TackleTour

Does anyone stretch this type of line either before they spool it on a reel or after spooling? I have some 20lb. Tatsu on a reel and do not like the line coils and the manageability. Not stretching it right to the bait/lure , but maybe from 2 rod lenghs and about 100 feet after that. Anyone do this?

You seem to have read the TackleTour review of fluorocarbons where its tests determined that they were actually about as stretchy as monofilament lines . . . with one big caveat. Monofilaments stretch then return to their normal pre-stretched lengths, more or less, after the tension is taken away. Fluorocarbon lines stretch about the same amount but don't retract very much. That is, they stay stretched.

Technically, there is a difference is elasticity and plasticity. Mono is more of the former, less of the latter; fluorocarbons are more of the latter and less of the former.

I sort of like your idea of drawing/pulling out the fluorocarbon before fishing it, getting this preliminary stretch out of the way. I don't know if it'll actually help with line manageability or not, but please post back if you do this procedure and tell us if you notice a difference!

Brad

All mono and fluoro have memory to different levels. The more elastic lines will respond better to stretching them. You shouldn't have to pre-stretch a parallel wound line like Tatsu. I wouldn't fish 20lb. fluoro on a spool diameter smaller than 34mm. Once your line begins to develop memory, tie it to a solid object and walk out slightly more than your longest cast. Gently build up pressure on your line by slowly sweeping your rod back to get a few pounds of pressure on your line. Don't put too much pressure because fluoro will elongate and not come back, as has been said. This stretching works really well for mono, and a little on fluoros that have some stretch, ie Tatsu and Sniper. Don't expect miracles. Catching a hard fighting fish has the same effect. I've had 20lb.+ carp and catfish stretch/elongate fluoro to point where you can feel that is has less stretch. I replace it once it gets to this point.
Surprisingly, you put a lot less pressure on your line at a long distance than people think. Rich Tauber, a former U.S. open champion, used to do seminars in the early 90's for Team Daiwa where he would have someone in the back of the room/lecture hall hold his lure while he was on stage. He would set the hook with mono to show how much stretch there really is and to show why you should have sharp hooks and the right equipment.
I talked about this on a thread a few years ago, but a lot of the finesse legends from the early days would stretch their used mono before a tournament in the parking lot at Lake Castaic and other lakes. Some were too cheap to replace their Maxima Ultragreen every day , even after they took everyone's money. I can only imagine how long these guys would fish an expensive line like Tatsu, and how many stretchings it would get.

I explain it this way: Mono is like a rubber band and fluorocarbon is like a Stretch Armstrong from back in the day

The line with the most stretch? For me, it'd be the red monofilament that comes on a stock Zebco reel.

If you get caught up on something with it, and need to break off, you have to move back about 15 feet before it'll snap. I don't think I have ever seen anything close to this amount of elasticity in a line.

The new monofilaments, some of them, like Sufix Elite and several others? Whew! Have we come a very long way on modern lines.

I keep thinking some anglers who have moved over to fluorocarbon lines over the past many years, that if they spooled on some of the better current monofilaments, they might cease to struggle with their love/hate relationships with fluoro.

I still like fluoro as a short leader on my finesse rigs where I prefer braid (spinning tackle). And, if I were a sponsored pro angler, I might throw straight fluoro knowing I can use it a few times, then re-spool with fresh line at no cost.

Brad

I haven't found stretching fluorocarbon line weakens it. Maybe it does, but that hasn't been my experience.
Every couple of months, I tie my fluoro line off to the rack on my truck, and walk out about a cast and a half. Then I engage the reel, take the line between my finger and thumb, and slowly walk out a little more, until I stop being able to stretch the line easily. I hold that tension for a ten count, and then slowly reel in the line as I walk back to my truck, feeling the line between my fingers as I do for bad spots.
I do this mostly to get the coils out of my fluoro, but it is a good way to check for bad spots, too.
I've had line break at a bad spot when I've done this stretching, but I'd rather have it break here than on the water with a good fish on the other end. And it doesn't break very often, because I pick out buried loops before they get slapped and weakened on a cast.
I find that I need to do this more often with reels that I use for chuck and wind baits, like spinnerbaits, and less often for bottom bait reels, like jigs and T rigged worms.

I hate fluoro. I just stick with a good quality mono. I personally think Seaguar Senshi and Stren Magnathin are amazing lines.

mark poulson wrote:I haven't found stretching fluorocarbon line weakens it. Maybe it does, but that hasn't been my experience.
Every couple of months, I tie my fluoro line off to the rack on my truck, and walk out about a cast and a half. Then I engage the reel, take the line between my finger and thumb, and slowly walk out a little more, until I stop being able to stretch the line easily. I hold that tension for a ten count, and then slowly reel in the line as I walk back to my truck, feeling the line between my fingers as I do for bad spots.
I do this mostly to get the coils out of my fluoro, but it is a good way to check for bad spots, too.
I've had line break at a bad spot when I've done this stretching, but I'd rather have it break here than on the water with a good fish on the other end. And it doesn't break very often, because I pick out buried loops before they get slapped and weakened on a cast.
I find that I need to do this more often with reels that I use for chuck and wind baits, like spinnerbaits, and less often for bottom bait reels, like jigs and T rigged worms.

While you stretch your line more aggressively than I do, I don't think that it weakens your line to the point where you will have serious problems. I think it takes the stretch out of the line, which may take out the line's ability to absorb shock. The fluoro that I suspect that I elongated feels like it has no stretch.
As I was talking about in my earlier post, we put a lot less pressure on our lines than we think. Unless you are swinging giant bass on a few feet of line, we generally don't get anywhere near the full breaking strength of our lines. As you experienced when you stretched your fluoro, the weak points (nicks) in our line will cause our line to break. I think that this breaking you experienced happens long before the elongation occurs in most cases.

Sure, I sometimes stretch my fluorocarbon before I go fishing, it reduces memory.

Sometimes I just wait for a fish to stretch it out!

For best results, wet the line AND stretch it.