What's your favorite mono running line & why?

clarkman

clarkman

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I absolutely LOVE my orange Stren Catfish mono, but they've stopped making it and I seem to have lost my spool that had probably 100' left on it. I was using the 30lb for my SH 8wts with Commando (and similar) heads--tried the 20lb and it kinked a little too much for my liking. Anyway, looking at other options.

What say you?
 
SA absolute flat mono 35lbs has been very good to me. It shoots like mad, stretches out easily after sitting on my reel unused for a while, and rarely has kinks or coils, I can feel it in most of the winter. $16

For super cold winter fishing Rio Grip Shooter is pretty nice at the end of the day when your hands are like frozen hamburgers. The $50 price tag is ridiculous, but I'd be lying if i didn't say it really is helpful on those long bitterly cold days.

I want to love lazar, and its great in warmer conditions, but I hated it in winter. Constant kinks and coils.

I'd love to try Nam Hazumi, but the cost seems absurd when all of my spools are already full.
 
I say ditch the mono and get some p-line hydrofloat #50, but that's probably not the advice you're wanting to hear.
IMO, mono stretches too much for efficient energy transfer during casting, requiring the caster to use more energy than necessary. With nearly zero stretch, hydrofloat transfers nearly all the casting energy into the flyline. It also makes for wicked bitchin' hooksets at distance, whereas the 30# mono will stretch up to 20% (more if it has been wet longer). Speaking of wet, hydrofloat also retains its knot strength when wet.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...
 
Can't add much in the way of comparison or contrast with other options but I've been pleased with how little it tangles/kinks, and appreciate the added grip.
 
G_Smolt said:
I say ditch the mono and get some p-line hydrofloat #50, but that's probably not the advice you're wanting to hear.
IMO, mono stretches too much for efficient energy transfer during casting, requiring the caster to use more energy than necessary. With nearly zero stretch, hydrofloat transfers nearly all the casting energy into the flyline. It also makes for wicked bitchin' hooksets at distance, whereas the 30# mono will stretch up to 20% (more if it has been wet longer). Speaking of wet, hydrofloat also retains its knot strength when wet.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...
Click to expand...
While true, I'll still look into that stuff. How is the tangling?
 
Zero memory, rarely tangles when new with good line mgmt. As it gets older - or rubbed on rocks a lot, or stepped on, or generally abused - the coating can crack, and that can provide "kink" spots that make tangles a bit more frequent.
But at $15/150yds, you can get 5 ~90' running lines out of a spool, and when you get too many cracks in the coating just flip it around and it's like new.
 
I have bent arthritic fingers and can't grab or feel or tie knots like I used to. I need all the help I can get. In my journey I started with opst laser line. That stuff sucked! It was just a round mono and it tangles and kinked and the 20lb stuff was too thin for my old hands. I hear they now make opst laser oval mono so should be better. OPST got me to hate mono running line and I would not touch the stuff.

There are guys who use 50lb straight mono and swear by it. That's super cheap too! Then I went to cutting the coated running line off old used lines I had and attaching to my heads loop to loop. That worked fine but was I missing out on distance and more backing on my reel if I got a hot fish?

I used guide's rod with SA flat mono. That stuff was great! It is also relatively cheap. When I tried it I thought wow that's the best mono ever! It got me to stop hating mono but not enough to buy it and convert from using my orphaned coated running lines .

Then I got in to scandi casting T&G casts and love my NAM 7wt 1237 and Nam promotes the Hazumi mono running line that is sort of square claiming to resist tangles and coils. It got all kinds of super reviews but it is expensive but one roll is for 2 reels so not that bad. I use the Hazumi in the orange 50lb and it is thicker for my fingers and does not tangle. My scandi head is 27ft custom godshall + 10ft polyleader + 7ft. 12lb maxima green tippet. I'll have enough running line out for 80+ft. casts with no issues tangling and I get a nice thunk at the end of my casts. I also don't have to do exotic running line management. I can just strip and hold 4th coil. strip and hold 8th coil strip to a 1ft. overhang and cast. I do not have to be neat and strip 4 hold at pinky, strip 3 hold next finger, strip 2, hold next finger go to overhang and cast with release 2,3,4. The Hazumi is worth every penny. I do not prep or pre-stretch. I just tie on a fly and go fish.
 
