Berkely FireLine

[stevieboy]

After reading Andy's review of some less-than-impressive braid, I thought I'd share my contrary experience of Berkley Fireline. As a caveat I'll admit to not having tried many other braid lines. (Other than reeling in my 17lb undulate, thanks Andy!)

I've read a few good things about Berkely Whiplash from Mike Ladles excellent bassing site at:

www.mikeladle.com/osa.html

so I thought I'd have a bash with braid with my spinning gear.

Here's a little background on my lure fishing scenario. I fish off the back of the island (IOW), with shallow rocky beaches, a long cast can be a distinct advantage. I use a Greys GRX spin rod with an Okuma baitrunner and Berkely 20lb line with a metres worth of 14lb Stren mono on the end.

Fireline has (like most braid) negligable stretch. This lack of stretch has various advantages.

Sensitivity through to the lure is increased significantly and it is possible to detect a small piece of weed interfering with the lures action almost immediately. It is important to compensate for this lack of stretch by setting your clutch to be approximately 1/3rd the strength of the line. This will allow the rod and reel to absorb the strain normally taken by the mono stretch.

This stretch comes into its own when it comes to pulling your lure from an (all too frequent) snag. It's *so* much easier to remove a lure from weed using braid and must have saved me many a lure.

The extra distance gained from the reduced diameter is an additional bonus too, coupled with the fact that "coiling" is greatly reduced.

I've so far had nothing bad to report with regards to FireLine and have no hesitation in recommending it for spinning and light line fishing. After going from braid to mono, fishing with mono feels like using bait elastic for line!

Regards,

Steve

[RichardB]

Excellent revue Steve.
Do you find that you get much trouble with 'wind knots' ?
I must confess I'm a bit of a braid virgin (with the exception of boat fishing), but have started to use it for spinning - not Berkely Fireline, but a cheaper brand , also on an Okuma baitrunner.
All seems well so far, but I reckon it would be git to sort out if the above happened a lot.

[stevieboy]

Hi mate, I keep hearing about these "wind knots" but I've not yet experienced them. I've been using it on my bait runner since November and had no problems. I do give it a bit of welly when I'm using a Dexter Wedge too! I wouldn't think of going back to mono for spinning. The sensitivity is so good you can tell a mackerel from a school bass instantly!

[mrfish]

Nice review steve.

Richard - To stop wind knots, don't overfill your spool, put less on than you would if you were spooling mono. You also need to try and avoid reeling in really slack line, try and keep some tension at all times.

Steve

[RichardB]

mrfish said:

Richard - To stop wind knots, don't overfill your spool, put less on than you would if you were spooling mono. You also need to try and avoid reeling in really slack line, try and keep some tension at all times.

Steve

Thanks Steve (both) - yes I have 'underfilled' the spool, and it seems to work well so far.

[upfalls]

Thanks Steve, I have been thinking of changing to braid for my lureing shore and boat I think you have made my mind up for me.

[Pete B]

Great review Steve,
I too rate the Berkley braids, more luck than judgement. I was recommended it & have never looked back. I went from hating spinning with braid to loving it after changing to a berkley braid ( cant remember if it was fireline or whiplash) but I first tried spinining with braid with another make which was awful, it made really hard work of it & really took the fun out of it but with the berkley gear no probs what-so-ever & super sensitive, you can really feel & control every movement of the lure.
Rich, the way I sort wind knots is after casting just before you reel just run your thumb & fore-finger up the braid where it leaves the reel to add a bit of tension as it initially comes onto the reel, sounds like a chour but after the first couple of times it becomes automatic.

[Pete B]

p.s does anyone know the difference between fireline & whiplash braids?

[vax]

You set me thinking on this one.
Checked the Berkley site and it only lists fireline.

Having only used whiplash it looks like £6 on the RRP......

