How to make fluorocarbon behave

You’ve heard it sinks like a brick and it’s difficult for carp to detect underwater – so you think great, I’ll have a bit of that and buy yourself a bulk spool of fluorocarbon main line. Great so far, but this is normally when the common problems associated with this type of monofilament line can often begin… Issues such as the line ‘coiling’ and falling off the front of the loaded reel at will, frapping on the cast, and twisting to name but a few. After all these ball-aches it’s not normally long before you’re re-spooling with a more user-friendly line, having not taken full advantage of the superb qualities mentioned earlier. However, with a little care taken to follow the important points and processes shown here, these lines can be used to their full potential quite easily.

1 Start by soaking the bulk spool of line in a bowl or bucket of warm water to make it supple and reduce the line memory. So the line memory is not increased make sure the line is coming off in an anti-clockwise direction before spooling-up.

2 The wet line can be held under tension as you wind without burning your fingers, helping to prevent the line ‘coiling off’.

3 Finish spooling-up just short of full. This will prevent the line coming off too quickly during the cast and ‘frapping’.

Three more points...

1 STRETCH THE LINE: Every few sessions give the line a stretch to remove the ‘coils’ and memory it can gain from being held on the reel, to help prevent ‘frapping’ around the rod guides. Tie a loop in the end and place around a secure bivvy peg or bankstick. Walk out at least 40yds of line; do up the reel clutch and gently stretch the line. NEVER do this with a lead attached! If the lead came loose it could spring back towards you at a lethally high speed.

2 FISH A SLACK LINE: Heavy fluorocarbon wants to sink, that’s its unavoidable nature and one of the qualities you should promote. So fish to its strengths by playing off line until an attached bobbin no longer lifts as the line sinks. The line will then hug the contours of the lakebed, where it will be nigh-on invisible. If you prefer a tight line and still want to use fluorocarbon its probably best to use it as a leader material and not as the main line.

3 KEEP IT CLEAN: Due to the lines heavy, sinking qualities much of the line will lie within the sediment on the bottom which over time can have a corrosive effect upon the line, thus weakening it in the last few rod lengths. The section of line close to the bank, up and off the bottom will also collect drifting sediment to colour the line. Simply clean the line and remove any dirt by reeling it through a wet cloth or ‘unscented’ wet wipe soaked in lake water.