A few quickies in response to questions/ comments:

1. Haven't fished Izorline but understand it's an excellent copolymer line. Renny Mason (inventor of the Aerofly/ Aeropuff and ace fisherman) used to swear by it when he guided in Alaska.

To repeat what others have mentioned in the past, DO NOT join copolymer to mono using a bloodknot. Too hard to get a smooth, non-friction damaged knot (maybe 3 tries for each success).

2. In general I'm off the copolymers in favor of old fashioned mono. In Alaska this past spring I had pre-loaded my reels with Excalibur Silverthread 10 and 12lb. In all my tests in Singapore (including fishing) it had been the equal or superior to Maxima: knot strength, thin diameter, rated abrasion resistance, softness. The problem was that it didn't fish as well as Maxima. The line broke too often, sometimes at knots but more often somewhere in the first 30 feet. This only has to happen a couple of times before you lose confidence in a line.

By the second day I was running 100% Maxima UG 10lb on my flyreels (chuck and duck, Hawk style) and baitcaster. Unfortunately, about 70% of my pre-tied leaders were Excalibur so I didn't want to use them. I fished the week with 8lb Chameleon leaders and managed to land some big fish (pushing 20lbs) without a single leader failure. A lot of that was simply luck, but now you know why I'm such a big fan of Maxima.

3. Idono, definitely sounds like a bad rod over and beyond (perhaps) a bad bloodknot. The only way to figure out what knots to tie are to used hand scales and something like a pair of pliers or a screwdriver. While cumbersome, you tie a double uniknot (100% but bulky) to the scale and the plier handle. You then cut the line in the middle and tie the best darned bloodknot/ back-to-back uniknot/ double or triple Surgeon's knot you can. Then break about 5 of these in succession, recording the results.

Some people claim better than 90% with a triple Surgeon's. I get about 85% but it's bulkier than the others and if I need a 100% mono-to-mono (or copolymer to copolymer) join I'll tie back-to-back double uniknots. The bloodknot's strength varies by how many wraps you take and the amount of spit on the knot when you tighten it. Six wraps is usually a good place to start (more is not necessarily better). I get 80% out of a bloodknot and about the same from a back-to-back single uniknot. (The uniknot takes longer to tie so I use it less frequently.)

When joining lighter main line to the leader, I usually double over the lighter line and use 6 wraps to 4-5 for the leader. Again, you must use the same type of line for the best knot strength.

4. Haven't been to the American or Feather this year. Had a date booked in June for Kings but my brother had problems at work so we went to Tahoe instead and sank some ales. Maybe this fall.

5. My wife's a Singaporean and she likes it here. I think it's probably easier to live in Singapore and fly around a fair bit, than to live in Forks and have an earache every time I walked through the door. At least that's my theory!