ate1cropy Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Going on a tip in a couple weeks to mille lacs and looking for som suggestions on what kind of line to use... My rods now have the blue trilene cold weather stuff. I heard floro works well. I have some Trilene Sensation from the summer and didnt know if anyone had used that thru the ice. any help would be great. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shorty785 Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 i usually use any type of monophilement line when jigging and i use some thick black stuff for my tip-ups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldawg Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I put on some 2# Crystal Fireline last year, and I did extremely well with it on my jig poles. Dawg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I'm not an ice fisherman but I have fished cold weather. I would think Fluorocarbon is the best way to go. Try Berkley Transition. Just make sure you wet your knots before tightening them down or they won't tighten down right. Fluoro sticks to itself rather well and prevents you from tightening knots right when it's dry. Trust me on that. Save yourself the frustration. A Palomar knot is much easier to tie and stronger than a clinch knot on Fluorocarbon. Both Monofilaments and braided lines absorb water while you're using them. To me that would be a major disadvantage where the water content in the line can freeze as you are reeling in. The Fluoro should stay much more limber and prevent the "bait at the end of a stick" action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig mack Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I just lined up two poles with Berkley Transition (not the ice line). I had two reels lined up with 4 pound Trilene micro ice, and it was junk in my opinion. Line would break really easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldawg Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Craig, I've had 4 different spools of Trilene XL in the last 2 years that were bad, and they were 8 pound test. My cousin has had problems with them too. Trilene has changed in a very bad way, and it used to be the best, in my opinion. I also tried Berkely Vanish, and had bad luck with knot strength (8 pound). Sorry that I had to almost hi-jack this thread... Dawg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Craig, I also tried Berkely Vanish, and had bad luck with knot strength (8 pound). My apologies but I NEED TO HAMMER THIS POINT HOME! If you try any Fluorocarbon Line you absolutely need to only use Palomar Knots and WET the knot on the line before you tighten it. Failure to wet the knot before you tighten will produce a weak knot almost every time on fluorocarbon. Don't take chances, do it right. If you don't follow that advice I GUARANTEE you will convince yourself fluorocarbon is junk. You WILL hate fluorocarbon if you treat it like you're used to treating mono. It's not the same as mono. It's not junk, but using it requires different concerns than mono. I'm convinced the fluoro stuff is less visible to fish than mono. I'm also sure it gets me more hits. IMHO, it's worth knowing how to use correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig mack Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 My apologies but I NEED TO HAMMER THIS POINT HOME! If you try any Fluorocarbon Line you absolutely need to only use Palomar Knots and WET the knot on the line before you tighten it. Failure to wet the knot before you tighten will produce a weak knot almost every time on fluorocarbon. Don't take chances, do it right. If you don't follow that advice I GUARANTEE you will convince yourself fluorocarbon is junk. You WILL hate fluorocarbon if you treat it like you're used to treating mono. It's not the same as mono. It's not junk, but using it requires different concerns than mono. I'm convinced the fluoro stuff is less visible to fish than mono. I'm also sure it gets me more hits. IMHO, it's worth knowing how to use correctly. I agree. My buddy was the one who told me to get the Vanish and thats what he said, use a Palomar knot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I agree. My buddy was the one who told me to get the Vanish and thats what he said, use a Palomar knot. The Palomar is a great strong knot. This tip really helps. I wet the knots with my lips before I tighten them. In my experience, it makes an astonishing difference in how strong the knots are. If you get really good at it everyone will swear that line is stronger than it actually is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldawg Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 Leo, I did wet the line on the Vanish, and I didn't use the improved clinch on it. It just got brittle after fishing heavy current with it. Once the knot broke, I could take the line with my hands and break off a huge section. Then I'd find good line, and do it again. The same thing would happen. I'm pretty strong, but I could break that line like it was a sewing thread after a couple of hours jigging in the heavier current. The Christal Fireline is another one that you can't use the clinch knot on, or it will come untied. Dawg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 (edited) Leo, I did wet the line on the Vanish, and I didn't use the improved clinch on it. It just got brittle after fishing heavy current with it. Once the knot broke, I could take the line with my hands and break off a huge section. Then I'd find good line, and do it again. The same thing would happen. I'm pretty strong, but I could break that line like it was a sewing thread after a couple of hours jigging in the heavier current. The Christal Fireline is another one that you can't use the clinch knot on, or it will come untied. Dawg Sounds like shock weakening not a knot strength issue. And yep Fluoro doesn't take as many shocks as Mono does before it's seriously weakened. But Mono will get weakened the same way. You then have to do just what you described. Strip off several yards and discard them to get to "good" line. Fluoro is a poor line for fishing fast current or flipping because of this. Mono is better, but not by a huge margin. I'd recommend a superbraid like Powerpro or Suffix for what you're doing. These lines also need a Palomar or it will slip and they aren't fussy about being wet to tighten. You do need to wrap your starter knot on the reel spool with tape when spooling up though or the whole works will spin on your spool, instead of the drag working. (Yikes! Makes a mess, Been there done that lesson learned.) These lines will also ruin standard line clippers, so use a knife or a pair of little Fiskars Scissors to cut it. The big disadvantage with those lines is they are opaque and very visible to fish, so where finesse and clear water is involved they aren't great. But strength wise and endurance wise they are IMO tops. Edited January 18, 2009 by Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU_man_84 Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 i switched from using mono to using power pro ice 2 years ago and man what a difference, power pro ice repels the water much better causing the rod tips to collect less water and not to freeze up if you are not fishing in a shanty, power pro ice is all i use now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 (edited) Going on a tip in a couple weeks to mille lacs and looking for som suggestions on what kind of line to use... My rods now have the blue trilene cold weather stuff. I heard floro works well. I have some Trilene Sensation from the summer and didnt know if anyone had used that thru the ice. any help would be great. Thanks Have you tried asking your question on the forums at www.iceshanty.com Me, I use a fluorocarbon when I ice fish. Very strong and sensitive. However I don't use fluoro on my summer fishing rod. Fluoro is very prone to nicks if it has to rub up against rocks. Edited January 22, 2009 by RangerClay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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