One of the decisions to be made when setting up your kayak fishing rig is about which kind of fishing line to use. Lines are sold according to their breaking strength, or the amount of pressure that will cause the line to fail. A 10lb breaking strength line then, can be expected to fail when more than 10lbs of pressure is applied. This could be caused by the weight of the fish hung in air, or by the pressure applied by a fighting fish. Thus, it doesn't take a 10lb fish to break 10lb line, nor does a 10lb fish automatically break 4lb line when fighting. A combination of correct drag settings, rod handling and patience means that some very big fish are caught on light lines. Of course, if one is fishing around structure where there is danger of the fish breaking the line by wrapping or rubbing against the structure, a higher breaking strength line is desireable as it will allow the angler to put more pressure on the fish.
Monofilament Lines[]
Traditional[]
Monofilament line is a polymer based, single strand fishing line that comes in a variety of colours and breaking strengths. It is generally cheaper to buy than other lines, which makes it cost effective. It tends to stretch more than lines made from Advanced Materials, which can be a disadvantage, especially when fishing quite deep. It is easy to tie knots with and can also be used as a leader.
Fluorocarbon[]
Fluorocarbon lines are still a single strand, but instead of using just polymers, copolymers are added. This helps to make the line less visible to fish, because it posesses a refractive index much like that of water.
Flourocarbon line is generally more expensive than monofilament line, and therefor is often used as a leader rather than as the entire spooled line.
Multi-Fibre Lines[]
Gelspun[]
Gelspun lines are actually created by taking many microfilaments and then fusing them together. These lines have superior breaking strengths for their diameters and low stretch characteristics. They can be stiff. They are often used for the backing on Fly Reels as the allow much more line to be held.
Braids[]
Thin strands of Nylon other advanced materials like Spectra are woven together to form a single line. Very small diameters (meaning more line is cabable of being loaded on the reel), low stretch (for better ability to feel fish biting) and very superior strength are advantages - poor knot performance and abrasion resistance are the negatives.
Examples include Berkley Fireline and Platypus Braid
Leaders[]
Simply put, a length of line made of a different material than the main spool of line on the reel. A leader is utilized in fishing for a couple of different reasons:
- To make the line less visible to fish - Many fish are spooked away from lines that are visible. In this case, a monoflourocarbon, light leader is utilised.
- To prevent line breakage due by fish near the tackle - Some fish have sharp teeth which require a hardier line at the tackle end. Leaders might be much thicker diameter (and breaking strain) or be made of wire to prevent getting bitten off.
- To make up for line types that don't allow tackle to be tied effectively Some braids and gelspun lines aren't capable of attaching to terminal effectively. A leader made of mono or monoflourocarbon allows the fisherman to still enjoy the advantages of these lines.