Accessories

Why Use Fluorocarbon?

Have you ever tried fluorocarbon? If not, you may want to after reading Matt Godfrey’s opinion…

I had a real love-hate relationship with fluorocarbon the first few times that I used it. I loved the concept of it, but hated tying it up… it was a nightmare! For those that don’t know, fluorocarbon is a material that is supposed to be invisible under water. Personally, I don’t think it is… I can still see it, so I’m sure the fish can too. I actually think they can sense line more than see it, as their eyes are on the sides and tops of their heads. When they take the bait, they’re not looking at the line. But then again fishing lighter always gets you more bites, so they must sense and feel a thicker line more than a thin one.

Anyway, back to fluorocarbon. I was first put on to the idea by Lee Kerry while bloodworm and joker fishing on the Stainforth & Keadby Canal. On here, it’s important to fish a very light hooklength, normally just 0.07mm in diameter. However, when you quickly ship in and out with a bloodworm in the hook, this thin line will often spin up and tangle when using normal hi-tech mono.

Fluorocarbon, however, is a very stiff material that doesn’t spin or tangle at all. Taking this further I started using it in most situations where I might suffer bait spin when using light lines – fishing with double maggot, a worm head and the like. However, it only applies to light lines, from 0.12mm and thinner, as thicker line doesn’t spin up anyway, in my experience.

Another asset of fluorocarbon is its weight. It is much heavier than normal line. You can actually see this if you lay equal diameter pieces of fluorocarbon and line together, and let one end go. The fluorocarbon will fall much faster. In my head, it suddenly made a lot of sense to use this material when wanting to pin a bait to the bottom, or hold a bait static. That little bit of extra weight in the line could potentially give you better presentation. I’ve now used it in many situations when fishing on the deck for quality fish such as skimmers and bream, and love it. As I mentioned before, I think the advantages only shine through in the thinner diameters, from 0.12mm and below, but if there’s an edge to be gained, I want it. So why did I used to hate fluorocarbon so much? Simply because I found it a pain to tie up! It used to snap and kink and go all curly, when really you need a neat and perfectly tied hook! I’ve tried all kinds of hook tyers in the past too, and the only one I can settle on for everything is the traditional black Matchman Hook Tyer. One day I was chatting to Sam Wildsmith about fluorocarbon in his shop, Mill Tackle at Heanor. He’d been using some Milo stuff and gave me some to try. To cut a long story short, it changed my world! It tied up incredibly well every time, was very strong and ultra-accurate in diameter. It comes on a very posh, large red spool, and is called Krepton Fluorocarbon. It’s not cheap at £9.99 for 50 metres, but I only ever tie five or six inches of the stuff for hooklengths so it lasts for ages! More importantly, it’s quite possibly a small advantage and edge to be gained in that all-important last six inches of your rig… give it a try!

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