Berkley Vanish

[Brian]

What is everyones feeling on the Vanish line. I have used it for the first time in a Bass tournament and liked it, but my neighbour seemed to break off a lot. Also, what kind of knot are you using?

Thanks

[dutchman]

I tried the 10lb line and ended up giving it away. I found that to my eyes it was not anymore "invisible" than Trilene of the same test and it broke off much easier than the Trilene. I am going to try the Seagar brand next. I feel the concept is worthy in gin clear water buy not necessary elswhere. I used a polamar knot with the florocarbon line. I did catch fish using the Vanish line, but no more than another rod spooled with Trilene.

[ETT]

You guys trying to use a pure flourocarbon line for a main line a barking up the wrong tree. It is way too stiff and unmanagable. It is designed to be used as leader material and works great for that, especially for harnesses. It is so stiff that it won't spin up. Vanish is a cross bread, and doesn't perform like 100% flourocarbon. Hope this helps, and saves a few guys some bucks. Good luck

[cisco]

Frankly, I can't understand why Berkely even advertises the stuff as fishing line -- to me it is strictly leader material.

[chaunc]

man, do i agree....i've tried light line on my jigpole, the line sucked, so i decided to use it as leader material on the end of heavy fireline.nice, but i have to keep retying my knots. it seems that it wont hold knots very well. i wont buy another bulk spool! i'll give it a fair grade (6) no higher.

[s k smith]

tried using vanish as 4-6ft leader n my dipsy rigs.forget it-steelies broke off 3 of my spoonsand lost a couple wormharness too. went back to 20lb super mono and caught 7 wallys and 4 steelees out of astabula with out a breakoff/
.

[erie wind]

I wouldn't hit a dog in the a!! with this stuff!!
Was out in Lorain this week using Vanish as
leader off the Dipseys, tied both clinch and
polymer knots and lost three of the first four
eyes that hit. Line (14#) snapped about 4-5
inches above the spoons. Stuff can't take the
shock of a walleye let alone a steelhead! Switched to 14# XT and didn't have any breakoffs.

[REW]

Run some tests for your self.

Take 4,6,8,10,12,14,17, or 20 lb test vanish.
Then take the same test - Trilene, XT, Stren, Stren extra tough, Segaur Florocarbon leader material, Excaliber -- and use a palamor, or double trilene knot to tie the line to a scale.

Take about 6 feet of line -- use a triple wrap around a large diamter piece of wood with the same knot. Have the stick bolted to a winch, and have the scale bolted down. Increase the tension on the line until it breaks.

I think that the results will suprise you.

Use the information that you gain from this test to make YOUR decision on what line that you are going to use for your particular fishing needs.

Another test to try -- tie a plastic bucket on the end of the same line. Then drop a 3 lb "rock' or equivalent in the bucket from a distance of about 2 feet. This will test the "shock" strength of the line. Again - draw your own conclusions. Again - I predict that you will be very suprised at the results.

Take care

REW

[Bucket and saucer method]

Hey REW, Tried the bucket test. Now does anybody have any idea on how to filet the thing?

[Ernie]

I have narrowed down my use of the FC line to finesse presentations of live bait in clear water. I have found that I outfish my partners on tough days using the stuff.

I typically use a heavier FC line to match the strength of the Fireline I use since it has some amount of 'invisibility'.

For muddy or dingy water, I use typically use XL. I do have some spinners tied with the FC line.

I cannot see an advantage using it with the heavy hardware baits (spinners or spoons) since you already have a loud visual cue for the fish - the line will not distract them.

I have found you need to be careful with the knot, making sure it is wet before tightening. Someone on this board had suggested mineral oil, which I have yet to try.

[crash]

OK I posted this along time ago but here we go agian....

There are TWO kinds of floro out there....100% Floro and Floro blends. 100% is marketed as leader material, and floro blends are marketed as lines.

ONLY 100% floro test rating are accurate, Blend ratings are down right lies. A good way to figure this out is reduce the rating by 1/3. hence 6lb is actually 4lb, 10lb is actually 6 lb. so on and so on.

The one common trait of both is that it is much stiffer than mono and therfor does not lend itself to spinning reels very well, although I,ve used blends on conventional trolling reels, and small baitcasters with limited success. The down side is one backlash and its too kinked up to trust anymore. I use Blends and 100% for nothing but leaders anymore..

Hows your spit valve?

When tying the knot of your choice, I use a double cinch, LOTS OF SPIT (or any other lube you prefer) IS REQUIRED. Pull evenly on both ends or it will be damaged. This is the hardest part of getting used to this stuff, I've re-tied 4 or 5 times just to be sure I had it right. YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING YOU PUT OUT IF NOT DONE CORRECTLY. anybody spot my rapala floating on saginaw bay? you can't miss it, it was a firetiger J-11. its been a year now, you'd figure it would of come home by now...oh well lessons learned.

FLORO HAS LESS STRETCH THAN MONO AND MUST BE TREATED THAT WAY. or can you say El Snappo? adjust those drags boys...That and use snubbers with dipsy's

100% Floro is abrasion resistaint, Floro blends are not.

As for Brands, I use Seaguar 100% Florocarbon for the big stuff (Muskies, Stripers, Salmon..) and Seaguar Carbon Pro (Blend) for the finess stuff (Walleye's, Trout, panfish). I'll use the Vanish if I've run out of the Seaguar Blend, but I just don't like it as well as the Seaguar.

Now with all of these restrictions and fussiness you'd probally want to know why you'd even want to use this stuff. IT DISSAPEARS IN THE WATER!! 100% with out a doubt when your dealing with line shy fish or clearwater presentations you'll double your chances of hooking those wary fish.

[AquaMan]

After several break off this weekend, I change spools from the 8#fireline/10#floro combo to the straight 8#Trilene green. Never lost another fish. I think that for the big fish, the floro has some big draw backs and I will not use it for speed trolling spinners on a three way or behind dipsies and down riggers. I think the shock is too much for the floro. When the bit softens up and the boat slows down, I might go back.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Gunga Din]

Vanish is a good product, as long as it's used within its parameters. I caught my biggest trout on Fireline with a Vanish leader (talk about no stretch!) almost half the weight of the fish! Those big trout just slam the bait, but neither the Fireline or the Vanish broke or ripped the fish's lips off. You just have to adjust your technique to match your hardware.

[Worm Dunker]

Just got back from 2 days of using the 20lb vanish of my spinner rigs and 14 lb fire line on the reel. The fire line never broke but the vanish did several times.