Boating New Zealand — December 2017

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Actual breaking strains vary widely between brands, and

even between spools of the same line, but most lines will be

much ‘stronger’ than their nominal PE rating. Line diameter

is a good guide to line strength, but there are other factors,

including the type of fibre and the number of carriers braided

into the line.

Some fine diameter PE lines are stronger than some much

thicker lines. Price is a fair indication of line quality: the more

expensive it is, the better the quality is likely to be, offering more

carriers (eight or even 12) and higher strength for finer diameter.

Only a very few PE lines are IGFA compliant, meaning they

break at or below their stated breaking strain. As a result,

claiming IGFA records for fish caught on PE lines used to be

problematic, since most of those lines grossly over-tested.

But recent changes to IGFA rules mean it’s now much

easier for anglers to claim records for fish taken using PE

lines, provided they use a top-shot of monofilament nylon or

fluorocarbon that does meet IGFA line class specifications.

MORE PRESSURE, LESS WEIGHT AND BULK

The non-stretch nature of braided PE lines and the ability to

use much heavier drag settings have changed the nature of

both light and heavy tackle sport fishing.

Anglers can exert a lot more pressure on hooked fish than

was possible using monofilament, often stopping fish in their

tracks, and little or no stretch means what the angler does at

the surface with the rod and reel is transmitted down the line

without being absorbed in line stretch.

Low stretch allows the angler to better dictate the battle, but

also poses some challenges, which I’ll touch on later.

Certain angling styles, such as vertical jigging and top-water

fishing, routinely employ heavy drag settings – often more than

half of the nominal breaking strain of the line. Drags are often

screwed down so tight it’s not possibly to pull line off the reel by

hand, even wearing gloves!

Obviously, with such heavy drag settings, there’s always the

risk of breaking the line – or having a knot, hook or other item

of terminal tackle fail – but in many situations, allowing a fish

to run will result in a bust-off anyway. Fishing heavy tackle and

hard drags demands skill, good-quality gear and a fair bit of

brute strength.

To catch snapper in

only two or three metres

of water, the lure must

sink slowly enough to

give fish time to see it.

LEFT AND BELOW The default drag setting

for big game fishing tackle, which is still

usually spooled with monofilament nylon, is

one-third the breaking strain of the main line.

FAR LEFT Lightweight tackle fished with fine

diameter PE (braid) lines and relatively high

drag settings will account for large fish. This

is a modest-sized kingfish, but it was taken

on a light micro-jig outfit and braid with a

nominal breaking strain of just 4kg.