Line snapping - urgent!

A bad day at the office on Saturday.

To kick off my winter fishing I am targeting some large perch I have seen in a large gravel pit. I had a few hours spare on Saturday, so I went with my son with the intention of having a roam around with some lures (which he loved incidentally).

I purchased two ready made traces, however when tying my main line to the swivel the line kept on breaking. I was using the knot where you do a loop, then four turns within the loop, pull it and then slide the knot down (yes I did wet it).

I must have done this 20 times. I removed a good 10m, still did it. It was 8lb Berkley Trilene XL (I know, probably not the best for lures but it was a last min decision to go).

I changed spools, dont know the line, but it was the same breaking strain and was put onto the reel in April. Exactly the same.

I do know (or suspect) that my other line is probably a spool I hadn't used for some time i.e. 2 years.

So, I then suspected the swivel, it was the diamond shape ends, not round ones. To my annoyance the other trace was frayed (brand new!), so I didn't even try it.

In the end I put a power gum link in, loop to loop, and this seemd ok until.........a fantastic take, a tail walking pike of about 15lb, played for 30 seconds and, you've guessed it.

So, any clues? And especially, how long do you keep line for? I have some un-opened spools that are 2-3 years old, should I even ditch these? Do you think this was part of the problem?

Sorry its so long, but I was reeeeeeeeally pissed of. My son loved the tail walking though!

Where at the knot was it breaking?

Was the entire knot coming away or was the knot still attached to the swivel?

Line in general should be changed every six months, but this would depend on how much time it spends in the open air (oxydation). Spools in a cupboard that are two, three, even six years old could be okay. Similarly a spool fresh (?) from the shop could be breaking like that as soon as you use it.

You could also try going through the swivel twice before tying the knot and put 5 or even 6 twists in the knot, but I don't see it making that much difference Stuart.

Perhaps our Graham can help?

Hi Jeff - yes, good point which I had intended to put in my post. I did try twice thru the swivel.

It always broke above the knot, leaving the knot on the swivel.

My lines, as with all my gear, are kept in the cupboard that houses the central heating (i.e. always very warm). No idea if this has anything to do with it....

Sounds to me like you have some dodgy line there Stuart. The weakest point is always the knot so if its breaking above the knot like you say I would suggest you invest in some new line. I use Berkeley line on some of my spools and havn't had a problem with it, in fact I think its pretty good. Maybe its because the sun has got at it and made it brittle. I always keep my new unused spools wrapped up and in the dark as well, because sunlight has a very detrimental affect on line

Heat above 20degrees can encourade nylon monofilament to go brittle and I guess that's what's happening here. It might be something you don't notice when you feel the line, but I had some 8lb GR60 like that once and lost two very nice barbel through it. It could have been stored in a hot cupboard at the dealers. Needless to say, it went in the bin.

I would suggest you throw all the wife's clothes out of her wardrobe and put your gear in there. Make alternative arrangements for her in the shed or garage. I wouldn't be too hard on her, but you have to get your priorities right and line is expensive these days.

What do others think?

Sounds like dodgy line to me. Try using a Palomar knot just in case this makes a difference. I never have any trouble with this knot.

For storing bulk spools I wrap them in tin foil and keep in a cool dark place.No problems.Line on spools should be changed at least every six months as allready sugested.I think itsounds that the line was faulty to. If the swivel had a fault that was damaging the line I would have expected it to break at the swivel.Diamond eye swivels are prone tpo damage around the eye though.I once had a similar thing happen untill I noticed that the swivel I had used on the trace was a recycled one from a previous trace.the problem being that where the eye I was tying the line too this time was where the wire was spun on in its previous use.

Stuart I stopped using Mono for spinning about 5 years ago and I ain't looked back.
Braid IMHO is far superior to Mono when lure fishing for a number of reasons; It lasts longer than mono(it won't deteriorate), it has no memory unlike mono, for a given braking strain braid is thinner than mono, also you can feel the lure working and every knock when a fish takes. When I'm spinning or live baiting for perch I use Berkly Fireline in 10lb BS.

If you do decide to use braid when spinning for Perch because of the lack of stretch in the braid its a good Idea to use about 10ft of mono this acts as a shock absorber and will help stop you bumping the fish off on the strike unless your spinning rod is soft then you only need to set your clutch a little slacker than usual.

Once a particular batch of line has let you down, or you suspect there is a problem with it, then there is only one thing to do with it... bin it.

Well, as ever excellent feedback, many thanks.

Sorry to sound forensic about this, but first and foremost I do not like the thought of leaving a hook in a fish (and please dont give me aggro about these messages being picked up by anti's, I am more than happy with being able to defend fishing with the multitudes of positives, especially the fact that most anglers care about the fish and are therefore prepared to debate these issues with the view to improvements in fish care).

So, I have just spent an hour tying knots on 10 different swivels. The two lines in question were clearly buggered. Every knot broke above the knot.

A number of lines I had stored also seemed to break easily. All of these have been stored in the dark, but also in a very warm environment. Some of these are up to 3/4 years old at least. Line I bought last year seemed ok except for the spool I had loaded in April (for Clattercote) which was on one of the spools I used on Saturday.

My conclusion is simple.

First - fish more, in which case I would use the bloody stuff!

Second - a hot/warm environment is not good. The two spools I used were still on reels suspended on nice little hooks in our boiler room. One was new reel line (well, from last year), the other quite old (and I thought I was being organised and keeping my gear stored properly!).

Next question, how do I unload all my reels and get rid of the old line!

PS - Eric, yes I will go to braid, which I had intended to do if I enjoyed it, which I did !

Get one of the Berkley Line Strippers their Great!!!