James RickardA quick review of Berkley FireLine
February 12th 2008 04:22
I like to practice what I preach so; you don’t have to worry about me being just a paper tiger. To that end, I recently checked out a boat show which had some fishing displays in addition to the boats.
Sad to say, it seems like they were catering to the saltwater crowd so, I really couldn’t pick their brains very much. However, there was one display that proved more valuable than I imagined—this was Takemefishing.org. Yes, it’s the outfit that tries to get kids on the water! They had a great display and I managed to come away with two spools of Berkely FireLine which they GAVE me.
Since I have over a mile of monofilament line sitting on the shelf waiting to be used, I don’t often get a chance to really put the newer lines to the test. However, since both spools were free and I recently had to replace the line on one of my reels, I’ll give you my impression.
FireLine handles better than other braided lines I've tried. Berkley says that it’s a “thermal filament fishing line.” All I know is that it’s super strong and I was looking forward to putting it to the test.
Aside from the yellow-green color, (I believe Berkley calls it "Flame Green") the very first thing you’ll notice is the diameter of the line. Each weight of line is much thinner than the corresponding weight in monofilament. What I received was 14 lb. test, which is about the same diameter as some of the 6 lb. line I've had. (My metric converter says 14 lb. is equal to 6.36 Kg. I take care of my friends! *G*)
I checked out what Berkley has to say about their line and it’s not the usual sales pitch. Fireline isn’t going to work in all cases, and they admit it. I like that!
As for knots, I’d have to go with what Berkley recommends and employ the Palomar. Happily, that’s one of the knots I use every day so, I’ve got no problem there! Where line strength is concerned, I must say that I’m impressed. First of all, unlike monofilament, there is NO stretch and you get every ounce of strength on the label. I’ve also tried their 30 lb. line and that was too strong for freshwater fishing. Maybe the next time I go to the shore?????
We’ve had some cold days lately so, I did some testing indoors. When it comes to breakage, with a Palomar knot, I wouldn’t worry about it! With the recommended knot, the line would break under stress before the knot slipped. I can’t say that for all line! To carry that idea further, I tried the line with other knots or even tried mis-tying the Palomar. The only problems I encountered while using the Palomar came when I deliberately mis-tied it. I’m no scientist but I can say that things went better than I expected but I’m going to stick with the Palomar because it’s so easy to tie. Other knots worked pretty well but I have to go with the recommendation!
I respooled and then went back a couple of days later to check things out and there was almost NO line memory. And then, when casting, it came off the spool so smoothly that I’m POSITIVE I was getting more distance on my casts!
The only gripe I have is that a person has to be careful when they spool their reel. Since FireLine is a finer diameter than what you may be used to, the same amount of line is going to take up less space on a reel. I can live with that!
Until next time--watch yourself and watch your line!
*FireLine image from berkleyfishing.com
Ya think the fact that things were slow had anything to do with getting free line?
Since I have over a mile of monofilament line sitting on the shelf waiting to be used, I don’t often get a chance to really put the newer lines to the test. However, since both spools were free and I recently had to replace the line on one of my reels, I’ll give you my impression.
FireLine handles better than other braided lines I've tried. Berkley says that it’s a “thermal filament fishing line.” All I know is that it’s super strong and I was looking forward to putting it to the test.
I checked out what Berkley has to say about their line and it’s not the usual sales pitch. Fireline isn’t going to work in all cases, and they admit it. I like that!
As for knots, I’d have to go with what Berkley recommends and employ the Palomar. Happily, that’s one of the knots I use every day so, I’ve got no problem there! Where line strength is concerned, I must say that I’m impressed. First of all, unlike monofilament, there is NO stretch and you get every ounce of strength on the label. I’ve also tried their 30 lb. line and that was too strong for freshwater fishing. Maybe the next time I go to the shore?????
We’ve had some cold days lately so, I did some testing indoors. When it comes to breakage, with a Palomar knot, I wouldn’t worry about it! With the recommended knot, the line would break under stress before the knot slipped. I can’t say that for all line! To carry that idea further, I tried the line with other knots or even tried mis-tying the Palomar. The only problems I encountered while using the Palomar came when I deliberately mis-tied it. I’m no scientist but I can say that things went better than I expected but I’m going to stick with the Palomar because it’s so easy to tie. Other knots worked pretty well but I have to go with the recommendation!
I respooled and then went back a couple of days later to check things out and there was almost NO line memory. And then, when casting, it came off the spool so smoothly that I’m POSITIVE I was getting more distance on my casts!
The only gripe I have is that a person has to be careful when they spool their reel. Since FireLine is a finer diameter than what you may be used to, the same amount of line is going to take up less space on a reel. I can live with that!
Until next time--watch yourself and watch your line!
*FireLine image from berkleyfishing.com
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