I'm still in search of a line that works great -- not good, but GREAT -- for winter steelhead fishing with a spinning reel. Also, do any of you float fisherman use braided line??

I use Excaliber which is made by Silver Thread. I've used all the lines and found this to be the best for spinning reels. Good abrasion resistence, little memory and tough. I wouldn't use anything else! Personally, I wouldn't use braid for steelhead. Not forgiving enough.

Lance Its hard to say what a great line is, I think you have to try it for yourself and decide, I have had buddies tell me thier line was great and I tried it but didn't like it.I usually always go back to Maxima? Right now I've been experimenting with Izorline on my spinning reel and I like it! It seems to be low stretch, thin Dia. and low memory, I can get some good long cast with out getting those extra loops of line running out and getting knotted? Maybe just luck? I've been using it for about 7 months now, but I still use Maxima for my leaders. Good luck in your search, hope this helps, Fish.

For a spinning reel you can not beat either the Gammakatsu polypro line or Trilene XL. The XL isnt super tough but it is super limp and is thin enough that you can step up in test and still fill a spool with enough line.
I will never go back to fishing mono for floats. On the rod I use for floats I fish with I think 50# Tuff Line. The stuff casts amazing off a spinning reel but it most importantly it FLOATS. I heavily grease it with fly floatant when I am putting it on my reel and apply alot of pressure so the grease soaks in. Even with just a 8 1/2 rod I cast 3/4 across the Sky at Reiter and control my drift. It works perfectly, it is also highly visible so I can see if I have a belly in my line and how and when I need to mend. Never again will I fish mono with floats.
Ryan

So when you get your line caught in the trees with 50# test......YOU

1.Cut line walk away
2. Tie to bumper of truck, lock the hubs and floor it
3. clothes line the natives in their jetsleds
4. tie off on this side and walk the line using your broken g loomis as a balancing pole.
5. Wonder how your anchor got hung up

I never have that problem since I never get my line caught in the trees or on anything else. I am the most compentent caster, fisherman, wader, rower etc. so I have never thought about about it. LoL
I have never snagged anything that I have had to find away to break my mainline. The only times I have been snagged on something I was able to get it undone my snapping my leader.
Ryan

WAIT!! Is there any other line than Maxima?? Hmmm...have to research this...lol

------------------
Jim Bain
Always have Fun while Fishing!!!

I'm with the Maxima crowd on this one. I've tried everything but the braided/superlines and I keep coming back to Maxima. I will say I really liked casting a friend's rig with Fireline. But I'm not sure I liked it enough to cough up the $50 a spool for it. Maybe if I start catching (or losing) fish on a regular basis it would make a difference...

I'm intrigued by RPetzhold's use of braid and certainly sympathise with the 'Yeah, but how do you BREAK IT? question, too.

RPetzold: presumably you are joining the braid to mono in one of two ways -- directly via some sort of knot (please specify) or tying off to a swivel, running a long leader (how long?) and fixing the float along the leader.

I experimented with 14lb Fireline drift fishing this spring and came to several conclusions:

1. The no-stretch, high visibility and thin diameter helped me miss fewer takes. (Questionable whether the no-stretch feature helps land more fish once you have him hooked, but that's a separate topic and more to do with backing off the drag than any fault of the line.)

2. Knot strength in joining the braid to the leader was very poor unless I tied some elaborate knots [e.g. a bimini in the braid, then an 'Australia' (double) Albright between leader and double, and then superglued that contraption]. Worked fine in the lodge the night before (and takes about 5-6 minutes once you get the hang of it), but on the river it is nearly impossible to duplicate with cold fingers in any reasonable amount of time. The alternative easy-to-tie knots (e.g. a Spider Hitch for a double) break at much lower ratings.

Therefore, I'm very interested in knots people use with braid (though 50lb main line means a granny is still probably stronger than the leader!).

3. 'Occasionally' (hah! See my nickname) I'd hook bottom and have to break off. Even 14lb Fireline breaks above 20lbs (or course, steelhead leaders break at 10lbs or so but for saltwater fishing I run 14lb Fireline to a 40-60lb mono or flurocarbon shock leader), but the thin diameter can cut you even through gloves.

