When it comes to fishing, an important thing you need to consider is the fishing line. A fishing line is a cord that is used for angling. The most important elements of a fishing line are the material, length and weight. The factors that determine what fishing line to use for a given environment are the knot strength, breaking strength, UV resistance, limpness, castability, stretch, visibility and abrasion resistance.
But, how to choose the right fishing line? Nowadays, the technology has developed and helped us choose from the wide range of fishing lines like, braided, monofilament and flurocarbon lines.
Braided Fishing Line – Braided fishing lines were extensively used during the World War II. With the constant technology improvement and the improvement of the new superior fiber, the braided lines produced today have no stretch. This makes them ideal for deep water techniques or great cover fishing, but anglers have adapted them for other techniques as well. Recently, top water angling has become very popular due to the braided fishing line, which additionally will allow anglers to reach schooling fish on a long distance.
Monofilament Fishing Line – Monofilament fishing line is the most popular universal line since 1950. It can be found in many colors that can match different water conditions. With more fishing skills, anglers tend to become aware of the lure action, so if the lure vibration changes, they will set the hook.
Monofilament fishing line have up to 30% stretch which can reduce sensitivity. Anglers can feel the strike once a fish has entirely swallowed the lure.
Flurocarbon Fishing Line – This type of fishing line exists since 1971 and has helped many anglers to land more fish and to identify more strikes. Flurocarbon fishing lines have high abrasion resistance, low stretch and extreme sensitivity. Flucarbon fishing lines are the only ones that can allow anglers to feel the extremely sensitive light strikes for inactive fish. Flurocarbon fishing line does not refract light, which makes it almost invisible underwater, just like the monoglament fishing lines.
When choosing the proper fishing line, you need to consider several factors. Heat is the major factor that can truly weaken the line. Fishing lines must be stored in rooms with constant temperature and need to be kept away from chemicals like sunscreen, insect repellents and gasoline. Another thing to be aware of is the fishing line etiquette. As an angler you need to be responsible and throw all unwanted fishing line, like all old line, replaced line and snippets from knot tying.