Nor’east Saltwater’s Surf Editor takes a look at Berkeley’s popular line.
As I look at the surf gear hanging in my garage, I find it interesting to note the changes in fishing equipment that have occurred over the past 15 years. The stainless rod guides have given way to aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. My favorite Fiberglas surf rods have been replaced by lighter and more sensitive graphite models. Even the rubber waders and foul weather tops are being pushed aside by neoprene.
There have been a lot of changes to the way Nor’east Saltwater anglers fish the surf, but if I had to choose the one new development to have the greatest impact on my personal surf fishing, it would be the Berkeley FireLine that is quickly replacing the monofilament line on my reels.
Berkeley’s describes the line as "a thermal filament fishing line made from MicroDyneema." My description is a little less technical, but more to the point for surfcasters — a very thin line with almost no stretch and incredible abrasion resistance.
It never occurred to me how much monofilament line stretches until I used FireLine for a few weeks. When I tried going back to mono, it felt like I was fishing with a long rubber band! I distinctly remember attempting to set the hook on a bucktail into a Moriches Inlet fish and thinking how "soft" the hookset felt. I dropped the fish and swore that I was done bucktailing with mono.
FireLine is excellent for fishing bucktails. Its lack of stretch gives the increased sensitivity that allows you to easily feel when the jig is tapping the bottom. It also makes it very easy to tell when you have a hit.
Even more important is FireLine’s ability to provide a solid hookset.
Consider the conditions that exist when you’re bucktailing a South Shore inlet. The jig is usually working fairly deep and the strong current pushes a belly in the line. Even if you’re holding an 11-foot rod in the 9 o’clock position ready to strike, it’s difficult to transmit the hookset through the belly and the elasticity of the line.
Whatever force finally does make it to the fish needs to drill a fairly large hook into the mouth of what is most likely a sizable bass. While monofilament line often accomplishes the task, I’ve experienced an increased hookup to strike ratio that has convinced me that FireLine does it better.
Although I originally started using FireLine for bucktailing, I quickly found myself using it for plugging the boulder-strewn beaches of the North Shore. I wasn’t sure if it had any advantages over mono for fishing light plugs until a teen-size bass I had on went around a rock. I could feel the line scraping against the rock and I was certain it would break at any second. The fish soon tired. I managed to gain back the line and clear the rock. When I landed the fish, I was all set to cut back on the frayed line, but after a careful inspection, I couldn’t find any damage. I didn’t bother to re-tie, and I continued to catch nice fish without a break-off.
My favorite application for FireLine is eeling the North Shore with my 9-foot plug rod. For this task, FireLine allows me to throw an eel a good distance with a line strong enough to horse 20- to 30-pound fish around rocks. It also allows me to achieve adequate hooksets on large fish despite using a relatively light rod.
By now you’re probably convinced that I am being paid off by Berkeley to hype their product, but no one product can do it all in the surf. FireLine has its drawbacks as well.
Although I use it to eel rugged areas, I switch back to mono when eeling obstruction-free waters. While increased sensitivity is often a plus, I feel it can also be a liability when live-lining. Sure, I feel the fish more, but I also often have the impression that the fish feels me, too. This can lead to a higher percentage of fish dropping the eel immediately after the pickup. It’s not only my perception. Other anglers I’ve chatted with reported similar experiences.
While FireLine cuts very nicely through water, it seems to catch a lot of air. The first time I noticed this was on a North Fork point where I needed to make fairly long casts through a strong cross-wind in order to reach the fish. The problem was that the wind created a large belly in the line, and I had to be careful about loops getting caught on the spool when I engaged the bail. Despite this annoyance, my distance didn’t suffer much, and I still seemed to be having an easier time setting the hook than the anglers using monofilament line.
It has also been my observation that FireLine loses its strength with use. Before I ever spooled the new line, I did some breaking tests, and I found that FireLine broke under about the same amount of pressure as the equivalent monofilament line for the three different pound tests that I tried. After a few good trips, I noticed that the line had a worn appearance. I did the breaking tests again, and found that the line had lost some of its strength.
For example, the 20-pound-test broke at about 26 pounds when it was fresh out of the package. After significant use, it broke at around 20 pounds. Since I was fishing an obstruction-free area with new aluminum oxide guides, I could not attribute this loss of strength to anything other than normal use.
This isn’t really as bad as it sounds. Since FireLine is so thin, I can compensate by using a higher pound test than I normally would if I were using monofilament. Instead of using 20-pound-test on my 11-foot South Shore outfit, I now spool it with 30-pound-test FireLine and due to its fine diameter, I don’t sacrifice much casting distance by upgrading the strength.
There are other factors to consider as well:
1:FireLine’s knot strength can be a problem, if you don’t use the right kind of knot. I use a Palomar knot and have never had any problems.
2:The line can cut into your spool under extreme pressure. You can eliminate this problem by firmly applying pressure when first spooling on the line and backing.
3: I have heard rumors that FireLine will cut stainless steel guides. Since I no longer use stainless guides, I checked with Stan Hentschel from The Rocky Point Fishing Stop who is a well-respected local rod builder. Stan said that he could not confirm whether or not FireLine has a problem with these guides, but commented that lines manufactured from Kevlar did cause grooving. I think it’s worth pointing out that even monofilament cuts stainless, so it would not be surprising if FireLine did the same.
Another negative rumor I have heard about the new superlines is that it is easier to break a rod with them. Stan confirmed the rumor. Since these lines are so thin, some anglers make the mistake of spooling their rods with lines much stronger than what the rod calls for. Common sense tells us that if you load a rod built for 20-pound-test line with 50-pound-test, then lock the drag on a large fish, something is going to give. Most likely that something will be the rod, but I don’t consider this to be a fault of the line or the rod.
Finally, FireLine may seem a bit expensive when compared to monofilament. My experience has been that when you’re fishing plugs, particularly in rocky areas, it pays for itself by saving you the cost of having to replace all of the lures that would have been cut off if you were using mono.
I also find that I tend to change my line much less frequently with FireLine, so while it is more expensive per yard, I don’t use as much over the course of a season.
FireLine is definitely gaining in popularity. This past season, I encountered quite a few anglers using it for a variety of situations, and received some high opinions about it. Saltwater fishing tackle seems to be evolving more rapidly these days, and it no longer pays for any of us to stay set in our ways. Anglers seeking to improve their score next season should consider giving this relatively new product a try in the Nor’east surf.o
|