Rather than risk cutting my neoprene gloves (or hands), I carry a 6" cardboard fax roll with two V-shaped notches cut out of each end, and the roll itself wrapped in vinyl tape. When snagged, I whip out the home made line breaker and give the line 6 wraps lengthwise. The line bites into the cardboard at the Vee's meaning it slips less (making cardboard better than wood in this case). Breaking off is then easier on the gloves/ hands, not to mention the rod and reel.

Anyway, after a couple of days with Fireline I went back to 10lb Maxima UG as the mainline and 8-10 lb Maxima UG or Chameleon as the leader. Works great.

But now that I have a float rod the idea of having a highly visible floating line to mend is becoming increasingly attractive . . . especially the idea of boondogging w/ jigs some of the marginal holding water on my favorite river.

[This message has been edited by Snagly (edited 11-30-1999).]

Ok, I don't see how you guys can like either Chameleon or UG... My experience with both is that they are very stiff, kink, and break too easy?!!? There is only one Maxima line that I will ever use, and that is the Crystal Ivory. Just ordered a spool of it today... From what I can tell, that stuff is hard as hell to part!

Tom

For float fishing I run 50# tuf- line with a sliding bobber. the downside to the tuf-line or fireline is there is no stretch so you have to go to a little heavier test leader and a light drag setting.
for spinning I like either p-line for 4-8 lb. or maxima ultragreen in 10 lb.

Snagly: To be honest with you I just slide my mainline which is braided through the float and tie the TUFF line onto a snap swivel and thats all. I have probally jinked myself so that next time I am out fishing floats I am gonna wrap my mainline around a tree or a rock or something and not be able to break it off.
If you feel safer attaching the float to mono it is very possible just to tie the mainline to a barrel swivel then tie in a piece of mono and slide the float onto that but you would probally want to tie in a heavier piece of mono for the section that float is because if you snag up you make it very hard to lose your float when you break off.
If you are good at nots which I AM NOT you could tie a section of mono to the mainline with say a Bimmini twist or something along those lines.
Ryan

I use a swivel to join the two lines. Palomar for the braided and a improved cinch for the mono. Fixed float on the braided.

I hope no one uses braids when drift fishing with spinning gear. You don't want to get the braid itself attached to a rock or branch on the bottom because when you finally do break off it will wreak havoc on the drift until the next high water washes it out.

For non-float fishing, I think you'll be satisfied with Gamakatsu copoly. Its thin, well behaved, and pretty strong. Not as strong as Maxima, but a hell of a lot stronger than Trilene XL, the other major limp line out there.

Gamakatsu breaks too easy!! their 20# breaks easier than IZOR 10#

Tom

I've heard several people say that Gama breaks easily, but I stick to my guns. I'm one of those steelheaders who use spinning gear as much as casting and have been frustrated with the performance of thicker, stiffer lines (Trilene XT, Maxima, Izor) on a spinning reel, though its just fine for casting gear.

The stiffer lines are stronger, but I've lost very few fish by line breakage using Gama 8 or 10lb. I will say that my spinning rod is a 10' 6-10lb light action (Lami-Herzog), so there's quite a bit of forgiveness on the line.

The line controversy goes on...

Berkley Vanish; thin tough low memory.

I use Trilene XT with no leader, no swivel. The less knots you have, the less likely to break your line. You can rig up fast after snagging and breaking off. Make sure it comes off the spool with the least amount of line twist when putting the line on your spool. This is usually counter-clockwise for Trilene XT. If you have a 4000 spinning reel, you can tie a blood knot halfway down your spool when you get low on line. If your line gets beat up from the rocks or twisted too much, you can trim it back.

Stay away from braided line because it messes up alot of good holes.

Thanks for all the responses, guys -- really appreciate it. I'll try a few new lines out and see what suits my style.

Lance-
Haven't seen anybody else mention this line yet, but my favorite line is Ande mono (yellow or green work great). It has an excellent feel to it, and it very strong. I run 8-10 lb. main line and use 6 lb. Ande for the leader material, as well. I have caught several large fish with this set-up. I've tried a couple of Maxima makes and also several Berkely lines, but Ande by far outperforms the others in my opinion.
-Fishrmn.