Vicious Fluorocarbon

[nofearengineer]

I just thought I would share my experience with the stuff. I was a little skeptical of using fluorocarbon, especially after reading the article someone on here posted that included intensive testing of about 10 brands of fluorocarbon. Those results showed that much, but not all of the hype surrounding fluorocarbon was just hype. But since I had already bought the line, I thought I'd try it out myself and see what happened.

Since I was trading 8lb mono for 12lb fluorocarbon, I thought it would hurt my casting distance, at least a little, but surprisingly, not as far as I could tell. The most interesting thing I only noticed later, after casting it for a couple hours: not even a hint of a backlash. And this was a very windy day. 15-20mph constant winds. I have never experienced that kind of ease, even with mono. I'd like to take credit for my skill, but I know it's not that.

I have to admit that the line did seem to make tying the Rapala knot a little tough, as it was a little springier than mono, but it seemed fine once I finally got it cinched down. And I did use some KVD line conditioner on it when I first spooled it up, but none before use. I will be using it for a while with no conditioner to see if it causes it to become more of a problem.

I wish I had something to report as far as sensitivity or knot strength, but alas, the fish were not very hungry. That'll be a report for another day. But in the interim, I would say Vicious seems to be a great line, and since it is actually a couple of bucks less than most other fluorocarbons (Wal Mart sells it, for pete's sake), it seems to be a good deal too.

[CMorg]

Ahh , Im so glad to hear that others like Vicious as well....Sensitivity is way better than mono , I promise.

[islandbass]

Thanks for the review. As you have discovered some fc lines are stiff and wirey and there's nothing wrong with that, especially on a casting reel.

However, not all fc lines are as stiff. If you need an fc line that is more supple, check out Seaguar invizx. It's my fc line of choice when I need a limper fc line.

[BigBassin144]

+1 on what IB said. If you like the fluoro, but not the stiff and wirey part, get some Seaguar InvisX.

BB

[Bassboss]

Cool, thanks no fear! I can't wait to see the sensitivity review!

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

+1 on what IB said. If you like the fluoro, but not the stiff and wirey part, get some Seaguar InvisX.

BB

Thanks for the recommendation. However, while the line was a wee bit "springy", it certainly wasn't a problem. The price difference between Vicious and Seaguar is considerable too. Maybe at the Dale Hollow event, we can all take a look at what everyone else is using, rather than have to buy it all ourselves.

[RonB]

I use the Vicious 17 lb FC on my flipping rod and so far, I like it a lot. I wanted something more sensitive than mono and the 50 lb Powerpro resulted in great sensitivity but I simply was not getting bit. The FC seems to be the way to go. No problems fliiping or pitching.

[islandbass]

Nofear,

If you have a Cabelas nearby, check out their house brand, No Viz. I think it is made by seaguar and it appears to be a generic version of Invizx but just a tad less limp. It is a deal at $9.99 for a 200 yard spool.

I keep forgetting how expensive Invizx is for folks around the country because a local dealer sells his for $13.97. The other people are putting an extra $3-5 in their pockets on you folks!

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st..._SearchResults

Not including shipping!

[nofearengineer]

Unfortunately, the nearest Cabela's is 200 miles away.

Maybe that is a good thing though. It might help keep me from spending my life savings on Revo's.

[TnTom]

After reading Kevin's article on line and compiling a data base using his data (and what a tremendous study he did ) I can now punch in what I want to fish and a specific set of line options are output, including cost, braking point, sensitivity,recommended baits usage etc. The first day it freezes I'm stripping my rods and re-line each using his data.

Question
When testing for breaking pt. what is the correct test one can do himself?

I hung very accurate weights (calibrated and all) using a two hooks, one on each end of a specific piece of sample line with a palomar knot.one end hooked into a digital scale and added weight to the other end in 2# increments;

I didn't have a lot of lines to test but I had 2-3 different types of mono FC and braid.

The FC barely made it to the rating and most time broke early by 3-5#'s but it got better when I looked at samples taken from furthur down the line (less used area).

Monos seems close to its rating usually above and braids all exceeded the rated break points significantly.

For whatever reason I seemed to find FC didn't measure up by more than I would hope. Ive never broke a fish off using it or any other line. I like FC cause it catches fish, ties good and holds a knot like it should. Maybe its flawed testing or something but the results were predictable as was catching fish.

[CMorg]

I caught a 51 pound grass carp on 17# flouro.. It bent my hook almost straight.

Originally Posted by TnTom

After reading Kevins article on line and compiling a data base using his data (and what a tremenous study he did ) I can now punch in what i want to fish and a specific set of line options are output, including cost, braking point, sensitivity,recommeded baits usage etc. The first day it freezes I'm stripping my rods and re-line each using his data.

Question
When testing for breaking pt. what is the correct test one can do himself?

