Berkley’s Replacement for Solar Line?

I heard/hear that Berkley is pulling the solar lines and they’re already getting hard to find in the stores. I’ve heard rumor that Berkley intends to add the hi-vis coloring to the sensation line. Can anyone verify this….? And if so, when will it be available? Fall’s coming. Can’t cast jigs worth a hoot if I can’t see my line!

I’ve heard the same thing too and someone awhile back ago said they checked with Berkley and they verified it. If you can’t find any I can always lend you some of that “pretty pink” Maxima line that Nate and I use for jigging. When is Berkley coming on as a sponsor [hint hint Hawger] so I can start pushing that lime green Berkley Solar line as I love that stuff and fireline for trolling.

I will talk to Jim Peters. When it comes out, he will be the first guy with a garage load for samples.
Tuck

See if he won’t give us an allottment of pony spools to give to visitors. We can ask the visitors that get a spool to do a little appraisal or review here on-line so all can see what the initial impressions are of that product from a wide range of people.

Sounds GREAT to me!!

now James… I happen to KNOW you can CAST jigs without seeing your line…. the tricky part is seeing the bites on the way back in!!….. now that Im done (for now) being a smart axe….. yeah… Im in on the high vis mono interest too… been using it for years to fish rivers… boy do the lake guys look at you funny if you use it there though!…..

Hey James I’ve even got a slogan for hi vis;

“When they’re bitin light use a line thats bright”

Count me in on using Hi vis, especially when the fish are barely bitin like cold weather jiggin.

Do you guys feel the Hi-Vis line somewhat cuts the number of bites you get? I use the Power Pro Braid, which gets kind of a light green/yellow color, and I worry fish can see it when flipping pitching.

Have you ever fished one guy hi-vis and one guy clear, and compared results?

I cant speak for lake fishing… but MOST of the time I can imagine it makes ANY difference… Ive fished right next to guys using low vis line and actually outfished them bad… you see sometimes its not a matter of how many bites you get.. but how many you SEE….. if you dont see/feel them you dont hook them….. hi vis line gives you the edge you need for certain kinds of fishing…. particularly casting jigs, no way I want to fish without it then……

This may be a dumb question, but I’ll ask anyway. Is there high vis superline (fireline, spiderline like stuff)? I have a problem with mono and zebs…

Yes, Berkley Fire Line makes a flame green line that works great. It does fade with time but it still can be seen a lot better than the smoke color fireline.

I really like the Sensation line. Hoping they do a Hi-Vis version. Didn’t know how big of a difference it made until I fished with fireflick who was using Solar line. I got seriously outfished when we were vertical jigging.

To me seeing your line is more important than rod sensitivity. Solar line when fished in water fades in time which is a bonus because you can cut the line down so that the faded part is located close to the lure {John}

I use Cortland ice line 2lb. test,ice-fishing for panfish.Same flourescent green as solar which,I was never able to find in 2lb.test.I’m not sure as to what strength in comes in but,it’s been a good line for me and might be an option.Couldn’t straight-line ’em without it.Mike

Thought I’d bump this back to the top…..

I picked up this new stuff at Gander, Berkely IronSilk. (See link to Cabelas add)

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jhtml?id=0016022117055a&navAction=push&navCount=3&indexId=cat20315&podId=0016022&catalogCode=T4&parentId=cat20315&parentType=index&rid=

I purchased the line in 6lb test. Has anyone giving this stuff a try? If not, I guess I’ll be test driving the stuff soon.
Thanks,
J.

Jon,

I have been using this stuff now for about 2 months now. I have not seen much difference between the former XT soloar and the iron silk. Maybe just a name change, not sure. Anyway, I have this rigged on a couple rods of mine for light jigs in shallow water. It gives my plastics a whole new look compared to the fireline that I have throwing with the same jig size. A alot slower drop speed with Ironsilk VS Fireline. As far as my thoughts go, Its got its times. I am a big fireline fan and I think this stuff is good but has its application highlights as well. Maybe I have been spoiled with the sensitivity of the braids, because the mono feels like rope to me. But, like I said, it definately has a purpose for me on the wingdams presenting a jig a little differently has made the difference many times for me already this past 2 weeks. Excellent for line watching!! Only gripe is the sensitivity that I feel I have lost going braid to mono battle, but I will do whatever the fish want, what a slave I am!

Thanks DeeZee,

I’m glad to hear it compares well to my old favorite, XT Solar. Can’t wait to try it.

I like mono (or Super Polymer in this case) over braid in the winter. Braid soaks up too much water into the line guides and reel causing ice problems for me. Looking forward to giving this stuff a try.

J.

I used it for a week “Up Nort” this summer on some pretty clear water. It’s different. Seems to have a dull finish which makes it less visible under water. Also, seems to have a very low memory – doesn’t coil off the reel. Other characterisitcs were similar to XT Solar.
Noticed Mills Fleet Farm in St. Cloud still has a pretty good stock of 6 lb. XT Solar earlier this week if anyone wants to stock up.

We pulled up some of that pink line on a crank at the damn last week,we just thought the ladies had been up there .LOL I think it had a green headed jig with a large orange shad body on it . You can come and claim it down hear in southern Iowa

Hey Spinner Dave, so how was the bite on Friday over at the dam?

Hey Jon
I bought some 4lb and 6lb around the RCL time and after fishing with it for a day I chucked both spools right in the garbage you guys are right theres nothing different it still has the same terrible memorie and is just a week line.
I won’t trade my Maxima Fibre glow for nothing.
hope you guys have better luck but I would never buy the stuff again.

What do you guys think? Should Santa put some green line in his stocking this year?

I’m hearing two widely differing opinions on the Iron Silk… either guys love it or hate it apparently. Soundsl ike most every product ever invented for fisherman to be honest…lol I’m just going to have to break down and try some and come to my own opinion of the stuff. The hold-up has been a pretty good inventory of the solar on hand… which I’m almost through now.

I did notice that the Iron Silk was a bit more expensive. Do the filler spools still come in 400 yard lengths or do you get more to account for the extra cost over the 400 spools of solar?

I haven’t checked out the new stuff yet as still have solar left. The solar does have some memory though but it is nice on the eyes for watching.

Anything that requires feeding line or similar………….too much memory. River fishing seldom requires this so I think that might be the split in opinions. I’d never use it on a lake!

Hey Lundeye, We had a great day,the only bad part was we already had our possesion limit in the cooler so everything we caught went back in . Of course we caught a better grade of fish on Friday . We had a great trip, it was nice to meet a few of the regulars of this site . Tight lines Dave

For me the Ironsilk line does have alot of memory when compared to the XT Solar line. And it did seam to have a little bit more stretch in it also. But it is pretty sensative. I did not have any problems with line or knots breaking. Usually the jigs came out of the snags if a guy just kept constant pressure on the line and slowly bent the hooks out. I feel that under the same circumstances the solar may have broken where as the Ironsilk held its ground. So I guess I am pretty happy about the replacement line. But I am really gonna miss the Solar.
Jim L

I am hooked on sensation line, hope it does come out hi vis. tip i picked up try blakemores reel magic, spray on befor going , it will take memory out of mon. line . lots of outher uses too.