Mono vs copoly vs flouro

Its been discussed before but tired of all the ice talk….

Anyone completely happy with their open water, cold weather pitching jig/blade line?

Mono is nice, got some sufix seige I’ll try out, but too stretchy for me.

Sensation(copoly) I’ve had on for couple years now and very happy, but still just not quite there yet. Got a spool of Pline CXX, another copoly that I’ll be trying as well.

Flouro just never got my interest. Tried a couple brands, but the knot strengths, and weak spots after break offs, which are many on the river was enough to push me away. Maybe revisit it if people have a good one.

Braid is out of ? BC of freezing temps come winter when it gets here, but what’s spooled up on your reels?

I can’t imagine fishing blades with anything other than braid. Try suffix 332 or even fire line. Either one will do better than most braids in the cold.

For jigs, I still use sensation and like it just fine.

I like the Pline CX premium in Clear Fluor. From what I understand the CXX is not good for a spinning reel, too stiff, great for bait caster. A friend said it’s so strong you could pull a truck out of the ditch with it.

john23 wrote:

Try suffix 332 or even fire line

I’ve tried both, have PP on now and see how that handles freezing temps. But the other two were pretty bad. I like firleine crystal for vertical, but casting an 1/8oz jig just ain’t happening.

Thought maybe the CXX at .012 rather sensation at .010 in 8# might help a bit with the stretch factor. Did notice the stiffness out of the box, but it also stretches quite a bit less than sensation. The upcoming months will tell.

I believe the issue is that you need the line to shed the water before it gets to your rod guides. Smooth, hydrophobic line is the key.

You’re right, no braid works perfectly in cold temps. It’s just that some are better than others. Regular power pro is the worst in the cold. I think the texture of the line grabs the water, so you end up with tons of ice.

Lots of monos get stiff in the cold and spring off the reel. I remember an orange suffix mono being the absolute worst for that. Sensation mono has always treated me well in sub-freezing temps. I really can’t see throwing blades with any kind of mono or flouro, but I suppose it could be done.

Maybe one of the coated, smooth braids would work well in the cold. Cabela’s Ripcord 8 advertises the features that should work. 332 isn’t the most abrasion-resistant line out there, but I always felt like it did pretty well in the cold. I used to use fireline crystal the most and liked it (I know I’m in the minority there) but switched to nanofil a year ago. I don’t have enough sub-freezing experience with nanofil to make a recommendation but it seems like it should do OK.

If you don’t like stretch, avoid fluorocarbon. Three alternatives I’m using or experimenting with that are actual low stretch lines are:

-Trilene XT (mono)
-Yo-Zuri Hybrid (co-polymer)
-Tectan Superior (mono)

I’m going to conduct my annual line stretch test again this winter and will include mono, co-polymer and fluorocarbon results. Anyone that wants me to test their favorite line, send me a PM – I’ll need 15 feet of 8 pound test and will post the results.

Frydog, I was actually thinking of just that from last year. And I’m confused if that’s a good test or not to put lines to. Can’t really make up my mind on it, trying to come up with a similar situation.

If you were to take a bungee and put a weight on it for a period of time, sure it might stretch out in time, but the initial shock(sensitivity) if pulled, ie bite or hook set(which is the main focus), may be greater than that of the same thickness made of different material, which would stretch less but with more “shock value”. Does that make sense?

Certainly not critizing what you did at all, really appreciated it originally and looked at it several times thereafter. Just trying to think this one out a bit more.

No prob – there are probably a lot of different factors that affect line stretch. And your point about initial pull versus stretching over a longer period of time might be valid. What I’ve tried to do is to pick the lines that appear to perform best in the stretch test and then use them on the water over time to see if the results match up.

In most cases during the stretch test, the lines got to about 90% of the stretch length in just a few seconds. That last bit of stretch was maybe over about 20 seconds. I didn’t set this up in a lab but my guess is that the initial stretch results are relatively similar to the longer time period, when comparing the different lines to each other.

If you have a favorite line, feel free to send. Maybe I’ll do the big test again during the Super Bowl half time or something…

I’ve never heard of Sufix 332 so will assume your all talking about Sufix 832.

