line replacement

Hi, this may same a silly question but one that has been bugging me for some time now. How often do you need to replace ya line?. I started fishing last May when my wife got me a starter kit for my brithday little did she know. Anyways I fished mainly for trout about 30 times since then and am wondering do I need to replace my line. Second part to this question is on my last few visits to the tackle shop I have been looking at new line and they is always the bargain bin with cheap line but they are no dates on the reels to say how old the line is, is it down to how often the line is used or does line have a shelf life?.Cheers

Hi Stephen, it's not a silly question.

Monofilament line will be weakened by exposure to Sun Light, or more specifically, UV rays. Therefore, a lot of anglers will change their main reel line up to 8 times a season. My opinion is that I don't fish that much, therefore I change mine once a season.

As for the bargain bin stuff, I tend to get that to use as backing for deep spools as you don't know how the line has been stored and what damage has been done.

Hope this helps some.

Adrian

I fish just over once a week and every time I return from a session I normally strip off 2 or 3 metres of line, more if I’ve been feeder fishing on the river. It’s surprising just how soon the line gets too far below the rim of reel spool. I then strip off 100 metres and reload. Therefore, the more commonly used spools (7 to 8lbs breaking strain) get changed 2 or 3 times a year and the others may be once or twice. Avoid the bargain basement lines it’s not worth the risk unless you just use it as backing.