Stored mono.....should I replace?

[stevejay]

Haven't done a lot of fishing over the last couple of years, just the occasional barbel session and a few trips to a local beach. However, have decided to join a local club that has a couple good sized ponds with a mixed stock of carp, tench, bream, roach etc.

I have a tackle box with various spools of mono hook length line which are probably 3 years old now. All have been stored in the dark and range from about 1lb 12 oz up to 6lb b/s.

Should I replace them or do you think they will have retained their strength? I have probably 6 or 7 spools, so would cost a bit to replace all of them.

Thoughts?

 

[keora]

I replace reel line about every three years, as for hook lengths I'll keep them for longer.

 

[Keith M]

As long as the line was not stored in daylight and was kept in a cool darkish place, and was not spooled tightly onto fishing reel spools it should be OK to use at a push; however I’d change it for new as soon as I could afford to buy new line.

You’d be surprised how old some line is in some tackle shops before someone actually buys it, it may be several years old already, especially the lesser known brands; but hopefully it’s been stored in a cool dark place before it was actually put out onto the shelves.

I would check it for weakness and condition though before I was fully confident enough to use it myself.
In the past I’ve used line that was several years old without any problems at all. However I now change my lines on a yearly or bi-annual basis depending on the line, whether it needs changing or not. In some instances I might change my line even sooner.

Keith

 

[chevin4]

I am lazy when it comes to changing line and touching wood as I speak I haven't had a problem. I keep my reel in the dark and bulk spools in the garage in an old filing cabinet.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

If concerned over possible degradation of mono lines then it is far better to test a few lengths to breaking point using a spring balance and only spool the reel when tests are satisfactory.

 

[Alan Whitty]

I have some Golden Marlin line(aka bought from angling times ad page)that must be 25 years old,it is still sound,even in low breaking strains(I have it in 2/3/4/6),I store my lines in an old chest of draws,in cardboard boxes,all I would say is some lines don't age well,so even a few tests by hand would give you a clue,however in an earlier post someone said about hooklength material(especially 0.10mm to 0.25mm I would be very careful,as these are often exposed to more UV light if hooks are tied at bankside(like mine)so are liable to go downhill more rapidly...

 

[@Clive]

I still have some Ultra mono that I bought before we came out here in 2012 and some tied hook links that I bought as part of job lots that are priced in French Francs. That is pre 1999. As Peter says; test before you load the line, but in my experience line if stored in the dark it will last a long time.

 

[spenbeck]

It would be a good idea to check it's braking strain is still accurate with some scales because some lines can go 'off'. I once had a bulk spool of Force 10BS line and a couple of years back it broke at about 2 - 3BS!

 

[nottskev]

Testing would be the logical thing to do. But personally, if I'm in any way dubious about lines, I replace them. I know it's not cheap to replace several spools of hooklength, but given the overall expenses of fishing, it would be relatively small cost for peace of mind and you could do it over a couple of months. How often I change reel lines depends heavily on their use. I changed lines on reels used for barbel and carp two or three times this season as they take a lot of punishment from the fish and the rough terrain I fish in. Lines for other methods might last a season or two. I'm likely to keep hooklength spools much longer than line on reels: one lives in a drawer, the other is out in the sun, exposed to the water and whatever is in it and subject to all the stresses, strains and frictions of fishing. Some keep lines much longer and have no issues. In the end, it depends what you're comfortable with.

 

[Alan Whitty]

I change lines as and when I see deterioration,usually after good sessions where the outer coating gets damaged,or where I cut 6-10 foot off after each session and the spool becomes underloaded,as Kev says around 3-4 times a year for me for floatfishing(lighter lines,3-4lbs b.s.),For my barbel lines, I change probably twice,as I don't have many rocks to abrade my lines,plus my casting distances are generally less than 20yds,that is why my reels are normally 4000 size as I'm not sea fishing on bloody tripods(grrr),something I detest,I would rather fit,or make a bracket for a feeder arm for my platform,or chair if i couldnt get a bankstick in,which even on the boulders on parts of the Trent it is normally doable ....

 

[The bad one]

I came across a piece elsewhere last night that Terry Eustace and his son Rob are closing down the Shop this coming week. Whether the GLT brand is also going wasn't quite clear in the piece.

 

[john step]

As long as its kept in the dark and somewhere cool it should last for ages. After all one buys bulk spools which can last years even when line is changed regularly.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Today I dug my old Daiwa 120 closed-face reel and fished with it. It has Daiwa Harrier line (the original black line) in 2lb that must have been on there well over 25 years; still as good as new but that was a terrific line. the oldest line I have is some Don's of Edmonton 0.06 12oz that is for ultra-fine hooklinks and dates back to 1975.

