Changing your mainline at the start of the season.
One of the first things and the most important when getting yourself ready for the new season is your reel lines. It's no good starting fishing if you have line on then that is a couple of years old and hasn't been cleaned since you last took them out. Not only will the top layers of the spool be effected by natural wear to the line but the surface of the line will start to break down over a period and make the line brittle. Imagine hooking into a fish and it being a new personal best only to have it snap off and loose the fish at the net all because you didn't look after your reel line or change it ready for the new season to begin.
Before you go stripping all your line off and spending a fortune on new, firstly you don't always have to replace your mainline. If used for one or two seasons why not reverse it onto another reel and use the other end of the line. This will save you money. Also i find if you look after your line by winding it through a damp cloth at end of the session to remove any surface film from the lake water it will last longer and you get a couple of seasons out of it. Also by trimming off 10 meters after each session removes the main part of the line that is under the most tension during a fight. These steps help to make the line last longer and the pennies go further.
It will eventually come to the point where you have to change your mainline but with so many good lines on the market which do you choose.?
I Find when choosing the mainline you need to use a bit of common sense and also avoid the hype that more expensive means better performance. I think about the types of water i am going to be fishing and whether there is going to be loads of snags or weed and the average size of fish that the waters hold. I also think about the size of the water and how far i need to fish. When i have thought about these points i then decide on 2 mainlines. One for fishing distance and one for fishing snags. Having 2 different lines also helps when fishing waters you have never visited before.
Choosing the line is the hardest part as there is many good makes on the market so i think its down to personal preference. Try to find out as much as you can about the line you are going to use and read some of the user reviews to see what they also thought about it. You can buy a certain brand that has always had a good track record or you can follow the crowds and buy the latest release on the market. I personally look at the actual breaking strain for the type of line it is and choose one that will give me the best performance.
In casting i am looking for ultra low diameter and high strength and must be very subtle for casting, the smoother the better.
For snaggy and weedy venues i like to have a line that will sink quickly, is very dense and is very abrasion resistant. The stronger the better.
Most fisheries insist on a standard breaking strain of no less than 15 lb be used on the water but that doesn't actually mean it has to be 15 lb line. Most modern mono and fluorocarbons actually break well above there stated strength so a 10 lb mono line can break at over 15 lb. This helps when choosing a good line for casting distance and i found that a 12 lb line gives you the distance and the strength at the same time.
There are web sites where you can look up the different breaking strains and tests that companies have done to see the actual performance. I have taken some results and included them below. These tests were done on 10 different spools of each line and samples taken from front , middle and end of each spool at which point they took the average breaking strain from each sample.
BS ActualBS DIAMETER Actual DIAMETER
FOX Soft Steel
8lb 11.88lb 0.27mm 0.27mm
10lb 14.88lb 0.30mm 0.30mm
12lb 17.88lb 0.34mm 0.34mm
15lb 22.63lb 0.39mm 0.39mm
Shimano Catana
8lb 14.13lb 0.28mm 0.28mm
10lb 16lb 0.30mm 0.30mm
12lb 18.88lb 0.33mm 0.33mm
15lb 20.5lb 0.35mm 0.35mm
Nash Bullet XT
10lb 13.63lb 0.29mm 0.30mm
12lb 18.75lb 0.35mm 0.35mm
15lb 24.5lb 0.38mm 0.40mm
18lb 31.5lb 0.43mm 0.45mm
Sufix Synergy
10lb 12.38lb 0.28mm 0.28mm
12lb 12.75lb 0.30mm 0.30mm
15lb 18.25lb 0.35mm 0.34mm
20lb 25.63lb 0.40mm 0.41mm
Daiwa Sensor Brown
6lb 8.5lb 0.235mm 0.22mm
8lb 10.75lb 0.26mm 0.25mm
10lb 14.63lb 0.31mm 0.30mm
12lb 16.5lb 0.33mm 0.32mm
