braided fishing line question?

[thebandit]

how long does braided fishing line last? does it ever degrade and become weak?

thanks

[bugman]

I've had some of the original Spiderwire from 1998 on my Penn 330gti.

It's bashed it's way through a hell of a hiding and I reckon is as good as the day it came out of the box.

I reckon I've lost 20 yards of the 300 yards on the original spool, I cry every time a huge fish takes me down to backing.

It's happened three times - all that money out there beyond your control.

Best thing I ever bought.

Bugman

[Jack_Lives_Here]

I've been running braid on my spin gear for the last 5 months and have noticed some feathering - still strong as hell.
On the baitcaster I've been using two major brands now for in excess of 3 years and have only lost 5-10 yards from each.
I don't think salwater deteriorates the stuff - pulled in snags that have had it wrapped around and it had obviously been there a long time.

Can relate to what Brett said about going to backing - expensive when it goes ping!

[mackmauler]

Brett, 3 times ???, remember that runaway snapper lead that day at wide pt lookout ;D

[Lucky_Phill]

Yes, braid does deteriorate.

You'll find that it goes a white-ish colour. #That's when you know it's losing its strength and about to pop below it's line class. #More noticable at the knot, ie:- your knots will break easier.

Mine last lot lasted four years before I replaced it. #Could have gone on more years with a bit of TLC and less drag. I have 3 years on my current spool and am starting to see #the colour change now.

Depends how often you wet it and how much it stays in the sun.

And Jack is also on the money with the " feathering " post.

To know when it's going, rig up from new and test the knots. #Keep testing ( not on big fish ) every few months.

;D # # # # #;) # # # # # # #8) # # # # # # ::)

[Fitzy]

Hi Guys,
Poly Ethylene lines, be they braided or fused, are far superior to monofilament lines in the longevity stakes. I think true braids are better than fused. It is far better in UV resistance, memory & absasion resistance.
It is quite easy to notice when poly-ethylene lines are fraying. The basic color of the denier is an off white, so when any braids loose their color is only means the dye is either fading or simply loosing its color. Fading braids does not mean they are weakening or deteriorating. Fraying is what you need to look for. The color (dye) is only there to aid angler visibility of the line.
Anthing under 10 or 12 pound I run fused, for everything else I got to true braids.
For mine the best 2 braided lines on the market are Penn Power Braid & Bionic Braid. Bionic being an Aussie product is very popular. (Buy Aussie ;D )
Can get it online directly from Rod (Harro) Harrison's website at http://www.harro.com.au

Cheers,

Fitzy..
http://www.harro.com.au/images/bionicspool.jpg

[Steve_Ooi]

Basically everything degrades it the law of entropy, things will move for a state of organisation to a state of chaos, unless energy is applied.
The main degradation of braid come about from fibre fractures , polyethylene is of high modulus and doesn’t like very acute radius’s , while Max Garth has been telling folks of this for some time , very few people ever take any notice of this truth he’s been preaching…
This high modulus is one of reasons why gelspun doesn’t perform well in knots. The second reason its very slippery.
The discolouration of polyethylene to white is cause by the fact that it is extremely inert, in pervious to a lot of chemicals and dyes, and hydrophobic (repels water) so colour wont hold on it for very long, and over time it will come off. The fact the braid may go white does not mean that the integrity of line is lessen. If you took the paint off your car it doesn’t mean it won’t go as fast.
But the feathering of fluffing does mean the fibre are fracturing and are breaking and the line integrity is weakening, weakened to what strength is all subjective and it still may perform well enough to use for sometime to come , but be aware of it.

All lines whether nylon, dacron or gelspun braids need to be looked after and checked regularly , to help avoid that horrible parting noise they make as a fish swims off into the horizon.

Steve Ooi

[rick k]

Hey Steve,

I dunno about that high modulus stuff; plenty of very flexible plastic bags made out of polyethylene.

I do agree it doesn't like abrasion. I only use it for the low stretch.

[rick k]

of course the Bandit raises another excellent point; don't leave the stuff lying around

[Steve_Ooi]

Plastic bags are made from crossed linked polyethylene of a lower modulus (LMWPE) the molecular alignment is not as organised as the ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (uhmwpe ) which is linear orientated and is used in gelspun fishing lines. So they exhibit different properties.
Can’t exactly remember but I think that the modulus of uhmw pe is higher than that of fibreglass.
Most knots fail at the first critical bend and the more acute that bend is generally high the failure rate will be. By looking at the two most known 100 % knots (bimini and the plait) you can see that the leading line going into these knot follows a path that does not contain many tight radius bends, the reasons why these knots hold so well,
the pressure applied to the main line is spread over a proportionally larger distance than in other knots. But still the low coefficient friction of braid makes it hard for the knot to hold, so extra turns are needed when tying gelspun braid as compared to nylon. Still because of this slippery factor, you won’t get a 100 percent knot.
How slippery is polyethylene ? well slippery enough to make fake ice skating rinks that you can skate on. It molecular structure is in many way similar to that of polytetrafluoroethylene( trade mark name teflon ) and that helps in some ways explain why gelspun fishing line is so slippery and chemically inert.

Steve Ooi

[Lucky_Phill]

To clarify my post in regard to " white " line. Over the years, it appears to me that by the time the line is going white, it has started to " feather " therefore, lose it's strength. or as Steve puts ? What was that you said about molecules and thingies............. ???

As with any line, I suppose, the more it's in the sun, the faster it'll deteriorate.. ;)

[thebandit]

thanks guys, for responses.

[Muzzy]

Your a nerd poon ;D

Mr Bandit,

If ya have ya self a couple of reels. You can prolong the life of ya braid (IMHO) by rotating it like ya do a tyre on a car.
What me means to say is, if you were to take the braid from one reel to a empty spool. It goes on in a back to front manner at which it came off. So you can rotate your braid from reel to reel (put it on back to front). Ya then get all that pretty stuff that still has all its colour, and rarley gets used, as its on the spool most of the time. Cause if you dont do that then I can always see you throwing out a half worn line...


Muzwald