Disappearing act!

When it comes to hiding your presence from wary carp, fluorocarbon is a game-changer! From the moment it was introduced to an awe-struck carp world, this special main line material has been helping us fool our quarry, by the thousand!

Fluoro offers two huge advantages over conventional monofilament: it sinks like a brick, and is really hard for fish to see underwater. When these two attributes combine, you can see why carp have such a hard time rumbling our traps when using it!

The fluorocarbon breakthrough came when boffins discovered a way to manufacture line that refracts light in a way that’s almost identical to water itself. Prove it for yourself by dropping some fluorocarbon into the edge of a clear pit – it just vanishes. Now, to our mind, that is just about the biggest advance in main line technology since we moved away from cat gut and horse hair!

It just so happened that this new line was much denser than conventional monos too, allowing it to hug the lakebed to a degree that makes normal lines look a bit silly! Given time and slack to allow them to sink, most fluorocarbons will actually embed into the lakebed detritus. You can feel this when you come to reel in – the line will ‘ping’ out of the weed as you tighten it. A careful carp approaching your carefully laid trap will literally be none the wiser, even if they’re the equivalent of Oxford-educated, line-shy beasts.

There’s always a catch though, right? Well, for years, fluorocarbons used to be tough to cast long-range. Their sheer weight and slight linear stiffness placed them second best for those looking for extra yardage. Luckily for you, performance lines like Berkley CF600 cast much, much better than those early fluoros, allowing you to truly harness the powers of this special type of line.

However, to get the best out of fluorocarbon, you need to look after it – so here’s five top tips to getting the most from this amazing main line…

Fluoro offers two huge advantages over conventional mono: it sinks like a brick, and is really hard for fish to see underwater

Top tips for fluoro

1. Keep it clean
There’s literally no point having an invisible line if you allow it to become stained and covered in dried-on sediment. Luckily, there’s a simple fix. At the end of your session, simply reel your lines through a damp cloth to remove the gunge!

To get the most out of your fluorocarbon, you need to keep it really clean

2. Double up!
Try using a heavier breaking-strain fluorocarbon leader above your rig. It’ll offer plenty of abrasion resistance and sink well too, while blending in much better than leadcore!

3. Don’t forget to streeeeeeeetch!
If you haven’t used it for a while, your main line can become coiled. To get it nice and limp, ready for casting, wrap your lead around a peg and stretch the last 40yds of line, before winding it back onto the reel.

Given time and slack to allow them to sink, most fluorocarbons will actually embed into the lakebed detritus

4. Let it sink!
Cast out, but DO NOT clip your bobbins on straight away. Instead, keep paying out slack until the line doesn’t tighten under its own weight. Then you can set your rods for the night, safe in the knowledge that your line is nestled into the lakebed!

5. Treat it as an investment!
Fluorocarbon ain’t the cheapest mono around, with good reason. It’s streets ahead technologically speaking, so make sure you look after your line to justify the outlay. Keep it clean, and store out of direct sunlight to make sure you get at least a year out of your purchase!

Performance lines like Berkley’s new CF600 cast much, much better than early fluoros, allowing you to truly harness the powers of this special type of line