When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

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Jdmbassman
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When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by Jdmbassman » Thu Jun 30, 2016 10:46 pm

Taking the cost of the line out of the equation, when do you Sunline Sniper versus Shooter ?

Is it the technique that you are fishing where you prefer one over the other or maybe the lb line dictates which one you go with.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by toddmc » Fri Jul 01, 2016 2:17 am

Shooter is better anytime that your are fishing hard cover/structure where you need the extra abrasion resistance. Flipping wood and rock is where most people will use Shooter.
I also like Shooter in 10lb. for over 1/4 oz. casting jigs and Texas rigs in clear water because it is more sensitive and will allow me to feel real subtle bites in a tough tournament situation where money is on the line. Don't try Shooter with lighter baits though because the Shooter will have more memory.
Sniper is great for the winter because you can leave it on your reels for long periods of time without much memory. It also fishes better in the cold. A lot of my combos won't get much use in the winter. I know I can pick up one of those combos with Sniper two months later and the line will be fishable. Yes, it will have some deformation, but it will still lay pretty flat.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by BucketHunter » Fri Jul 01, 2016 2:27 am

I do everything with Sniper. From finesse to flipping 20lb test. Never have any phantom breakoffs or anything that I would chalk up to a lack of abrasion resistance. I would wager that Shooter is just going to be even better in those situations if you deal with a lot of docks/wood/rocks, which I don't. When I do, Sniper does just fine. I pitch jigs into laydowns in 20ft of water at a local reservoir and never have issues.
Shooter is not readily available in stores around here, so that is probably the main factor in my decision. I would likely give it a shot if it were. As mentioned before, I do feel that 20lb in Sniper let's me run t-rigs and jigs down to a 1/4 ounce without worrying about line management issues. It's supple enough to stay on the spool in that situation. I also run it up to 3/4 ounce and sometimes more before switching to braid, but that is just because anything heavier and I am punching, where I feel the cutting action of braid is advantageous.
Landed a nice 5lb+ LM on 8lb sniper running a 110 above the weeds yesterday. No issues. Great line.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by Jdmbassman » Sat Jul 02, 2016 4:44 am

I fish Shooter for all bottom and single hook moving baits. Sniper is a great line and I use the 7lb for Drop Shot but I feel the less stretch and increased sensitivity give Shooter the edge over Sniper.

My thoughts seem to echo your own but what has my head in a spin is that while watching the Tacklewarehouse tournament recaps by Brent Ehrler, he fishes Sniper upto 16lb, then he switches to Shooter.

What is more, he only fishes a Senko on Sniper. The last tournament at Ray Roberts Lake, he fished 22lb Sniper with a Senko.

Is there some reason why Sniper is better than Shooter when fishing a Senko ?

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by toddmc » Sun Jul 03, 2016 3:37 am

Jdmbassman wrote:I fish Shooter for all bottom and single hook moving baits. Sniper is a great line and I use the 7lb for Drop Shot but I feel the less stretch and increased sensitivity give Shooter the edge over Sniper.

My thoughts seem to echo your own but what has my head in a spin is that while watching the Tacklewarehouse tournament recaps by Brent Ehrler, he fishes Sniper upto 16lb, then he switches to Shooter.

What is more, he only fishes a Senko on Sniper. The last tournament at Ray Roberts Lake, he fished 22lb Sniper with a Senko.

Is there some reason why Sniper is better than Shooter when fishing a Senko ?
I think Brent is flipping or pitching frequently with anything over 16lb. and he most likely likes the extra abrasion/impact resistance of the Shooter. The Sniper lays flatter (less coils) and is limper which can help with the slack line technique required for fishing weightless Senkos. Also, 5 inch and smaller Senkos aren't very heavy and cast better with a limper line. I don't think that there is a big difference, but I'm currently fishing 10lb. Shooter on my 5' Senko/Ika rod (701mhf Point Blank custom build with Steez SV) and find myself ready to go back to the Sniper because the Shooter needs to be replaced much sooner because of memory problems that cause minor overrun problems. Shooter's increased sensitivity is lost when it gets older and doesn't lay very flat. This isn't so much of an issue when you fish a moving bait or a heavier bottom contact bait.
Last edited by toddmc on Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by Jdmbassman » Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:17 am

So there is method behind the madness. I would never have thought that limper would ever be better ;)

Turns out it is, at least when fishing weightless Senkos :)

Thanks for the help. I have a MB Nautilus and Jdream 7.9 where the gears have been switched out to 7:1:1 that I use for Senkos so it looks like Sniper will be replacing the Shooter.

