Test Your Braided Line, Don't Assume Its Strength

[ksong]

Originally Posted by kidflex

i agree pe5 is 50lbs, pe8 is 80lbs and so on. the advertised breaking strength is appealing to anglers but after being disappointed its not hard to overlook what the rating is and just fish it conservatively

ive always heard boat braid broke close to its rating. consistency is good though.

You are 100 percent right. I had some failures by believing their claim in the past.

[spineyman]

Pamet, Have you tried doubling the braid and then tying the know. If that will help the strength of the know break.

[gman]

I have used them all, to be honest I have used PE8 Diawa Boat Braid for a year and have really abused it on huge amberjacks down in NC. Kidlfex was on my boat when I caught the big fish and the high pitched ping sound as teh line went through my guides with heavy drag was enough to scare the shit out of you. That huge shark I jigged was also caught on that line with even heavier drag. But it never failed. Not once. I would bet money my PE8 tests over 80 but who would use that much anyway

I have Varivas Big One on my reels now but I still feel Diawa line is better quality IMHO. It has never failed me ... not even once

*** THE ONLY LINE I believe is really bullet proof other than that is Varivas GT Max SMP, its really expensive but is an amazing line

[kidflex]

glenn- alot of monsters where caught in NC and i never saw you break off with the boat braid. i had a few break off and was using 100lb tuff line xp with less drag than you were using. i like the pe8 DBB and will continue to fill up my spools with it replacing all others for jigging

[pametfisher]

Originally Posted by John_Madison CT

Roger: Did you try a 40 turn bimini twist in that 70lb Daiwa Braid? I tied a few and they tested over 40lbs.. I stopped pulling against my drag scale at that point but now you have me curious how much farther I can go.

John

John,

I didn't but you can be sure that you will get close to 64 lbs. if you tie 50 turns or more.

PF

[pametfisher]

Look, we're all buying into the marketing hype. If a manufacturer wants their line to be thinner and smoother, guess what, they put a bigger number on the package. If they want it to be stronger and have better knot strength, they put a smaller number on the package.

What I want to know is the following: what is the usual Actual Breaking Strength of the line in question? That is the one number that no one puts on the box.

Personally, I don't think of PE 5 lines as 50#. They're not. When I pick up a box of 80# Powerpro, I don't think of it as 80# line. When I buy JB 60# hollow, it's not 60# test. The one thing I know for sure is lines are NEVER what they put on the box--unless by accident.

In a sense, I have fallen into that trap by expecting knots in a 70# line to test greater than 40 lbs. The results I'm getting in the Daiwa are EXACTLY what a true 70# line should do. I'm just so used to the exaggeration (packaging true 65# test as 50# test), that I'm surprised by an approximately accurate rating--Daiwa Boat Braid. Daiwa is a very good line.

Since the beginning of the year, I always test the Knotted Breaking Strength and Actual Breaking Strength of the lines I'm going to use. Otherwise, you're shooting in the dark.

[pametfisher]

I had a few more reels come in this week to have Streamline leaders added and had the time to break some more lines. One reel had 80# PowerPro and I added 80# JB hollow on top using a Solid/Hollow splice. The other reel was a Stella 20000 SW with 60# Jerry Brown hollow. (The Cortland rep called me last week so I'll be testing 12-carrier Cortland Masterbraid hollow-weave soon.)

The 80# PowerPro broke between 95 and 100 lbs; and a Surgeon's Loop broke between 60 and 62.5 lbs. The 60# Jerry Brown hollow-weave broke between 105 and 110 lbs.

I'm only making a few tests per line so these should be considered "ballpark" results--that said, I have seen fairly good consistency from sample to sample and test to test. Here is the current table of results (ABS is Actual Breaking Strength; SL is Surgeon's Loop which will be similar to other knots):

50# PowerPro: ABS 61 lbs.; SL 34 lbs.
65# PowerPro: ABS 78 lbs.; SL 44 lbs.
80# PowerPro: ABS 98 lbs.; SL 61 lbs.

55# Daiwa Boat Braid: ABS 58 lbs.; 32lbs.
70# Daiwa Boat Braid: ABS 64 lbs.; 35 lbs.

60# Jerry Brown (hollow): ABS 107 lbs. (3 samples this year)
80# Jerry Brown (hollow): ABS >110 lbs. (110 lbs. is my current maximum)

80# Cortland C16 (hollow): ABS >110 lbs.

My reason for testing a Surgeon's Loop is that it is one of the choices for adding a loop to solid-weave mainline for Wind-On leaders. The other choice would be a Bimini Twist which would break up near the ABS. A third choice is the Solid/Hollow splice method I've described before which would break at the ABS of the line.

I plan to update this table as other lines and samples come in.

[Jrzrider83]

i'd be very curious of the break strength of the 40# Jerry Brown Hollow.
if it is proportionally stronger it might be any where from 55-71 ABS ?

[pametfisher]

Originally Posted by Jrzrider83

i'd be very curious of the break strength of the 40# Jerry Brown Hollow.
if it is proportionally stronger it might be any where from 55-71 ABS ?

That's a good question but my experience says that you really need to get a sample and check it. Splice an end loop in both ends of a sample and lift increasing weights slowly, until it breaks.

Even among brands, I have seen variation from year to year. Not surprisingly, PowerPro, which has been around for a long time, seems to run consistently from strength to strength (this is not a PP recommendation, just an observation).

[hamptonsurf]

Pamet, are you selling these streamline leaders?