 

[john step]

Today I dug my old Daiwa 120 closed-face reel and fished with it. It has Daiwa Harrier line (the original black line) in 2lb that must have been on there well over 25 years; still as good as new but that was a terrific line. the oldest line I have is some Don's of Edmonton 0.06 12oz that is for ultra-fine hooklinks and dates back to 1975.

I was a little shy in my response above when quoting bulk spools. However in the light of your post I will add that I am just coming to the end of a bulk spool of 2lb bs Blue Marlin line by Veals of Bristol. I have used it for pole line rigs for about 30 years I think. There must have been over a mile of line on the spool. It is a marvelous line slightly thicker than many modern lines but has never deteriorated whilst kept in the dark in a wooden box in the garage.
Unfortunately they dont do it now.

 

[Kevin Perkins]

Back in my earliest fishing days in the late 60's, my local tackle shop ( Cox's in Chesham) kept their spools of nylon in rotating stands placed on the windowsill!
However, the brands involved, Pescalon and Black Seal were impervious to most things. The 3lb BS was never troubled by anything we caught, and if you did uprate to the 12lb for pike fishing, then by the time you had loaded up on the metal framed 1 inch diameter spool reels we used, that would come of the reel looking like a throttle return spring......

 

[nottskev]

I'm usually all for buying quality and making it last. I needed a light leger rod on Sunday and fished out a Daiwa Connoisseur from about 30 years ago, still like new. But I'm not interested in keeping line for ages. I put 80 yards of Dave Harrell Pro Match on a reel at the weekend for a cost of about £3. That's the same as the pint of maggots I took. I used between a quarter and half a pint, fed the birds and chucked the rest. Why would I expect to keep the line for ever? Fresh line is one of the cheapest items in our sport, and we probably waste more on unused bait most times out.

I remember Pescalon. It was the first line I ever bought. I could trash a spool of 3lb just trying to load the springy stuff onto the horrible little Intrepid a kid from the playing field gave me for nothing.

 

[stevejay]

Thanks guys.....think the thread has migrated on to mainline. My original post was about hooklength line, and being a match and general coarse angler, I had may be 15 different spools of hooklength material, so cost was a bit of an issue.

Anyway, I have streamlined and binned the old stuff and bought 4 or 5 spools of hooklength line and already replaced my reel lines.

Just waiting for my ticket to arrive and I will be out on the bank again...it's been too long!!!

 

[Mark Wintle]

I was a little shy in my response above when quoting bulk spools. However in the light of your post I will add that I am just coming to the end of a bulk spool of 2lb bs Blue Marlin line by Veals of Bristol. I have used it for pole line rigs for about 30 years I think. There must have been over a mile of line on the spool. It is a marvelous line slightly thicker than many modern lines but has never deteriorated whilst kept in the dark in a wooden box in the garage.
Unfortunately they dont do it now.

Blue Marlin was sold circa 1972 by Veals. One of the spools on an old ABU 506 that came from a mate has a blue line on it that may be Blue Marlin; I know he bought some in 1972 at the 72 National near Bristol. John Essex used this line in 3lb to land two carp (best 14-2) in the 1975 Nene National and reckoned that it was really a 5lb line.

The only hook length line I've had go off was Ignesti Special that was 20 years old but kept in the dark; most but not all spools suddenly became weak?? Silstar Match Team was prone to going off in sunlight; I used it in the late 90s for chub/barbel fishing in 4.4 up to 7.9lb strains for hook links.

 

[chevin4]

I had problems with a new bulk spool of 8lb Maxima years ago. I was tench fishing at Sywell and for no reason the line parted when playing a fish. Luckily I had a couple of reels with 10lb Maxima with me after changing I had no further problems. There was some stuff called Iron Silk which came out circa 2000 I tried some for perch in 4lb bs.after minimum use it would break around 1lb bs

 

[Keith M]

The only hook length line I've had go off was Ignesti Special that was 20 years old but kept in the dark; most but not all spools suddenly became weak?? Silstar Match Team was prone to going off in sunlight; I used it in the late 90s for chub/barbel fishing in 4.4 up to 7.9lb strains for hook links.

Back in the 90s I bought some 4lb Maxima Chameleon that would break at around 2lb which was strange to me as I’d used Maxima Chameleon lots of times with no problems.
I had only recently spooled it onto my reel and suspected that it had probably been standing for a long while in warm sunlit conditions in the tackleshop before it was sold.

Keith