Thanks again

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by John G » Mon Jul 04, 2016 12:42 pm

Matthew, to make it even more confusing, if you have not heard about it, there is now Sunline Shooter Sniper. I bought some in 7# but I haven't used it enough to see if I like it better than the regular Sniper FC.
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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by cure-hb » Sat Jul 16, 2016 12:25 pm

toddmc wrote:Shooter is better anytime that your are fishing hard cover/structure where you need the extra abrasion resistance. Flipping wood and rock is where most people will use Shooter.
I also like Shooter in 10lb. for over 1/4 oz. casting jigs and Texas rigs in clear water because it is more sensitive and will allow me to feel real subtle bites in a tough tournament situation where money is on the line. Don't try Shooter with lighter baits though because the Shooter will have more memory.
Sniper is great for the winter because you can leave it on your reels for long periods of time without much memory. It also fishes better in the cold. A lot of my combos won't get much use in the winter. I know I can pick up one of those combos with Sniper two months later and the line will be fishable. Yes, it will have some deformation, but it will still lay pretty flat.
thanks for sharing, never tried shooter, should buy a spool after this

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by Montanaro » Sun Jul 17, 2016 12:38 am

2 reasons for using shooter in 18 and 20 lb...at those diameters you lose sensitivity so by using shooter you gain some back. Also if you use 20 lb you are likely in heavy heavy cover so the abrasion resistence of shooter will help.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by Hobie-Wan Kenobi » Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:03 am

John G wrote:Matthew, to make it even more confusing, if you have not heard about it, there is now Sunline Shooter Sniper. I bought some in 7# but I haven't used it enough to see if I like it better than the regular Sniper FC.
What is the new "Shooter" FC Sniper? Is it Shooter, Sniper or something else? I often wondered where it lies in the Sunline family.
IG @hobie_wan_kenobi_fishing

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by toddmc » Fri Nov 04, 2016 12:40 am

I haven't used any of the JDM Sunline like that in the previous post in a lot of years.
Here is a line comparison chart from Sunline's American site for their American fluoros. Most people will find it useful.
http://www.sunlineamerica.com/flourocarbon-line/

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by hysupra » Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:40 am

Has anyone tried the shooter fc sniper? I just got some 8lb in from JLS and noticed the diameter is thicker then both shooter and sniper. I haven't spooled it yet so I'm wondering if it will be the right choice for my BFS reel.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by PBP » Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:53 am

I use it, but on bait casters only, 14-16 lb, just received 12 lb invisible. Like it a lot, it feels little less stiff compared to Shooter and very smooth line. You are correct, it is a bit thicker and I can't really advice on spinning reel, I would guess it should be just fine.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by njbasscat » Sun Jan 08, 2017 5:29 am

I used to use Shooter for jigs and t-rigs and Sniper for anything that was moving. I ran out of Shooter on a week long trip and put Sniper on a t-rig set-up. The sensativity and abrasion resistance seemed on par with Shooter so the next season, I mixed Shooter and Sniper on all my t-rig and jig rods. I decided after a season of fishing both that Shooter did not have any advantage over Sniper in my hands. I have switched to only Sniper for everything now. For spinning reels, I love Tatsu.

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Re: When to use Sunline Sniper vs. Shooter

Post by BigG » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:39 pm

I like sniper for moving baits including cranks and spinning reels, Shooter more for bottom contact. To me sniper softer and has more stretch. I find myself using braid and Defier and defier armilo more and more.

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