chipbuttee
Active member
I am looking at purchasing hook length line I have been using Silstar for quite a long time but wondered what your thoughts or recommendations are on others that are on the market.
Hook Lengths.
- Thread starter chipbuttee
- Start date
rich66
Well-known member
I’ve always used drennan supplex for my hook lengths. Never tried anything else because it’s been spot on.
Keith M
Well-known member
Because the Drennan Supplex and drennan float-fish only comes on 100mtr spools I moved over to Dave Harrels ‘Pro Float’ and ‘Pro Rig’ which has all of the advantages that Drennan floatfish and drennan Supplex’ have (like a surface that resist shot damage and abrasion etc.) plus the Pro Float (but not the ‘Pro Rig’) comes on 300mtr spools instead of Drennans 100mtrs and it also has a slightly reduced diameter than Drennan Float Fish, and is used by some well known and well respected anglers on this forum.
If it wasn’t the fact that the Drennan lines only come on 100mtr spools I might not have changed over to the Dave Harrel ‘Pro Float’ in the first place, but I’m glad I did because ‘Pro Float’ is good.
Lesson to Drennan: You have great lines but you should Increase your line lengths on your ‘Float Fish’ slightly because most match reels (other than yours) have slightly deeper shallow spools.
Keith
If it wasn’t the fact that the Drennan lines only come on 100mtr spools I might not have changed over to the Dave Harrel ‘Pro Float’ in the first place, but I’m glad I did because ‘Pro Float’ is good.
Lesson to Drennan: You have great lines but you should Increase your line lengths on your ‘Float Fish’ slightly because most match reels (other than yours) have slightly deeper shallow spools.
Keith
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Aknib
Well-known member
Horses for courses really.
I generally use three, Drennan Supplex for fluorocarbon although I like their mono version too, Preston Reflo for general (it's that old I'm not even sure if you can still get it?) and Ultima Power Steel for heavy duty abrasion such as barbelling.
I've heard many a good thing about the Silstar and remember it myself from years ago and it's always been good hooklink but I can't seem to find it around here and my circumstances when purchasing are usually made without the required lead time for ordering online, in other words I left it too late and have run out!
Is there any reason you're looking further afield?
I generally use three, Drennan Supplex for fluorocarbon although I like their mono version too, Preston Reflo for general (it's that old I'm not even sure if you can still get it?) and Ultima Power Steel for heavy duty abrasion such as barbelling.
I've heard many a good thing about the Silstar and remember it myself from years ago and it's always been good hooklink but I can't seem to find it around here and my circumstances when purchasing are usually made without the required lead time for ordering online, in other words I left it too late and have run out!
Is there any reason you're looking further afield?
wetthrough
Well-known member
Those that use Supplex might want to say whether it's the 50M hook length (assumed) spools or 100M mainline. They don't appear to be the same. There are only a few you can compare directly either by diameter or line strength but those you can aren't the same, either the BS or diameter are different. Those with the same diameter have different breaking strains or vice versa.
Aknib
Well-known member
I use the 50m hooklink spools Gordon.
rich66
Well-known member
I use the 50m spools too, not the fluorocarbon one either.
Why waste money backing out the spools with expensive nylon ? If it costs £5/100m then maybe same line would be £7.50/150m for example. £2.50 for backing on 1 spool ??? Just back the spools out to take 100m or 80m or 50m or whatever. You only do it once.
Keith M
Well-known member
If my shallow match reel takes 200 mtrs of 3lb line then why would I want to go through all of the trouble of loading backing line? especially if there was a chance of a ‘knot lump’ interfering with the free release of line on the cast when I’m casting a light waggler.
I’m not worried about any extra cost; which is minimal anyway.
I would rather fill up my shallow spool without having to muck around loading two lines knotted together. And I will still have a little line left over to load onto a centrepin or one of my Drennan shallow spools.
If I were using much heavier line and not using a shallow spool then maybe I would use backing line where it’s needed but not when I’m loading a shallow spool with a light line for casting a light float; why bother?
