Make the connection

Following a forum discussion on fishing lines, it struck me how some brands of tackle seem to "travel" better than others. Take the lines that I tend to use - Sufix, known around the world as the manufacturer of arguably the best fishing lines there are. Awesome lines such as Tritanium, Synergie, Xcelon, Siege, Zippy, Superior, Performance Braid etc., yet for some reason, most anglers here in the UK have not switched on to how good Sufix lines really are. Overseas I see them being heavily advertised and used, but over here I am only recently seeing a "Sufix push" from the UK importers, Gardner Tackle. They are thoroughly good people who know how good the lines are, indeed they do a wide range of Sufix carp lines as well (where the anglers know more about it), but considering us UK sea anglers are very much technically advanced when it comes to our methods, I am really surprised not to see more sea anglers using these lines.

You owe it to yourself to track down mainlines like Sufix Tritanium and leaders like Zippy and Surf, and then go fishing with them - I have not found better lines yet for UK sea fishing. Ask your local tackle shop to start stocking them.

And another thing about lines - here in the UK we seem to always buy on breaking strains, yet some countries overseas buy on diameter. I have to admit that with the wildly conflicting reports I read and hear about breaking strains versus diameters, I am tending now to buy on diameter. How could I not when I see some lines rated differently abroad to here in the UK - for example, I have seen a 0.35mm 15lb line over here rated as a 0.35mm 20lb line overseas. So what is the right one ? And bearing in mind that I tend not to trust these so called thin-diameter mono lines - in my experience, something has to give when a line claims to be ultra low diameter, braid excepted of course.

When I buy mono line now, there are the rough figures I have in my head :

• 0.35mm - 15lb
• 0.40mm - 20lb
• 0.45mm - 25lb
• 0.50mm - 30lb
• etc.

It is important to bear in mind that the line you buy will often break way over the quoted breaking strain, hence me now buying on diameter.

Happy Birthday to me - I am 35 today !!

And now that I am that much older and wiser than yesterday, I thought that I would change the "look" of the blog - I am hoping that the new layout now makes it easier to read.