When you’re on the water and trying to land that big fish for the day, understanding fishing line, knowing its good points and bad points can be the difference maker as to whether or not that big-un gets to the boat. One thing you can bet on is that not all fishing line is created equal, some of it is strong, thick, thin, and or stretches and you need to know where and how you can benefit from the differences. 

There are basically four types or general categories of fishing line; monofilament, copolymer, fluorocarbon, and braid. Monofilament has been around us for many years, it is the life line for many fishermen, it’s relatively strong, it floats it has some stretch and is generally hard to break, many say it is still the best all around line for fishing. Copolymer is a mixture of fluorocarbon and monofilament, meaning that this line has some stretch but not as much as mono, it is thinner than mono and resists breaking fairly good and it has a little more memory than mono, it also floats. Fluorocarbon is the thinnest of all the fishing lines, it requires a lot of maintenance, retying, checking for abrasions and replacement are very common when you use this line, but it sinks, it does not stretch and is great for deep water presentations on many deep water baits, like crank baits, shaky heads and jigs where sensitivity and line size is important to catch fish in clear lakes or pressured waters. Braid is the strongest of all the lines, it is just about maintenance free, although the sun does weaken it, it’s great for hauling big fish out of heavy cover, it does not stretch and has a long use life like no other line on the market. Braid can be thick and require a bigger profile reel to hold 75yds. Of line, where spooling out is very possible. 

All four of the lines have good points and bad ones, and there are many manufacturers of each available for you to purchase. Manufacturers do not make all these categories of line the same , they have different processes and use different mixtures of chemicals, the key is finding the one that fits your fishing needs; for me it’s Vicious Line!

Visit Capt. Mike Gerry at fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com