15lb 17.63lb 0.37mm 0.36mm
Daiwa Sensor Clear
8lb 10.12lb 0.26mm 0.25mm
10lb 15.87lb 0.31mm 0.30mm
12lb 16.75lb 0.33mm 0.32mm
15lb 21.37lb 0.37mm 0.35mm
ESP Carp Mono
8lb 13.63lb 0.30mm 0.29mm
10lb 16lb 0.32mm 0.32mm
12lb 17lb 0.35mm 0.34mm
15lb 22.13lb 0.37mm 0.36mm
18lb 26.13lb 0.40mm 0.41mm
Gardner GT 80 Dark
10lb 14.15lb 0.30mm 0.30mm
12lb 17.5lb 0.35mm 0.34mm
15lb 21.25lb 0.40mm 0.40mm
Gardner GT 80 Light
10lb 14lb 0.30mm 0.30mm
12lb 17.25lb 0.35mm 0.33mm
15lb 20.75lb 0.40mm 0.39mm
Kryston-ite
8lb 8.62lb 0.25mm 0.24mm
10lb 13.62lb 0.29mm 0.28mm
12lb 13.75lb 0.31mm 0.30mm
15lb 16.12lb 0.36mm 0.35mm
18lb 22.5lb 0.41mm 0.40mm
TFG Gunsmoke Carp
6lb 7.5lb 0.245mm 0.24mm
8lb 10.87lb 0.275mm 0.27mm
10lb 14.5lb 0.303mm 0.29mm
12lb 17.5lb 0.355mm 0.345mm
15lb 22.62lb 0.399mm 0.40mm
Big Game Clear
14.8lb 13.38lb 0.31mm 0.29mm
18.3lb 17.75lb 0.36mm 0.34mm
22.8lb 22.38lb 0.38mm 0.38mm
Big Game Green
14.8lb 13.88lb 0.31mm 0.30mm
18.3lb 15.75lb 0.36mm 0.34mm
22.8lb 20.75lb 0.38mm 0.38mm
Big Game (Carp) Brown
14.8lb 13.63lb 0.31mm 0.29mm
18.3lb 17.63lb 0.36mm 0.34mm
22.8lb 21.5lb 0.38mm 0.38mm
GL Pro Gold
6lb 8.38lb 0.255mm 0.24mm
8lb 11.38lb 0.28mm 0.27mm
10lb 11.88lb 0.305mm 0.29mm
12lb 17.5lb 0.355mm 0.35mm
15lb 22lb 0.38mm 0.38mm
GL Pro Clear
10lb 12.13lb 0.26mm 0.26mm
12lb 14.5lb 0.29mm 0.29mm
16lb 19.75lb 0.34mm 0.34mm
20lb 24.75lb 0.40mm 0.38mm
Fox Warrior Mono
10lb 14.88lb 0.33mm 0.33mm
12lb 16.13lb 0.35mm 0.35mm
15lb 20.5lb 0.38mm 0.38mm
Fox Soft Steel Camo
10lb 13.25lb 0.30mm 0.29mm
12lb 17.25lb 0.34mm 0.34mm
15lb 22.63lb 0.39mm 0.37mm
GL TXS Mono
10lb 10.5lb 0.32mm 0.31mm
12lb 13.88lb 0.35mm 0.35mm
15lb 13.63lb 0.37mm 0.37mm
Drennan Double Strength
8lb 8lb 0.22mm 0.22mm
10lb 9.63lb 0.235mm 0.24mm
12lb 10lb 0.26mm 0.27mm
15lb 13.37lb 0.285mm 0.29mm
Sufix Magic Touch
8lb 12.25lb 0.25mm 0.28mm
10lb 14lb 0.28mm 0.29mm
12lb 16.88lb 0.30mm 0.35mm
15lb 21.75lb 0.35mm 0.40mm
Sufix Memory Free Black
15lb 15.88lb Unstated 0.38mm
20lb 23.75lb Unstated 0.45mm
FLUOROCARBON X Line
12lb 9.38lb 0.26mm 0.28mm
15lb 10.25lb 0.31mm 0.29mm
17lb 11.13lb 0.33mm 0.31mm
20lb 12.63lb 0.37mm 0.35mm
Once i have decided on the line that i am going to use it is time to re-spool those reels. If you are reversing line from one spool to the other this is straight forward and a matter of reeling it straight off the spool onto the other.
If i am re-spooling the lines completely then you should soak the new line in warm water, preferably over night, to ensure the line is at its most subtle for when its spooled onto the reel. This ensures the best possible line lay. Leaving the spool in the bowl / bucket, attach the line to the spool using either an “Arbor” knot or “Grinner” and then using a damp cloth to keep tension in the line start cranking the handle and loading the line. After about 20 turns of the handle STOP!
Take a look at how the line is running up the rod and through the rod eye. If its running straight then everything is fine. If it suddenly wraps around the rod eye then the line has twisted and all you need to do is turn over the spool of line in the bowl / bucket so the label is facing the opposite direction and continue to reel the line on. Remember to check every now and again for line twist and adjust accordingly.
(when filling your reel always use your fingers or cloth to keep tension on the line)
When filling your reels i always recommend that you fill them right to the lip of the spool. This gives the best casting performance as the line leaves the reel. Filling some reels can end up very expensive so its a good idea to use old line as backing and half fill your reels with the old line before putting the new on top. This means you will use less line and will cost less to re-do all your reels with new the new line.
It doesn't matter whether you are a specimen angler, hobbyist or a match angler these steps work no matter what size the reel or strength of line you use. Taking care of your line and spooling it onto the reel in the correct manner not only helps to make the line last longer but means it performs how it should and will always ensure good line lay on the spool. This also aids with casting at distance as the line leaves the spool smoothly with less resistance. It also means your line is 100% when you have that fish of a life time attached to the other end.