Oh one other thing people don't think about much...the whole reel set-up. I hear about people loosing heads, leader, running line and backing on hot fish or fighting errors. Typical backing is 20 or 30lb dacron backing. No one seems to think much about the whole set-up. I use 65lb braid backing because it is not too thin to cut my fingers on reintroducing it back onto the reel in a fight. But it is thinner than 30lb dacron and I can get more on the reel. 65lb braid is the diameter of 16lb mono. Then my running line is 50lb so it is fat enough for my fingers and makes a progression in breaking strength, then head core is standard 35lb. for slamon/steelhead, polyleader salmom/steel @ 20lb and the tippet is 12lb. This makes for progressively weaker line to the fish and any break off will be as close to the fish as possible. A fish that breaks off at the backing might not do so well with 200yrs of line tethered to its jaw.
 
Just spoiled up some Nam Hazumi (40lb), and I gotta say I really like it. I came from SA flat mono. Very low memory and it has a nice feel. It’s a bit pricy, but it has enough for two spools (or for a second spooling when it’s time).
 
Yeah, I'm not married to mono. I just really liked the Stren Catfish. Low memory, inexpensive, excellent distance.
 
G_Smolt said:
Zero memory, rarely tangles when new with good line mgmt. As it gets older - or rubbed on rocks a lot, or stepped on, or generally abused - the coating can crack, and that can provide "kink" spots that make tangles a bit more frequent.
But at $15/150yds, you can get 5 ~90' running lines out of a spool, and when you get too many cracks in the coating just flip it around and it's like new.
Click to expand...
Seems as though places are out of 50lb....bummer
 
Berkeley Big Game 30# - 40# mono works very well for way inexpensive
Deneki Outdoors does hundred of reviews on all things fly gear....on the attached link, scroll down to Expert Rigs - Trout, where they go into the detail of what the guides use.
And great reading on their Salmon and Steelhead rigs as well..

Fly Fishing Gear | Posts About Gear

Tons of articles about fly fishing gear, including reviews, tips, gift guides and more.
deneki.com deneki.com
 
SurfnFish said:
Berkeley Big Game 30# - 40# mono works very well for way inexpensive
Deneki Outdoors does hundred of reviews on all things fly gear....on the attached link, scroll down to Expert Rigs - Trout, where they go into the detail of what the guides use.
And great reading on their Salmon and Steelhead rigs as well..

Fly Fishing Gear | Posts About Gear

Tons of articles about fly fishing gear, including reviews, tips, gift guides and more.
deneki.com deneki.com
Click to expand...
Maybe I should try it again. I went from BG to the Stren though. Then last couple of years went with a fly line running line because I do a fair bit of stripping streamers for winter steelhead, then couldn't quite reach a few spots I could previously....always that damn trade-off. Lol
 
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clarkman said:
Maybe I should try it again. I went from BG to the Strength though. Then last couple of years went with a fly line running line because I do a fair bit of stripping streamers for winter steelhead, then couldn't quite reach a few spots I could previously....always that damn trade-off. Lol
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when I was fishing coastal steelhead a bunch of days each year, I used BG and wore Xcel 1.5 mm surfing gloves which provide a good grab on the BG while keeping my hands dry and warm. Still use them here at the high altitude lakes on chilly mornings, and when I fish Fall River during winter.
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I have the OPST Lazer Line and I like it, no tangles but can be hard to hold. I can pull in 10 strips and dump it all in the water without issues it seems, though I usually will hold just one loop. I find that it shoots so well the sometimes the head will just fly out and not unroll since there’s not much friction from the back. My favorite running line is the Miracle Braid that I don’t believe is made anymore. It doesn’t shoot quite as far but is easy to hold.
 
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