THE TREND in hooklink materials appears to be moving steadily away from braid, so popular with carp anglers for some years, back towards monofilament lines. And the favourite mono hooklink material, without a doubt, is fluorocarbon.
Gardner Tackle have introduced a fluorocarbon, ‘Subterfuge’, to their Frank Warwick range. This is a very user-friendly fluorocarbon that knots and beds down more easily without the curly tail that can happen with some other lines.
There are two types in the range, ‘Super Soft’ and Super Stiff’. Super Soft is one of the supplest, non-brittle, hook length materials on the market, it is extremely pliable for the presentation of subtle rigs.
Super Stiff is ideal for making the now popular stiff rigs and combi-rigs.
FISHINGmagic View
There are some awful fluorocarbon lines on the market but this is not one of them. Subterfuge is one of the better quality fluoros that is reliable throughout is length, has good knot strength, and, with care, knots without curling up.
Not one of the cheapest fluoros; you can get 100m of some so-called fluoros for what you’re paying for 15m of Subterfuge, but the quality is reflected in the price and I know what I would rather buy when big fish are at stake.
| FACTS ABOUT FLUORO |
| The property that makes fluoro carbon lines attractive is their near invisibility in water, which can be ‘seen’ if you lay two wet lines across the back of your hand, one an ordinary mono and one a fluoro carbon mono, the fluoro being very difficult to see while the conventional mono being easily seen.
The technology behind fluorocarbon lines is PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) which has a refractive index close to that of water. But the advantage of fluoro lines doesn’t end there. It is also a very dense line, having a specific gravity of 1.78 against that of ordinary nylon monofilament which is 1.15. This property makes it sink faster and then lie on the bottom tighter, therefore offering less chance of spooking wary fish.
Yet another advantage of fluorocarbon lines is that they are waterproof and more reliable. Ordinary nylon mono absorbs water and can lose up to 15% of its strength. There is also less stretch in fluoro giving better hooking power and more ‘feel’ when legering. Subterfuge fluorocarbon has a unique multi-directional polymer structure, giving reinforced strength on the knot. Other fluorocarbons have uni-directional structures, breaking easily on the knot. Subterfuge also offers invisibility, high strength to diameter ratio and UV resistance. |
