|
|
Posts: 32
| Im looking at getting some tufline, not sure if I want PRO or XP (coated, and I know it wears off eventually)
First off, is it even worth it to get the XP if the slick coating rubs off? I know it's 'smoother' coming out and onto the guides, but I imagine the coating flying off" like the coating on PowerPro, and gets your hands mad dirty.. Does that happen or does the wax just come off unnoticed
SECONDLY and more important.
Im considering getting white line. What color do you guys prefer? I have no experience using anything but moss-green, so im wondering, for lake clarity like Western / NW Ontario (aka: not crystal clear) would white line be an appropriate choice of color???
Im not even sure if white is More visible in the water than moss-green. Any feedback on that? Just trying to not let those smart-skis notice anything fishy [no pun, i swear]
THANKS for any input!
| |
| | |
Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | My favorite line for most applications is white Tuff-Line Plus. I use 80 lb on 6500 class reels and 65 lb on 5600 class reels. The line casts very well, is quiet, takes a beating, and the white color makes it much more visable than green line - which translates into improved lure placement.
I think green line is the worst line color because we can't see it so well and it sticks out like a sore thumb to the fish. Grey or white line is the least visable to a fish. Just try holding green line over you and look up at the sky. Then do the same with white line. You will see a major difference. So, use green line and you handicap yourself by making the line less visable to you and more visable to the fish. Not a good combination.
The one problem with the Tuff-Line Plus is that it does suck up some water, which is not so desirable in cold weather. It doesn't absorb nearly as much water as regular Tuff-Line, but its still more water than tighter woven lines like Power-Pro, Stealth, Tuff-Line XP, etc. So, I'm planning to use yellow 80 lb Power-Pro for late season fishing this year.
My experience is that, except in very clear water, the fish don't seem to care about line color. I have talked to several pros who use bright yellow and would use blazed orange line if it was available.
To me, proper line color is an "edge" and with my limited fishing time, I need every edge I can get.
Just my experience.
Edited by Herb_b 9/14/2010 9:39 AM
| |
| | |
Posts: 32
| I liked that reply. THanks a ton for the reply!
This forum moves fast | |
| | |
| Personally I don't think line color makes that much of a difference. I have been using Tuf line XP in green and have caught plenty of fish this year. I think the key is the fluorocarbon leader I use. I think that is more important than anything. I have been very impressed with the XP and haven't even noticed any coating coming off the line. XP and Cortland Masterbraid have been the two best lines I have used and I've tried them all. | |
| | |
Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I agree that line color doesn't matter most of the time. So, why use a line that you can't see very well? What's the point when there are more visable options available that allow you to better place your lure around reeds, rocks, and weeds? Why handicap yourself?
I also don't think leader material matters either - except when it interferes with a lures action. I now use nothing but piano wire. 105 lb for cranks, 124 lb for spinner baits and bucktails, and 174 lb for heavy plastics. I tried a flouro leader once and it cost me a big fish and one of my best lures in the first hour. There is no way I'd ever consider using a flouro leader again. One +50 inch fish lost and one lost lure in just one try. The fish rolled and the gill plate sliced right through that flouro like it was butter. Never again. | |
| | |
Posts: 32
| What # fluoro was it? | |
| | |
Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I don't know the weight. I got it at Thornes and it seemed pretty heavy. Won't use them again. No worries with the piano wire. Unless, of course, if the fish is carrying a wire-cutter with them. The you're kind of SOL. | |
| | |
Posts: 317
| I like Cortland Spectron. It's thin, very strong, and smooth, with no stupid coating to wear off or weld a backlash together. I agree with the light color line-it blends with the sky (Why do you think Fly lines for spooky trout are light?) and I can see it better as it approaches the boat. Spectron doesn't hold water and is thinner than Tough Line. | |
| | |
Posts: 32884
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Trout have a completely different vision system in play. | |
| | |
Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | Trout, Muskies, Walleyes - they all have eyes and see. And they all look up most of the time.
To get the perspective of a fish, any fish, just hold that green line up over your head against the sky. Then hold up white, grey, or even yellow line. You will see a big difference. The lighter lines blend in while the green line sticks out like a sore thumb.
Green line is harder to see for people because, from our perspective, it blends in with the water which generally has a darker background. So people think the line is harder to see for the fish. That simply is not true because fish look up towards the sky and, from their perspective, they see a much lighter background.
My experience tells me that dark colored lines are just plain self-defeating. The fish can see them and you can't. From a color perspective, dark colored lines like dark green are the worst possible option.
That said, unless if the water is very clear, I don't think Muskies notice color much anyway. In dark or very stained water, it probably doesn't matter at all to the fish.
One thing I know without any doubt is that my catch rate is much higher when using white line than green. I don't think its so much that the fish see the line, but rather that the more visable line makes it much easier to see where the bait is and the improved lure control helps induce strikes. There are times that being able to move the lure even a half foot closer to or away from cover can make all the difference between inducing a strike, hanging up on cover, or nothing at all.
At the end of the day, I want to catch fish. I don't care what lure, what rod and reel, or line color it takes. I want to catch fish. And one thing I have learned is that doing what everyone else is doing rarely is the best way to catch fish.
Good luck all.