I hung very accurate weights (calibrated and all) using a two hooks, one on each end of a specific piece of sample line with a polomar knot.one end hooked into a digital scale and added weight to the other end in 2# increments;

I didn't have a lot of lines to test but I had 2-3 different types of mono FC and braid.

The FC barely made it to the rating and most time broke early by 3-5#'s but it got better when I looked at samples taken from furthur down the line (less used area).

Monos seems close to its rating usually above and braids all exceeded the rated break points significantly.

For whatever reason I seemed to find FC didnt measure up by more than I would hope. Ive never broke a fish off using it or any other line. I like FC cause it catches fish, ties good and holds a knot like it should. Maybe its flawed testing or something but the results were predictable as was catching fish.

Im pretty sure they base these numbers on in water weight , not dry weight. I am not an expert here , but thats my thoughts.

[TnTom]

Originally Posted by CMorg

Im pretty sure they base these numbers on in water weight , not dry weight. I am not an expert here , but thats my thoughts.

There's probably more to it than what I was doing.
In water weight? I'll have to dig into it a little. That's an interesting thought.

[Racemaster33]

Ok, I'm considering changing to a FC line myself. I currently use a 25lb FC leader tied to the end of my 15lb braid for salt water fishing. Fish dont see it and it withstands the sharp teeth associated with nearly every fish in salt water.

I'm now considering swapping a few of my bass rigs over to it. I've heard it's no problem on a bait caster but people often complain on a spin cast (open face).

I like a pretty limp line for lighter baits on an open face. My question is if you are replacing your 8lb mono with FC, would you go up in strength? I've read posts where people would go up to 10lb or 12lb. Why?
I do just fine with mono, hardly ever lose a fish because of it (I use my drag and/or backreel) but like the invisible quality of FC. I am confident I will get more bites due to the vanish aspect of FC.

Speaking of Vanish, I bought some "Vanish" flurocarbon and tried it on an open face a few months ago. I hated it! It was like fishing with clear wire.

Looking for input.

[TnTom]

http://www.bassfishin.com/bassfishin...ad.php?t=17089

Kevin answered a lot of my questions in study he did. Made it much easier to decide what to put on and when. I'm sure there are different opinions. His findings provide an excellent baseline for all the different stuff we have to sort through when it come to line application. He saved me some bucks and helped standardize how I loaded my reels.

[BigBassin144]

If you use 8lb mono, I'd go with 8lb fluoro as well. On a spinning reel, I probably wouldn't go over 8lb anyways. Seaguar InvisX is a great line for spinning reels.

Vanish is garbage. It's not meant for bass fishing, it was made as a walleye line. It won't stand up to the repeated casting and eyecrossing, boat rocking hooksets of bass fishing. Even if it wasn't wiry, you would have hated after breaking off fish after fish.

BB

[Bassboss]

Originally Posted by ky southern

if you want to save a few dimes i would choose p-line floroclear for spinning reels,i used it for a long time and had good luck with it,cast and handles like mono.then,a few months ago after gettin my tail handed to me with the shaky head,i broke over and got my spinning equipment out and started using shaky head more,and i felt i really need to use pure flourocarbon to take it to the next level,so i been using bass pro xps and seaguar invix and it is great line.i too believe the seaguar is the best line on the market in flouro,but the bass pro aint bad line and is a few dimes cheaper.

I heard that floro clear sucks under 12lb. It's very brittle and has very bad knot strength. It's good stuff 12lb and up though.

[BassMoJo]

Right now on my dropshot and shakyhead spinning reels I have bps fluro and P-Line 100% fluro. While it hurts me to say this (always been a big fan of pline) I perfer the bps only because knot problems and does not tangle as much.

[PKlaebel]

I totally agree about BPS over the PLine. I have had absolutely no problems with BPS but have had the same problems with PLine that you mention.

For the spinning reals I've tried the Berkley Vanish 8lb and have had absolutely no problems with it.

[Bassboss]

Hey no fear, how do you think 8lb will be for spinning reels?

I'm thinking about getting some to replace the momo I have on.

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by Bassboss

Hey no fear, how do you think 8lb will be for spinning reels?

I'm thinking about getting some to replace the momo I have on.

I haven't tried any fluorocarbon on spinning reels yet. For my money, and what I use spinning reels for, mono is just as good as fluoro.

As an update on my Vicious experience, it was a bit springy this past weekend, with obvious increased memory. Keep in mind that I haven't put any line conditioner on it since I first spooled it. Regardless, it was still very fishable, and I'm not sure I even would have had that first slight overrun had it not been a new jerkbait that I hadn't cast before (XCalibur XS4). After that, I had no problems whatsoever with it. It's good to know it's not going to be 100% necessary to keep it conditioned. All that's left now is a long term durability and fish-landing test.