[mooreha]

Can't really speak for the Fireline but I know of several top carp anglers who swear by the stuff. There's a new improved version on the market which has a rounder profile (better for longer, smoother casts) and it's more abrasion resistant and the coating has a longer user life. It's still a fair bit thicker than Whiplash but thinner than mono. I have used the Whiplash a fair bit for my sea-fishing/carping. I found it brilliant for feature finding (carp), and lure fishing. Transmits a lot more information to your rod than mono as Stevieboy says. The stuff casts miles but it's essential to have a mono shock leader, not only for casting heavy leads but for shock absorbtion when playing hard fighting fish, and lunges in close. Used to use braid for cod fishing years ago and never had any probs - casts for miles, and no wind knots suffered - but I use fixed spool rods, ith the larger rings being an obvious advantage over multiplier rods.I had no problems setting the leads especially in stronger currents. It's important that you cast well uptide from your fishing spot on a beach with a strong lateral current. Also, helps to soak the braid on the spool for a few minutes before casting at the start of a session and give a lead a practice wallop to loosen the braid to stop it bedding in too much. It also helps to and rinse the braid on the spool off with fresh water at the end of your session. Will prolong the user-life of the braid. Also, store your reels somewhere to dry when you get home otherwise it may rot.

I also think braid is definitely more suited to a match/bass-type beach rod with a softer rod tip than a rod with a heavier/stiff tip
if fishing on a beach.

Regards,

Alex.

[The Codfather of Sole]

Good review Steve , I've just been trialling the new Fireline Crystal (sort of opaque) in 10lb for light boat and shore spinning, cant fault it.....

admin said:

p.s does anyone know the difference between fireline & whiplash braids?

Fireline is a fused braid, Whiplash is a regular braid.

My favourite braids are PowerPro and Roger Bayzands used to be excellent (dont know if you can still get it, Mark Harding at Alderney Angling may stock it)

Dale

[Pete B]

codfatherofsole said:

Fireline is a fused braid, Whiplash is a regular braid.

My favourite braids are PowerPro and Roger Bayzands used to be excellent (dont know if you can still get it, Mark Harding at Alderney Angling may stock it)

Dale

Aah! cheers Dale

[Pete B]

mooreha said:

Can't really speak for the Fireline but I know of several top carp anglers who swear by the stuff. There's a new improved version on the market which has a rounder profile (better for longer, smoother casts) and it's more abrasion resistant and the coating has a longer user life. It's still a fair bit thicker than Whiplash but thinner than mono. I have used the Whiplash a fair bit for my sea-fishing/carping. I found it brilliant for feature finding (carp), and lure fishing. Transmits a lot more information to your rod than mono as Stevieboy says. The stuff casts miles but it's essential to have a mono shock leader, not only for casting heavy leads but for shock absorbtion when playing hard fighting fish, and lunges in close. Used to use braid for cod fishing years ago and never had any probs - casts for miles, and no wind knots suffered - but I use fixed spool rods, ith the larger rings being an obvious advantage over multiplier rods.I had no problems setting the leads especially in stronger currents. It's important that you cast well uptide from your fishing spot on a beach with a strong lateral current. Also, helps to soak the braid on the spool for a few minutes before casting at the start of a session and give a lead a practice wallop to loosen the braid to stop it bedding in too much. It also helps to and rinse the braid on the spool off with fresh water at the end of your session. Will prolong the user-life of the braid. Also, store your reels somewhere to dry when you get home otherwise it may rot.

I also think braid is definitely more suited to a match/bass-type beach rod with a softer rod tip than a rod with a heavier/stiff tip
if fishing on a beach.

Regards,

Alex.

Great post Alex,
lots of info / questions answered.
Yes, I think its a much overlooked point that a supple through-action rod is much better suited to cushion braids. On firmer rods make a point of correctly setting your reels drag, a third of the rod / line class, easily done with a pulley type set of scales.

[backdraft]

ive used fireline for a few years but i must say that i now prefer power pro.i must try the new red one.

[The Codfather of Sole]

backdraft said:

ive used fireline for a few years but i must say that i now prefer power pro.i must try the new red one.

Have tried it in 8lb, 10lb and 20lb, no discernable difference from moss green or yellow, but still great quality....