Tom appreciate your time and efforts and willingness to report your findings. Priceless!
Tom appreciate your time and efforts and willingness to report your findings. Priceless!
Isn’t the sensitivity difference due to the density of the line? Two fold, line sinks and offers a more direct contact (no portion of the line is floating or neutrally buoyant) and also the density of fc transmitting vibration easier due to the higher density of the material?
Also as far as spongy feel, an anecdote I can share with my own father was when he switched to fc for the first time on his bait cast reels. I bet he set the hook on 5 or 6 consecutive casts when making bottom contact. He got used to it quickly but said he wasn’t used to feeling that much. Of course an anecdote
Looks like very interesting work. What type of tensile test instrument are you using and what type of jaws/grips?
At work, we use a 10” sample length for tensile testing of monofilament yarns. This is for testing monofilament yarns used in industrial fabrics.
Speed the jaws move (faster or slower) can change tensile/elongation numbers. One test instrument to another.
Modulus is a measurement of the slope of the stress/strain curve. Depending on product, modulus is stated at different points of the curve. Your 10% of breaking strength, for example.
I am not sure if you can quantify sensitivity. Your amount of stretch at 10% of breaking strength may be best approximation.
Good Luck.
I understand that. It’s probably just my background with work etc that makes me think about how things tick probably more than I should. Like you say tho, it’s just obvious when you switch that it’s completely different. To me it seems to be about the same change as going from lead to tungsten feel wise
Is it not a factor at all then? No snark intended. So if fc and mono stretch the same amount what accounts for the difference in sensitivity? Just trying to understand what the difference is. In this context braid is a bit of an outlier because it doesn’t stretch near as much compared to other line types.
The density is touted by manufacturers as being part of the “sensitivity” difference which makes some sense I guess. I may be giving that variable too much weight but it’s certain mono and fc feel nothing alike, at least to me haha
You are correct about FC being much denser than nylon mono. I am sure this density difference is part of FC having improved sensitivity over nylon.
I think the stretch characteristics are just different. Braid is the most sensitive because of zero stretch, fluoro has next to zero stretch with lure weight / fish bites, and mono has enough stretch and rebound to dull sensitivity under regular lure weight.
While in a lab, fully loaded stretch is easy to measure and quantify, in real life the only time you approach anywhere near fully loaded is boat flipping a big fish.
2020 Nitro Z20 Pro Package
I know what I like in different lines but this info is very informative. Thanks for doing all the work and posting.
2023 Xpress H18 with 115 SHO and Powertech NRS4 21p
8" Bob's Action Jack
Garmin Echomap 12, 10, 9, and LVS34 networked with Netgear Switch
Ultrex
Trick Steps and Ramp N Clamp
Pulled by a 2016 single cab HEMI Ram
Treat others like you want to be treated when on the water EVEN WHEN IN A TOURNAMENT! No fish is worth having a confrontation because you cut someone off or came in on top of someone.
Pretty much how I feel too. Also goes a long way in telling when something is "different" in the wobble so you know you might need to set the hook. Can't begin to count how many fish I've caught on a crank or any moving bait because the feel was "different" for a split second. If the wobble stops for no good reason SET THE HOOK! If flouro didn't make such a big difference in knowing what the lure was doing at all times I'd be running BPS Excel on all my cranking rods because it's cheap and handles great.
2023 Xpress H18 with 115 SHO and Powertech NRS4 21p
8" Bob's Action Jack
Garmin Echomap 12, 10, 9, and LVS34 networked with Netgear Switch
Ultrex
Trick Steps and Ramp N Clamp
Pulled by a 2016 single cab HEMI Ram
Treat others like you want to be treated when on the water EVEN WHEN IN A TOURNAMENT! No fish is worth having a confrontation because you cut someone off or came in on top of someone.
To me, the spongy feel applies any time the tension on the line is changing. That could be quickly (and repetitively), like when feeling the wobble of a crankbait, as others have said. It could also be relatively slower, like when hopping a jig off the bottom. After fishing flouro, mono feels like a rubber band to me. Could it be due to the rate of elongation being faster or slower as more force is applied to the line?
I remember the times that I used Trilene XL for spinning and Trilene XT for baitcasting and caught fish.
As now fishing is more of a confidence thing, I see myself changing lines (and rods) for everything now days. Especially if one week I'm going largemouth fishing then smallmouth.
The video with Mercer and Matt Robertson had Matt commenting about his lines he sometimes uses.
Sometimes we take the fun out of our fishing by being too technical.
I want the old days back.
Don't try to overthink the whole process.
Braid for frogs, jigs, etc.
Mono for top waters.
Braid to flouro for dropshot, ned, etc.
Don't forget the action of your rod plays a very important part of the equation.
More fish have been lost because of the wrong action of a rod in an improper application.
I took a quick look at the website and found it quite interesting. It's a nice point of reference of different brands, types and sizes of lines. Gonna check in often.
I'm a fan of copolymer and I haven't completely given up on FC. So the test results are very interesting and I think comparing test results with manufacturer's advertising will be interesting.
I find the fact that FC has more stretch than Big Game very informative according to the comments on 15 lb test Big Game.
We are all born ignorant but one must work really hard to remain stupid---Ben Franklin
I'm really enjoying reading the research results and the experienced user comments of everyone. I guess I'm just old school growing up and using mono pretty much my entire life. I'm not a pro and stretch or sponginess has just never seemed to be an issue for me. I've pulled plenty of bass out of timber, rocks and grass without issue or breakage with mono. Can't know if I'm missing bites by not using FC or not.
The majority of my rods are spooled with mono or braid to mono. A few with FC. Due to recommendations in this forum I have purchased and installed FC the past couple of years and will agree it feels different. Still can't say its helped me catch more fish or with not losing fish enough to say I prefer it over mono. I only re spool when I feel a reel needs it and I might choose any line I feel will fit the fishing I'm about to do. I don't have a stock pile of thousands of yards of any of it for a couple of reasons. Cost - I just can't justify buying 1000's of yards of a particular line only to realize I might not like it later on. Management - If I have three crankbait or jig rods on deck I really don't think or can remember which one has mono or FC on it before picking it up and chunking. Just seems easier to stick with whats worked for me instead of trying to mix and match a number of different combos.
Do appreciate your research and the sharing of your results Tom. Thank you
Excellent work cutting through the bs Tom. My personal line use and testing pretty much mirrors your tests also.
I foresee a YouTube channel in your future.