Berkley Vanish as trolling line

[BradB]

Howdy,

I saw Sam Anderson give a walleye trolling seminar last night at Joe's in Saint Paul. Nice job Sam!

One of the subjects that came up was Berkley Vanish. I plan to put in some serious hours this summer trolling a very clear Minnesota Lake--Since '87 the average Secchi reading has ranged from 11.4 to 15.3 feet! This lake has a lot of boat traffic--water skiers, jet skiers--but does hold some nice big walleyes. I'd like to catch one over 10.

I'm planning on using boards and long lines and am trying to determine what my best trolling line choice would be for cranks and spinners. I'd go with 10# XT but was tempted after hearing Sam to try out Berkley Vanish. To be fair, Sam said he had done a few small experiments on it and was just learning about it.

I did a search on the archives here and found a lot of people had big trouble with Vanish. The line broke often and they just hated it.

What is the current concensus on Vanish? Still hate it? I'm wondering if the problems people had were with early batches when it first came out.

If you still hate it, what would you recommend for my situation described above? Very clear, lots of boat traffic, larger smart fish.

Thanks!

Brad

[RANGER]

Yeah! I still hate it for spooling line, either spinning reels (the worst) or levelwinds. This is the most misbehaved line I have ever tried, including SpiderWire. I will only use it for leader material tied to the XT or Fireline with 2 uni's and a dopp of mineral oil on the knot to allow it to cinch all the way down. 10# Fireline or 20# Stren XT.


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[byron]

Have used it only as a leader and hate the stuff. Tieing knots was a major problem, it didn't seem that abrasion resistant, but it did vanish into the water. To say the least, i am not using it anymore.
You could try a braided line with a true flourocarbon leader (p-line, seaguar) in the clear water. This is what i use and most of the lakes i fish are very clear.

[Gunga Din]

I still use Vanish for leader material, attached to Fireline or PowerPro with back-to-back uni knot. I caught a 21-lb rainbow trout using a 14-lb Vanish leader, so I think it works great as a leader if the knot is tied as Ranger suggests. But Vanish's populatiry, or should I say buzz surrounding its release, has spurred many to revert to the pure fluorocarbon lines, like Seagar. When my spools of Vanish are gone, I'll try Seagar.

Good luck.

[Dutchman]

I agree with Gunga Din, forget the Vanish and buy Seagar. I lost several fish using this line as leaders last year, then it went in the trash.

[800proX]

yup, in the Red Door tourney on mille lacs this past season, had one of around 30" right by the boat (10' leader) in driving rain and broke above the snell, cost us we figure about $1500. i check my line ALWAYS and there was no nicks, and have never had my knots come apart - only conclusion was line. will never rig with it again.

jeff

[Cangl]

Flourocarbon has one major flaw, test it this way cut a piece 3ft long stretch it to about just breaking point.Then measure it it stays a little longer and no doubt narrower diameter, so it test less with each stress, mono does also but not like that. I will not use this stuff below 10lb test and where it really shines is 20lb and above as leaders. Catch 2 fish on one tie would be considered "lucky" scary.

[SUPERTROLLER]

I think the general consensus is to use vanish only as leader material. For the trolling situations you intend, it would not be worth the trouble. When pulling cranks the line is a minor consideration. You are looking for reaction strikes and the fish could not care less what type of line is in front of the lure. They either want the lure or they don't. When pulling the spinners though, due to the generally slower speeds, I would suggest the smallest diameter you feel comfortable with. I like 6 or 8 lb. Berkley XT. It's not the most invisible stuff but I trust it to take a little zebra abuse in our home water and it ties good knots. (For pulling cranks I use 30 lb. Fireline.)

[BradB]

Thanks for all the help! It seems everyone still hates Vanish.

For my ultra clear water application Byron suggested braided line (Fireline I guess) with a P-line or Seaguar leader (how long would you make your leaders, Byron?). Supertroller suggeseted 6 or 8# XT. These are good suggestions.

What expereince do you guys have using these lines with Diawa Linecounter reels or the Shakespeare in-line counters? I'll be using both this year and am curious what you think.

Thanks again.

[byron]

I like powerpro braided line: cheaper, doesn't fray and is smaller than fireline. 20lb is on all of my trolling rods with either a p-line flourocarbon leader or some new stuff i haven't used yet called grand max by seaguar in 10-12lb.
As for leader length, anything from 5 to 20ft will work. The clearer the water, the more leader you will need. use a uni-to-uni knot for the connection. hope this helps.

[SUPERTROLLER]

Brad, I use 2 Diawa SG27LC linecounters and 1 Okuma linecounter. The Fireline is not a problem on these or any reel as long as it is wound up under a little tension. The only time I saw a problem was when a guy didn't keep it tight and then the line "bit down" and under/into the previous wraps of line and he had a minor mess on the reel that he had to work out. Fill your linecounters reels full and your counters will read right on for depth. Even if later in the season the reels aren't completely full you can still return to a productive depth by knowing what your counters read before a fish hits -- watch them religiously and compare with your graph readings to see if you hit bottom when you think they should. I have no experience wtih the Shakespeare counters but others here have said they were accurate. If you decide to try some Fireline or PowerPro please realize that due to no stretch in the line, you will actually be running deeper than the Precision Trolling guide tells you if you were running mono. The Fireline will allow you get about 25% deeper at the same amount of line out so be aware of this when in snaggy areas or trying to target a specific depth. Also remember to loosen your drags when using Superlines or you'll tear larger holes in the fish's mouth, and never ever (NEVER EVER!) set the hook. The fish will set it for you and the boat speed will help. These two things lead to more lost fish than line breaking by a far amount.

[BradB]

Thanks Supertroller! All I wanted was some confidence on the use of braided line and line counters. I have the new edition of Precision Trolling and in there they have the correction chart for using Fireline. I'm pretty anal about calculations so you can be sure I'll be following that carefully.

I appreciate the tip on not setting the hook. I'm not one to normally do the "Oh Son" hook set so I don't anticipate any problems.

Thanks a lot!

[Sparky]

I have four SG47LC reels spooled with 30lb fireline pulling dipsy divers. The line hasn't dug into the reel in 4 years of use. I've heard of it happening though. I find the firline to be very effective for this application.

Sparky