Fireline Crystal problems?????

While fishing a tournament this last Sunday my cousin Pete had his Fireline Crystal break on a couple of hook sets. We were getting ready to put this stuff on several more reels until today. I just got off the phone with bsfisherman and he and his brother had the same problem on Sunday too. It’s been breaking at the knots. (Both polymer and cynch knots) Has anyone else been having any problems with it? I think this product is on track to be some of the best line made but they may have a few more problems to get worked out. I don’t want to order a bulk spool if this is happening to a lot of others.

I had one break-off last weekend but I attributed that to my own stupidity – I had a serious snag that I pulled through (straightened the hook on my jig!) and I didn’t retie after that. Other than that one time, I didn’t have any problems and caught several pike and dozens of walleye, dragging jigs through weedy areas and over rocky bottom. I’m using the 14/6 material.

A friend of mine was using a lower lbs test smoke fireline last year (maybe the 8 lbs?) and he had several instances of break-offs. The problem may be related to the size of the line… I’ve gone to exclusively tying palomars as I’ve had clinch knots pull out (not break) and I always leave a substantial tag (at least a quarter inch) end. I also make sure to fully wet the line prior to tightening the knot.

Fireline/Crystal is great for about two weeks then starts to fray and it is over. My advice is to stick with Power Pro, or Spider wire stealth. Trust me I have gone through this same question every year.

I’ve been running the smoke color Fireline for years and have had no problems with it. I’m just wondering if this new Crystal is made with a different formula or process that could be making it weaker??

Oh Great, I just bought a spool of this line to replace my 3 year old Power Pro!! Guess I should have stuck with whats worked in the past.

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Guess I should have stuck with whats worked in the past.

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I don’t think I’ll ever go away from PP….I have heard this story before…

Is it different from the hi-vis yellow? I’ve had good luck with 8/3 and 10/4 using a double uni knot to a leader.

John

Ben,
We have went through quite a few bulk spools of crystal …….no complaints thus far.I have not heard any comments that it differs in any way from regular fireline either.Stealth seems to get the nod here for linecounters,and probably a 50/50 split between power-pro and Fireline.Good Luck!

Line has been my biggest nightmare in fishing for the past few years. I was a Fire Line enthusiast for years. Loved the stuff. But then I started having problems with the line breaking at the knot. I tried everything to figure out what the heck was going on. I think Berkley changed their formula from what they had years ago. I really wish they’d go back to their old formula. Let us know if you come up with a suitable substitute. Good Luck!

It is the same formula as the smoke. I’ve ran mine for a couple months with no problem.

I have heard that you need to spit in the line when you tie knots in fireline or spiderwire, anyone else heard of this. Just put crystal on one of my reels, haven’t had a chance to try it yet, hope it is ok.

I am with Dean on this one. I have two spools filled with it and have been more than satisfied. (I am highly critical and tough on Super Lines.) I have been using it to pitch blades tied to a #2 clip. I have had 0 break offs. Probably 1000 casts into both with no problems. What application are you refering to Ben? Jigs? Cranks? Are you tying to a clip or straight on?

Its kind of funny. I used Fireline for a long time, then I fished with a boater who swore by Power Pro. I bought a spool and I liked it. I committed to it on all my reels but then my 20 pound test was snapping like mad. I switched back to Fireline and I again don’t have any issues.

I suppose there are bad batches in all products.

Have you checked your guides? Use a q-tip and cirle each eye and see if any material snags. Also, have you checked the hook/jig eye to make sure there isn’t any manufacturing flaws there?

Otherwise you could probably send the line into Berkley. I suspect they would take care of you…

If you are having problems with PP breaking like I did, check out the Suffix Performance Braid. Same feel, no problem with breaking for me.
If they only had a product like the Crystal!

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I am with Dean on this one. I have two spools filled with it and have been more than satisfied. (I am highly critical and tough on Super Lines.) I have been using it to pitch blades tied to a #2 clip. I have had 0 break offs. Probably 1000 casts into both with no problems. What application are you refering to Ben? Jigs? Cranks? Are you tying to a clip or straight on?

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I ran it on 2 trolling rods at the end of last year and don’t remember any problems. Pete was using it for rigging last weekend and it was tied to a barrel swivel. Bsfisherman was using jigs.

If you are having problems with clinch knots pulling out with Fireline…

Be certain you not only pass the tag end through the opening near the eye of the hook AND back up through the loop at the other end of the knot up the line.

If you do that, you should not have any problems pulling the knots out.

thought I should chime in with what our problems have been. I have tried both knots and always run the tag end back through on the cinch knot but it doesn’t seem to matter. In last weekend’s tourney we had three fish break off on the hook set and when we tried to tie on a new jig, repeatedly broke the line again. Bottom line here is that you shouldn’t have to know some special knot just to use a line. Thousands of tournaments and millions of fish have been caught on straight classic mono and I can assure you that I will never use this line again. When you are fishing walleye tournaments and the bites are few and far between, you can’t afford to have your line break.