Monofilament Fishing Line
Monofilament fishing line has been around for some 70 years now. The first stuff wasn't the greatest. With new technology and manufacturing processes, monofilament has become the most widely used line of all. One of the benefits of this line is its stretch. When you hook into a slammer bass, you need to play it out a bit. A line with a test of about 90% of the weight of your target fish is how to pick your mono. Realistically, a 10 pound bass is on the high side of what you will usually catch. So matched with a good rod and reel combo, you will only need 8 to 10 pound test. The strength requirements go up with cover situations. Wood and heavy weeds will require a monofilament line from 15 upwards of 20 pound test. Due to its soft composition, monofilament fishing line is the choice for a spinning reel combination. It lays down nicely on the reel, even with heaver test line. It does have significant memory though. After a couple of weeks your line will be one endless curl sitting on top of the water. That means it's time to change it. Monofilament is cheap so changing line shouldn't be an issue. It also degrades quickly in UV light and absorbs water which will cause it to float. The line should be changed often for these reasons too. It may sound like a lot of faults, but these are just facts about the material. A spool of fresh monofilament should be easy casting and trouble free. A small diameter will let you catch a good sized bass in open water. It works great with tiny baits on the smallest reels. So it has a great number of good qualities. You just have to know the rules. Different polymers have been added these days to enhance it as well. You can now find “extra tough or XT”, extra limp and so on. Blending pure monofilament with other ingredients give some fluorocarbon qualities like super sensitivity and good light refraction. Lines come in several colors such as green, blue and even clear to match the water being fished. These are inexpensive to produce so it makes them very affordable to most anglers. The most important thing to remember with monofilament fishing line is to change it often. Also relieving line twist will help the life of the line. Letting your lure spin and relieve itself when you pick it out of the water will help. The use of swivels where possible is a great help too. A final step is inspect your line for nicks and retie lures often. After every time you catch a bass, retie your knots. You won't suffer the agony of the break-off!
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