It has substantially altered the tackle we fish with as well
The new Gel Spun Polythene fishing lines, or Superbraid as it has become known generically, has altered the face of bottom fishing forever.Wire line, once the province of the deep water, fast current anglers has to a large extent been made redundant by these superthin lines with their ability to hold bottom with the minimum of sinker weight.It has substantially altered the tackle we fish with as well. Where once upon a time a 30 pound class outfit was necessary to comfortably handle the 12 to 20 ounce sinkers, by using superbraid the sinker weight has been more than halved. So more and more anglers are fishing with a 20 pound class outfit and in many cases even a 12 pound class rod and reel. A trend which many of the major manufacturers have so far failed to understand.One of the problems with superbraid is its knot-strength, a simple bloodknot tied with the same number of turns as used with monofilament will not be very effective. The knot needs to be tied with a minimum of six turns, ten would be even better and a lot of us like to superglue the knot an instant before snatching it tight.Trimming the tag end of the knot or even simply cutting it can pose a problem for anglers more used to snipping monofilament. Superbraids are deceptively soft and nail clipper style snips are not very good at cutting braids.There are special braid scissors sold for this purpose and truthfully, they are the best thing to use…not only that, they are useful for just about every other cutting job that needs to be done.
These scissors cost a little over £5’s but they are worth every penny, but look after them, they have a funny little way of disappearing into other peoples tackle boxes!!