Fresh Line Doesn’t Fail
My wife is off to the sweltering south to visit with two of our three sons as well as our two grandkids. I’m alone at home with our young Lab, Hobbes, a long to-do list and a pile of dirty tackle. My skiff is outside awaiting a good scrubbing, and there are a couple of disassembled reels on the dining room table.
Halfway through our Chesapeake fishing season, which has turned out to be a surprisingly good one, I am totally disorganized. I’ve got some catching up to do. As with a lot of anglers, my favorite outfits are the most neglected. Why clean them if you’re simply going to trash them again tomorrow?
I changed out most of my lines well before the season started. But a few of my rigs look like they may need changing out again. The shine has mostly gone off some lines’ finish, the spools are starting to show some edge from line loss due to snags, cownose ray hookings and my habit of cutting off the first 15 feet or so every second or third outing.
Over the years, I have reduced my big fish losses and maintained my tackles’ operational status significantly by following one axiom. Fresh line doesn’t fail. Knots are stronger, tests are more uniform, suppleness is more consistent. I know, when the chips are down, I can put a lot of pressure on a fish with new line without worrying about old flaws or damage somewhere deep in the spool’s reserve.
Relying to a great extent on monofilament lines, particularly for baitfishing, I’ve found them more productive and useful than most other types. I take advantage of another of their more prominent virtues: it’s inexpensive. When you can respool a reel with high quality mono for just a couple of bucks, it would be foolish to risk a big fish (line rarely fails on little ones) for the sake of economy.
Yet I have seen quite a few well-heeled anglers with spools half-full of mono with the powdered finish of advanced age, spools with line lumps indicating buried knots, old backlashes or worse.
Inquiring as to the line’s integrity invariably evinces answers like, It’s still good … I’ve caught a lot of fish with it … seems to be holding up and similar rationales. However, these anglers are putting themselves and their tackle in prime position to fail. If you wait for a line break as an indicator to upgrade, you will experience some form of angling disaster. Not a good policy.
Keeping your reels filled with fresh, undamaged line is actually the best return on a small investment that an angler can make. When you consider the cost of a boat, gasoline, bait, tackle prices, transportation and hours invested, the cost of your line is the most minuscule part of your fishing portfolio, even though it is arguably, the most critical.
There is also one important caveat to the fresh line scenario, and that is beware of bargains. All of the advantages of maintaining your line in top condition depend on fresh, good-quality line. Avoid clearance sales, check manufacture dates and query the sales staff.
Even without clearance sales there is a lot of variability in the price of lines. Bulk bargain monofilament may cost less than one cent a yard, while a high quality mono can cost multiples of that.
What do you get for the extra money? Quality lines have many expensive additives during manufacture that maintain their performance levels longer, make them easier to handle and hold up better under adverse conditions.
Fish Finder
The rockfish bite is holding, though the size of the stripers is steadily descending toward the 19-inch minimum legal size and below. The Bay Bridge still holds fish, but also not many of any size. More discerning anglers are heading into the Eastern Bay and also farther north in search of more challenging fish.
Trolling medium bucktails and soft plastics is catching larger rockfish. So is jigging over marked schools. The hot weather makes catch-and-release a high mortality exercise, and anglers are advised against it though it is still legal.
White perch have become more abundant, but their sizes are also disappointing. Lots of young spot are holding over shell bottom and making live-lining for rockfish an option.
Get your limit early, and get off the water before temperatures soar. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion are real dangers this time of year. Symptoms are confusion, clumsiness and disorientation. Drink plenty of water, and stay in the shade. If you suspect anyone is suffering from the extreme heat, seek medical help immediately.