great when it's good but when it goes bad it goes real bad.  I'm refering to the strength issues you encounted, any pline 8lb should be very tough when fresh.  Line manufacturers need to look at how they package their lines,a lot is bad when you buy it.  I've started to repackage any good line I buy into ziplock bags, so far none of the line has gone bad.  You won't be dissapointed with the xps flourocarbon, but you should test anything under 10lbs before you buy it.  Also as mentioned manually flipping your bail is a must with flourocarbon. 
-Matt   

[1javelin]

I always flip my bail manually anyways, but I noticed you have to do it a lot faster with the fluoro, when your lure hits the water or even right before, or it will nest up like crazy.  Maybe I did have a bad batch, but I don't want to take chances like that come tourney time.  Losing a well fish at the boat to broke line is not something I will deal well with on tourney day, and I don't want to take that chance.  We'll see.  I am definitely going to go with the XPS, so unless it seems worse to me than the PLine, it'll get my money.  And KVD uses it, so what better line could there really be!!!

[motocross269]

I have caught over 20 walleye and probably 10 pike this year using XPS flouro.  The walleye I use the Flouro as a leader with braid.  I have been casting XPS Flouro for the last couple of weeks on a spinning reel with no major problems. 
I am going to start trying Gamma and P-line Co-polymers on my baitcasters this weekend. 

[Basscaster]

I real only use baitcasters. I am a big fan of Berley Big Game in #10,#12,#15 and #20. I was playing around with Sunline today and really liked it, smooth and great feel of baits. I bought the Sunline shooter Flourocarbon and the Machine Gun Co-Poly. I am heading to Vilas county Wis. on Tuesday for a week of smallie fishing and will get back to you my opinions of this line. I am using both for fitness jig fishing in clear water. I have #10 and #12 of the other. I hope this line helps with fishing 3/16 and 5/16oz eakins jigs in 10 -20 feet of clear rocky water.

[motocross269]

Well here are my findings from the last 3 months of  non-scientific, rookie, back of the boat line testing.  I spent probably over 300 dollars on different spools of line and weight classes.  I caught I don't know how many fish and probably snagged wood and rock at least twice that much.  I made thousands of practice casts in my back yard.  No fancy weights or scales.  I can't think of a fish that broke off,  I am very anal about checking and setting my drag.
I usually start out on the light side and crank up from there.
I won't slam a bunch of lines, but some of them are like cable compared to the premium line manufactures.
I am going to go with either Gamma or P-line co-polymers for my Mono type line.  They were basically a dead heat.  Both of them were very castable and have not had any failure issues.
Braided line..I like Fireline crystal,  I have used it on both a spinning reel with a leader and Baitcaster and have had no problems.
Flourocarbon I like BPS XPS Flourocarbon.  I tried to spool up another premium brand just before Burt and Mullet and it twisted up so bad i took it Back off.  I didn't want to deal with any problems or change anything just before a tourney.  I have been using the XPS as Leader material with my Braid and haven't had any failure issues.  It seems to hold really well with the Braid using a Blood not.  I use a polamor Knot to tie on the lure.  I just read in Bassmaster magazine where Aaron Martens says not to use a Polomar knot, use a trilene knot instaed.  Well that contradicts everything else I have read so now I am really confused. I haven't had the Polamar fail yet so I will stick with that knot until I have issues.
The shakespeare supreme that Dan K was reccomending on this site would definetly be one of my choices for inexpensive line.  I used it alot for practice line and it worked well.  I also like the old standby trilene lines, but for a couple of dollars more a spool I will go with the co-polymers.   
I back all of my spools with monofillament to save money.
Just my opinion and I thought it may interest some other anglers looking at different lines.

[Dan]

I've heard about the Fireline Crystal, but haven't tried it. How much is it? I lays well on your spinning reel? Nice job on the report.

[blakstr1]

Very good report Brian.....

For me its polymar knot or stay home...i swear by it.

[motocross269]

I have been using fireline crystal on my spinning reel for about 2 months now.  I changed it out just before the Burt and mullet tourney...It was still working fine.  I have been using it with a 7 FT Outlaw rod/shimano reel with an 8lb flouro leader.  I love it.  I use it for all of my plastics, Tubes, Drop shot, wacky rig and shakey head.  I haven't experienced any line twist or problems.
I just make sure that I close the bail by hand. (it has taken me a while to get used to that).
I think Fireline crystal is around 13 dollars for a spool of 200 yards, but don't quote me on that.

[Andy]

BBS Excel all the way. For the money you can change out line reel cheep. And it holds upwell. Its all I use

[motocross269]

Excell and XPS mono were 2 of the lines I tried.  They were OK, but they were stiff in the 12 and 14lb range and seemed to develop memory faster than the copolymers. (like within a week) If they work good for you though great.  That is why there are so many different manufacturers.  Alot of people swear by Excell for the money, but I only put 50 yards or so of new line at a time.  So I get at least 6 respools out of each spool.