Understanding Flurocarbon Fishing Lines

If you've been to a tackle store lately, you've most likely seen all the different types of fishing line currently available. There's monofilament lines, dacron lines, braided lines, fluorescent, fluorocarbon fishing lines and more. These days, it's easy for a beginner to get overwhelmed by all of the choices.

Many questions have been asked about Flurocarbon fishing lines. What are they? What makes them special? Are they worth your money?

These are all good questions and worth asking. Flurocarbon lines have been used by fly fishers for years. These lines are typically used for the tippet. Flurocarbon line is almost invisible under water, which is very useful in shallow clear water streams that fly fishers love to fish.

Due to ability to be almost invisible in clear water, bass and other fishers have started using flurocarbon lines as well.

While the advantages of flurocarbon fishing line is clear, the disadvantage for many spin fishers is that the line is stiff. It also tends to hold the shape of the spool really well (especially in cold water). This last feature can cause a problem when casting. Flurocarbon lines will not advance off the spool as easy when casting - so you may not be able to achieve distance. Using a lighter test line will help mitigate the casting problem, but it may still be present.

Some anglers have reported that flurocarbon lines tend to be more brittle and break more easily than other lines. This can prevent you from landing that trophy-size trout!

The bottom line (no pun intended) is that you'll have to decide how important line invisibility is when fishing in clear water versus casting ability and strength of the line.

In fishing tournaments, using a line that is nearly invisible in clear water may make all the difference in the world to your chances of winning. But if you're not fishing in clear water and casting distance and the ability to land that trophy trout are important, then you may want to chose a stronger monofilament line instead of a flurocarbon line.

As usual, I recommend testing different lines. Everybody's fishing conditions are slightly different and experience is a great teacher. Great fishers will often change out their lines and tackle to when fishing in different water conditions.