Hi all
It's a bit of a long read but my question is a genuine one and with a bit of background you chaps may be able to help with something I hadn't thought of.
I've used Mono for most of my life, starting out with silk lines and cat gut (horse hair) tippets my dad gave me when I was 5ys old, my first chance at fly casting, I wasn't very good of course, but he was so helpful, I got the bug lol!
I've only used Mono after that but tried some Flourocarbon about 10yrs ago and used it on and off, but not a lot. Grand Max Soft Plus was recommended, hellishly expensive but it was supposed to be the mutts nuts so I bought the 15.9lb and the 8.2lb lines thinking they would be plenty strong enough. They worked ok on the few occasions I used them, tying in the thicker 15.9 line as a leader and the thinner 8.2 as a tippet using a Perfection loop a Blood knot down to a Trilene knot at the hook. Most of the fish I caught were about 2-3lbs, until I put one of my leaders onto a friends line, he hooked into a reasonable fish which we guessed at about 4lbs, it didn't fight hard but almost a few minutes in the line snapped. I was gobbsmacked.
Covid came along so I decided to give the lines a test and was shocked at the lack of strength. The 8.2 sometimes snapped at between 2 -4 lbs and the 15.9 at around 6-8lbs. I thought it might be my knots, but researched heavily and used all sorts, with similar results. Since then I've tried other makes Fulling Mill, Orvis, Rio and a few others and hadn't found one which matched anywhere near the claims, bearing in mind I realise adding a knot reduces line strength. Indeed some of the mono's I tested, Drennen and Guru in particular broke at line strength or above, but the best is still Hardy Copolymer 10lb BS, which with a Kreh Loop and a Trilene knot. Consequently I haven't used a Flouro lines for about 5yrs.
So genuinely has anyone been using any newer Flourocarbon lines that have maybe progressed at all?
