Thanks for all the responses.

This past weekend I was at the Portland Sportsman's Show and I talked with a Berkley representative (they make Vanish flurocarbon line). He said flurocarbon line is NOT to be used as you would mono. It is very stiff, has no stretch, and cracks easily when tied "dry". That is, you must wet the line thoroughly before and during the knot tieing operation. You also need to tighten the knot slowly so you don't build up friction and heat. It's the heat that causes a major loss of knot strength. He even suggested tieing the knot while holding it underwater so you avoid the friction (yeah right....).

Plus, he said you shouldn't use the Clinch knot or the Berkley knot since they build up too much friction. He suggested using the Palomar knot for all flurocarbon line. If you do everything right, he said the knot strength for flurocarbon line should be the same as mono. But he admitted that even expert anglers don't always get it 100% right.

That clears things up for me. I'm not likely to use flurocarbon line until the bugs have been worked out. Or at least until it has the flexibility and forgiveness of mono. Thanks again everyone!


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MSB