One thing I’ve found is that downsizing the # test superline helps tremendously with the amount of water pulled into the line guides.

There’s always going to be trade offs when trying to find the best line in cold conditions. In all conditions for that matter.
Last year when fishing in really cold conditions, I started using Sufix 832 in 6# test instead of my usual 10# test.
The difference in the amount of water pulled into the line guides where it freezes and causes issues was significantly decreased. It didn’t go away but it was good enough that I was able to cast jigs & plastics in some pretty cold weather while river fishing for walleyes.

As for casting blades with a small diameter line like that, I’ve never done it so not much to say there.

One other thing I would like to point out about fishing in below freezing temperatures. Take a look at the rod guides on your favorite pole.
I have two high end St Croix’s. They don’t work the best in below freezing temperatures. Why?
Because on these high end graphite rods, they tend to use very, very small line guides. That’s counteractive to good casting in cold conditions and makes it very easy for water to pile up and freeze the line guide shut.
As a result, I only use those rods when slightly warmer temps allow it.
My St Croix Avid tends to get the nod more often than not when fishing in below freezing temps due to the fact that it has larger line guides and as a result, freezes up less often.

And if you haven’t tried spraying your line with this stuff prior to leaving for the lake or river, it does help. No, it won’t eliminate ice freezing to your line but its just one more thing you can do to cut down on the amount of water pulled up your line and into the line guides.
For best results, spray it on the line on your reel and the line going thru the rod guides before leaving for the river while your at home or in the garage.
It won’t hurt any if you coat the rod guides as well.
Reel Magic

john23 wrote:

For jigs, I still use sensation and like it just fine.

x2. I use the Solar color. The line is consistent package to package and year to year. Some brands lack the consistency.

I use either 10lb Trilene XT or P-Line CXX on a baitcaster for cold weather blade fishing. Very little stretch in these lines when cold. Won’t work well on a spinning reel.

-J.

Baitcaster in the winter Ehg, got something new to try.

I’ll try some of that reel magic as well. Got a can laying in my dads garage he don’t use.

nhamm, Long before hard lines and braid came along, it was pretty much standard to use heavy mono for fishing blade baits. Up to 20lb mono in some cases. Give it a try! Might like it.

-J.

Had it out for a couple hours this AM. Stiff is right, but the CXX still casts an 1/8oz jig quite well. Seems the sensitivity ain’t there like Sensation. Give it a week or so, the knot strength sure isn’t like sufix or sensation.

Night bite is getting there, echo what rootski said, lower flow and double the clarity of last week, once the sun hit the horizon the eyes vanished and smallies showed themselves.

As long as you’re casting with spinning gear, have you tried Nanofil? I have several rods rigged with it, some from light crappie casting/jigging [3 & 4 pound] and a couple others for walleye jigging [6 pound]. It casts well and doesn’t seem to have the water issues of some of the other braids when used in real cold weather.

Some people aren’t crazy about Nano but I’d give it a try in, say, 6 or 8 pound. I like the stuff over any of the others except for the 832 where I think the two are very close.

I use 6 lb test Sensation for pitching jigs and use Sufix 832 6/2 superline for fishing blades. I’ll echo what Joel said as I use my St. Croix Avid as well for the precise reason that the guides are a little larger. The larger inserts obviously don’t allow your guides/line to freeze up as easily.

If you pitch jigs a majority of the time, I would give the nod to sensation. If you fish blades a majority of the time, the 832 is the preference. If you use both applications equally, then get another equally sensitive rod and reel combo to limit time your bait spends out of the water

The CXX is performing quite well. It is stiff, but casting mostly 3/16-1/4oz jigs most the time it gets out as far as I need it, and any further would be some pretty rough sensitivity and hook setting issues regardless of line.

Its larger diameter let’s those jigs hover ever so slightly better than the sensation 8#, and I know that’s helped as of late.

Do miss the sensitivity, but can’t say not having braid has lost me any fish, so far. It is fall and they are hitting the jigs with baseball bats so may change when the cold comes. But people caught fish before braid, and would maybe even jump up to 10-12# mono just BC I like the way the lure presents itself with bigger line.

CXX 8# turned into a wire below freezing. Terrible, be switching to Sensation.