Fireline - Low Pound

[Raii]

Can someone explain to me why people recommend using low pound fireline say 4lb, whats the difference between 4lb and 6-10lb?

[yellow submarine]

Generally the lighter the line the less resitance to the fish both in visbility and tension. Probelm is the ability to land good size fish. Fireline helps cause it genrally holds great feel and punches well above its marked weight.

Question is what type of fishing are you looking to do?

If its table fish, like bream, flatties, whiting etc... then 4lb with some good fluro carbon leader in combination with a good drag, will go nicely.

[Raii]

Generally the lighter the line the less resitance to the fish both in visbility and tension. Probelm is the ability to land good size fish. Fireline helps cause it genrally holds great feel and punches well above its marked weight.

Question is what type of fishing are you looking to do?

If its table fish, like bream, flatties, whiting etc... then 4lb with some good fluro carbon leader in combination with a good drag, will go nicely.

I thought the purpose of long light fluro carbon leader was to reduce the visiblity of the braid to the lure.

Yep, just going for table fish, both with bait and SPs.

[yellow submarine]

Yes your right. But also because fireline has almost zero stretch. so the fluro carbon provides a bit of give for the take.

[Raii]

So in general, 6-10lb is not much different to 4lb fireline, just the slight difference in resistance, if i were to use 10lb fireline and say 6lb fluro carbon for SPs, would i be affected much as compared to 4lb fireline and 6lb fluro carbon ?

[chrisg]

4Lb Fireline and 6lb fluoro will cast and generally fish way better than 10lb. Slimmer profile, smaller knots etc. If your fishing Sp's 10lb will hold up the movement of the Sp to quite a degree. Don't worry about breaking 4lb...it breaks about 9lb anyway. 6lb leader will go well before the Fireline.

Cheers

C.

[slinkymalinky]

Rali,

probably the biggest difference you would notice when soft plastics fishing is in casting distance. Particularly with light lures/jig heads, lighter line will greatly increase your casting distance (probably as much as by 30%-50% for 4lb over 10lb with a 1/16 or 1/32oz jig head).

Cheers, Slinky

[jewgaffer]

It seems having sensitivity and an unobtrusive rig using the better performing braid lines with fluro leader long enough to suit the circumstances, is just as important as having the right jighead weight to suit the action of the lure and a hook size to suit the fish........

The line strength should at least suit the maximum size of the estuary species you are targetting, to the point where everything is balanced so that your particular set up allows the lure to swim naturally, particularly when using soft plastics which must be chosen according to the weight of the tackle used without compromising the swimming action of the lure by the size and weight of the jighead you have selected to best suit the particular conditions.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[DerekD]

Can someone explain to me why people recommend using low pound fireline say 4lb, whats the difference between 4lb and 6-10lb?

Raii,

I am going to assume that you have not had a lot of experience with Fireline so if you know a lot of the information below then don't worry about it.

With a smooth drag you will be able to land most reasonable fish on 4lb Fireline. To date on the 4lb Fireline I have landed Ozzie Salmon (56cm), Flathead (75 cm and I think an 80cm one but I didn't have anything to measure it with), snapper 51cm, kingfish (70cm and I think I could do a 75cm and possibly an 80cm kingfish with some time and a bit of room). As the others pointed out you get a better casting distance on 4lb than 6lb and you can use lighter lures. The line overtests and I would be impressed if you could snap the 4lb stuff by gently loading it between your fingers till it breaks (probably cut yourself first).

Would suggest that you go into the store and feel the difference between the 4lb and the 6lb. I love the 4lb but once I start going into heavier braids I would look at woven braids rather than fused braids. I find Fireline gets a little stiffer in the heavier ranges. I do keep some 6 pound braid on a spare spool when squiding in areas I am likely to get snagged up as I can pull my jigs free of the weed.

If you do get the Fireline then value wise just get the 125 yard spool and use mono (I use 8lb) as backing so that the Fireline is just short of the lip and comes off the spool easily. You can then just change out or end to end the Fireline every season. The only time I have seen my backing in three years of fishing with it is when I hooked up a really unobservant kayaker. After tightening up the drag and then a chase we managed to get him to the boat and get my line and lure back but I was unsure of best way to clean my catch.

One other note. Fireline gets a little fluffy after extended use and if you don't wind it on the spool with a little tension you will get a birdsnest coming off once in a while. Unlike nylon it takes a little effort to get it to bind up so I keep a pin in my takle box so I can open up and untangle the birdsnest.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Derek

[Raii]

Alright, i'll be getting another spool of 4lb fireline then, my current fireline, the line sort of like unweaves into seperate strands, im assuming its a bad spool, does 4lb fireline result in more birdsnest/wind knots than heavier line ?

[slinkymalinky]

Alright, i'll be getting another spool of 4lb fireline then, my current fireline, the line sort of like unweaves into seperate strands, im assuming its a bad spool, does 4lb fireline result in more birdsnest/wind knots than heavier line ?

In general... yes! The finer the line, the more prone it will be to line management problems. Those problems though can be well managed by using good quality gear and technique. Everything in fishing is a trade off... you just need to find the balance that suits you. Finer line = more finesse but harder line management. Heavier line = easier line management but less finesse... etc etc etc

Cheers, Slinky

[DerekD]

Alright, i'll be getting another spool of 4lb fireline then, my current fireline, the line sort of like unweaves into seperate strands, im assuming its a bad spool, does 4lb fireline result in more birdsnest/wind knots than heavier line ?

If you use lures that weigh less than 3 gramme and wind it up without tension (not in direct contact with the lure) then it will birdsnest more often. If you use 5 gramme lures and stay more or less in contact with the lure then you will rarely have this problem.

If you see a loop on your spool that is trying to lift up and away from the spool then take care of it as soon as possible because when you cast that loose section of loop will be where it has the best chance of birdnesting.

The splitting thing is not something I have come across in the Fireline but if the fusing of the line was not done properly (bad batch) then that is how I would expect it to behave.

As for leaders I use 6 and 8 lb nitlon Fluoro most often but I also keep some 4lb and 10lb handy. I use a uni to uni knot (8 turns in fireline and 4 - 5 in Fluro). Just check the knot by pulling tight between your hands before fishing. The Fireline frays and sometimes I have to redo it one or two or at the worst three times (rarely) before it holds to my satisfaction.