Cold Weather Spinning Line?

[KenH]

The recent freezing temperatures had me fishing with ice clogging my guides, and most
annoyingly, my Stren Magnathin line coiling up, which it never does in warm weather.
Ive been looking around te net to see if there is an alternative spinning line for cold
weather and unfortunately the few that are out there seem to be designed to be used
for ice fishing and come only in 100-110 yard pony spools.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I was wondering what those hardcore steelhead fishermen
who fish salmon river in January use. Surely icing must be a problem for them.
Any opinions would be appreciated.

[VinnyH]

I don't have any technical know-how but I may try Spiderwire braid since it has a coating that may hinder the water absorption and icing.

The ice in the guides may be unavoidable since it's probably runoff water from the line anyway. I wonder if you could spray something on your guides when you go out in sub freezing weather.

Best to All,
Vinny

[KenH]

Thanks for the input Vinnie. I tried spiderwire whenn it first came out and couldn't
quite adjust to the slipperiness and decided braided wasn't for spinning. But poking around
the net I see now that there are quite a few people using braided for spinning. And you are
certainly right in that it doesn't react to cold like mono. I may try a spool to see how I like it.
Do you have any experience with Flourocarbon lines on spinning reels in cold weather?

Ken

[VinnyH]

My guess on fluorocarbon is that it may be the worst of the choices. It has such a supple (sp) quality that I'd expect it to freeze quicker.

I forgot to mention but if you get 20lb braid it's like 4-6lb mono so it's really thin on a spinning setup. I think I had braid that was equal to 2lb test thickness, it was probably 8-12ln braid.

Best Always,
Vinny

[KenH]

I've always thought of braided was for baitcasting reels and fluorocarbon was a stiff
leader material. But cruising accross the net I find that i"m old fashioned when
it comes to the current hi-tech fishing stuff. I've decided to give P-line CX premium
a try having read reports of its use as a main spinning line. I'll probably try a braided
as well if that doesn't pan out. The lower diameter I'm seeing on both is good for
castability anyway. We'll see about the flexibility. Of course now that we're past the
freezing cold front the old magnathin will probably hold just fine till then.
I'll post a report on the flurocarbon for spinning eventually. I figure I'm either going
to love it or hate it.

[KenH]

In case anyone is interested I tested the P-Line CX Fluorcarbon coated line on my Okuma
Avenger Spinning reel. As expected, it gave me a line that was stiffer than straight mono
but softer than straight flurocarbon. I noticed that despite it's thin diameter of .23mm as
compared to Stren Magnathin (mono) which is advertised as .23mm (although the spool
says .24mm), I found that the Stren Magnathin casts a bit farther probably due to the
slight stiffness of the P-Line CX. Stength is the same. Also tHe P-Line CX sinks quicker after
a cast than mono as expected. I also found no need to resort to a Uni knot as a clinch seemed
to hols quite well. Like full fluorocarbon lines, the P-Line CX is ultra sensitive with no stretch,
so hits are hard and immediately felt. Unfortunately every little bump with the bottom or
structure also feels exactly like a light fish hit so I found myself reacting too often.
On Sunday morning when it was cold enough to snow, I found that the P-Line does tend to
hold a bit of memory and displays a bit of coil, however it's far less than mono and
the characteristics of the line itself weren't affected.
 

 

[biggamee]

Hey is 15lb flurocarbon too heavy for trolling spoons and crankbaits??? As a leader???

[KenH]

15 lb test Fluro is good for a leader.
10-12 lb Fluro is ideal for a trolling mainline.