Edited by Herb_b 9/16/2010 11:46 AM
| |
| | |
| Herb,
How does the color of line make any cast more accurate or closer to cover?
That is all in the operator. During a cast I am looking where the lure is going and lands rather than tracking the line.
Not trying to be a smarta$$, please explain.
The point you made about lighter, like white or yellow line being harder for the fish to see makes logical sense to me. I may have to go outside the box of moss green next time I buy a spool.
| |
| | |
| In a sense, line colors are the same as lure colors - so many neat looking color schemes are made to catch the eye of the fisherman, not the fish.
Good post Herb. It seems obvious that a white line would be harder for the fish to see while looking up (why didn't I think of that?) - such simple logic is often overlooked. | |
| | |
Posts: 210
Location: VA | I've been using white line for many years for Striped Bass and Bass fishing in general for the very same reasons that Herb stated. I'd rather use hi-vis yellow than green.....why?....because the fish RARELY see anyone using hi-vis yellow line, anglers have no confidence in it, but I sure do. Fish dont have a clue what it is.
Steve,
Trout surely do have a different eye sight system, or they are just more in tune with it, one of the two. But you cant de-bunk one thing: nearly ALL fish have white bellies for a reason: PROTECTION..... and that very protection is given to them by the light colored sky above.
White line ROCKS.
DR | |
| | |
| OK - now hurry up and delete this thread so everyone else continoues to use green line. | |
| | |
Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | To explain why the line color helps place the lure, it would be helpful to explain how I fish. This might sound strange, so please bare with me on my explanation.
I fish primarily with spinner baits, CJs mostly, and employ a strike-zone method of triggering strikes. It is something I learned long ago while Pike fishing. This requires getting the lure into the fishes immediate strike zone which is generally anywhere from one to five feet, depending on the fish's mood. It is often necessary to add a trigger to induce a strike and the best triggers are often from making contact with cover such as cabbage and rocks. The trigger occurs when the lure makes contact with the cover and then does some sort of pause, sudden movement, or change in direction as result.
Lure placement is absolute key in my style of fishing and visable lines help greatly in accomplishing that. In order to locate the lure just where I want it, I often change the lure direction during the retrieve by swooping the rod to one side or other and/or slowing down or speeding up the retrieve. That way I can place the lure more where I want it and can more easily get up close to structure, back off from it, or drive right through it, depending on the situation.
The visable line simply allows me to better judge where the lure is when I can't see it. And because I use spinner baits, I often can't see the lure until it is back to the boat. Of course, for topwaters, the line color wouldn't make any difference because you can always see the lure.
I don't place the lure so carefully on every cast, but there are times when a well placed lure makes all the difference between a successful day or getting blanked.
Hope this makes sense.
Edited by Herb_b 9/16/2010 2:25 PM
| |
| | |
Posts: 317
| Nice explanation Herb. I find that the light line is visible, especially in dark water, and aids in tracking the bait and therefore follows, as it nears the boat.
Also, Trouts eyes and vision is not that different than Muskie, they also both tend to look upwards towards the surface. I read somewhere in fisheries class that Esox are distantly related to Salmonoids. | |
| | |
Posts: 551
Location: Columbus, Georgia | And just how is it reasonable to assume that lime green, fire engine red, or neon yellow braided line blends with the sky?
Are such assumptions (statements-as-fact) based upon any research studies? What basis exists for such certainty?
My own personally belief is that the fish are focused upon my bait rather than the (color) of the line. Yes, the color helps me track the bait. However, statements concerning radically colored line "blending into the sky" seems somewhat of a stretch (no pun intended).
Edited by cjrich 9/16/2010 5:14 PM
| |
| | |
| Flurocarbon line is really the only lo vis line in many situations. It is very hard to see underwater. The dark green braid can easily be seen from below, as another poster pointed out, but tends to blend in somewhat in clear lakes and rivers, as the water has a alga stain and green weed growth, so it would look at least somewhat natural to a fish off to either side.
In a lake with tannic or mud stained water, even if it's a light stain, a beige or tan color line would blend better, with the dark green really showing up.
Just an underwater perspective, as seen by my eyes and my camera.
The braids offer so many advantages, with almost no stretch, abrasion resistance, long life durability, and low diameter to strength ratio that it sort of trumps the low vis of fluro. for muskie fishing. I had some of the XP Toughline in green, the line seemed almost waxy, and it did wear off on the guides, and lose color. It might have seemed smoother running thru the guides, and I liked the way it tied knots on the plus side.
Some say it doesn't matter, that a muskie will hit anything, but I would guess at times when the fish are not real active, I would think it might pay to consider things like line color. | |
| | |
| Anybody remember when the only color available was black in dacron line? | |
| | |
Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | Yeah, I don't think red, lime green, or neon yellow would blend with the sky as well as white or grey. The only reason I am thinking of using yellow Power Pro this fall is because Power Pro is no longer available in white. Or at least I haven't been able to find any white Power Pro and I have a spool of yellow 80 lb collecting dust.
I can remember when the only options were white spotted dacron or black dacron. But then I didn't start fishing Muskies until 1985...
Edited by Herb_b 9/17/2010 3:40 PM
| |
| |
|
Coloured line