How do you buy your line?

I had an interesting chat with some lads recently about how they buy their line. They always buy by breaking strain and they looked at me with some surprise when I said I prefer to buy by diameter.

Their argument is that they need to know what breaking strain the line is for fishing different types of ground such as clean sand, rock etc, and how much pressure they can apply when fighting fish.

I understand their logic, but the reality is that breaking strain is a very inaccurate guide. Why? Well for a start, most line strengths given are an average guide and the likelihood is that most lines will test either below, or occasionally above the quoted breaking strain, rarely bang on, so just because the spool says 15lb does not mean the line will achieve that.

Next you will need to knot the line to the shock leader. This builds another weakness in to the equation with the knot far more likely to break before the line will.

Knowing the supposed breaking strain of your line is no advantage when fighting fish either as most fish, even biggies, are fought with just a few pounds of rod pressure. And even when pulling free from a snag unless the line is touching rock it will be the knot that parts first. I’ve had sharks well over 200lbs on 15lb quoted line, it’s not the strength of the line that beats the fish, its rod compression pressure!

Look at the line capacity quotes on your reels and on reel boxes, they are quoted by diameter as it’s the only way you can judge the capacity of the spool. Take five makes of 15lb line and you’ll be lucky if you find two with identical diameters.

That’s why I always buy by diameter, because I know exactly what I’m buying and lose the chance element associated with buying by breaking strain.

For example, when filling a spinning reel with mono I’ll choose 0.30mm which will be roughly 10lb breaking strain. 12lb line will be around 0.32mm and 15lb 0.35mm which are my typical clean beach lines, 18lb is 0.38mm and 20lb 0.40mm which I use for mixed rough ground and for long range big fish such as tope off the shore, and 30lb at 0.50mm is my rock fishing line.

It’s even more important when buying braid lines as the difference in diameter for a given breaking strain can be huge between different makes of line. For plug fishing for bass and light boat fishing I’d look to be using 0.13mm which will equate to roughly 15lb breaking strain, and for normal boat fishing I’d be using around 0.24mm or less for a line rated 30lbs.

Breaking the habits of a lifetime is not easy, but you can see that buying by breaking strain is a very vague affair, whereas buying by diameter means you get exactly what you need.