Owen:

Those are some good questions.

I really like a fiberglass rod for the cast, but a graphite one for the retrieve. I haven't found one that does both, yet. The sensitivity of the graphite rod is great for feeling the bottom or the fish. I just haven't figured out how to cast the graphites as well as the fiberglass ones I grew up with. They always seem to have a faster action than I am accustomed to.

Fireline is great, but it has its drawbacks. All of the things Skip, Mark, and Dave have said has been my experience, too. It's very strong and sensitive, it casts like spider silk, but it's a pain in the but to cut with clippers or scissors, and it is a pain to tie knots with. Part of my problem with tying knots has to do with failing eyesight and other age related maladies, but it is not as easy to handle as mono. I've found that the Palomar knot is the easiest to tie and is strong, even with the light Firelines. Don't use it with light mono.

In spite of a couple of negatives, I use Fireline almost exclusively these days. Strength is the number one reason, although sensitivity and castability are almost as important. The stuff is unbelievably strong. I use what they call 6 or 8 pound Fireline. It seems to have a tensile strength of 20+ pounds, and a diameter similar to 2-4 pound monofilament line.

It gives me the ability to cast a high strength line with an ultralight spinning rig. With it, I can yank a snagged lure out of heavy cover. It can straighten out a light hook and cause it to release, or bring a log jam back to the boat (or your boat to the log jam).

Last year I fished with a group that hired a professional guide on a lake famed for big LMB. The guide snickered at my ultralight rig and offerrred me one of his "telephone pole with cable" rigs. I turned it down, even though it was obvious we would be fishing among many submerged trees and other snags.

We didn't catch as many big bass as I had hoped, but my ultralight Fireline rig performed better than the baitcasting rigs on that trip and comfortably landed many bass including two 5+ pound fish with relative ease.

One additional problem I should mention is that once you get hung up, it is a bear pulling the sucker free.

…Tom

Posted by Tom Swulius on February 19, 2000 at 03:13