Keith
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I'm surprised. There is no trouble. It's hassle free. I managed to work out how to do it when I was 13 and had nobody to teach me. You do it once then that's it.
There is no extra knot to interfere with casting as there is no joining knot. Back out the spool and then cover that with tape to keep it nice and flat (electrical tape is excellent as you can stretch it really tight). Then the core is no different to a spool made at that depth. Even if you did join 2 lines (I don't know why anyone would but some seem to) just make sure that the knot is at the BACK or BOTTOM of the spool and then it never comes into contact with any line when casting (plus it's 100m away anyway - that's a bloomin long cast for a light waggler).
If you put on a full 200m of a line like Supplex at something like £5/100m then £5 is wasted. Wish I had your income !
Keith M
Well-known member
The old saying ‘Trying to teach your granny how to suck eggs’ springs to mind Rich
mg:And as for ‘it’s a waste of money to buy 300 mtrs of light line’
tight s*d
A 100 mtr spool of Drennan ‘floatfish’ line costs £3.99p and will fill just a single 100 mtr reel spool; and no more.
Whereas a 300 mtr spool of ‘Pro Float’ line costs £7.99p and will fill 3x100 mtr reel spools, or 1x200mtr reel spool plus a single 100 mtr reel spool (or even a centrepin if you own one like me).
Even if you only own one Drennan reel then you could fill it again three times for the price of just two 100mtr Drennan spools.
So its just like a: ‘Buy three for the price of two’ bargain.
And that’s without all the bother of having to use a backup line to fill up an already shallow spool.
Keith
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Keith M
Well-known member
I give up mg:
mg:
Paste paul
Well-known member
I like guru n-gauge it’s strong for is diameter........
I also have some Maver mvr in .20 which had been great the only trouble is the spools are large so if you have a small box it can be awkward........
I have one spool of Preston power line which also has been good....
As you can see I buy what they have in the shop when I need it but I wouldn’t have a problem using any of the three I’ve mentioned......
Hope this helps
I fill a reel with backing to a level where around 100m fills it,i tuck the joining knot under the line at the base of the spool. As for hooklink lines,for lines up to 7.9lb I use Silstar matchteam,as ive found nothing even close in quality,for barbel I use the now discontinued Drennan Super Specialist 10lb for waters with good barbel present,or problematic weed or snags,ive found fluorocarbon unnecessary in all my fishing(even though i carry some in my barbel gear),using all makes of hooklink material is a trade off,if I thought something was better I would be using it,but we all have different requirements...
Keith M
Well-known member
I think that whether or not a backing line knot is noticeable under the line depends on the reel your using; 200mtrs of 3lb line loaded onto a small diameter spool like on a small Ninja reel may be fairly deep and a knot would probably not cause any problems (even if the knot was not positioned at the edge of the spool); but load the same line onto a much wider shallow spool like on a Shimano Aero Match reel then the line loaded would be a lot shallower on the spool and a backing line knot can stand out more.
Just look at the larger diameter shallow spool below; why would I need to load a backing line onto it? although I might do on the Ninja reel below it which is a lot smaller and deeper.
Bottom line is that it’s a personal choice and I myself wouldn’t even bother regardless of the extra two or three pounds which is about the price of a pint of maggots.
Below: The Large diameter shallow spool on a Shimano Aero Match reel.
Below: The Smaller diameter (and less Shallow) spool on a Diawa Ninja Match reel.
The spools on the above reels have very different diameters which makes quite a difference to the depth of line when it’s loaded.
Keith
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Quite correct. But, if it worries you, you don't need to have any knot whether you're loading just the mainline or backing + mainline. Just tape it flat to the core of the spool whatever the core is. If a fish strips all 100m of 3lb line you're going to be in trouble anyway !
Also,I have 3012a ninjas,I doubt whether your spools are wider than mine,so the shallowness is similar,ive also got two cadence cd7's 4000 size,they are similar,I have no issues,but its all down to what you want to do I suppose...