Big Indiana Bass

Terminology: Rod Action vs. Rod Power

Hey, some stuff just gets so technical, that if you're not an engineer, there's no way you're going to get the nomenclature right. On the other hand, when it comes to fishing, there are a couple basic but very important terms you shouldn't screw up. One of those is the difference between structure and cover. Got to know it - get it right :) Another almost equally important one is the difference between rod action vs. rod power. Here's a great (and short) video from Tim Rajeff to help with the latter...and don't be bothered by his use of a fly rod. These are universal terms that apply to all rods.

 

A Crappie OTC Primer: In-Fisherman

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I thoroughly enjoy catching structurally related open water crappie. In my opinion, the best way to become a good open water/deep water bass angler is to first learn how to be a good open water/ deep water crappie angler. If you can do one, then the other is a piece of cake, as they say. You've heard me term my style of fishing this way as "Crappie OTC", which simply means crappie on-the-cast. While it sounds like a very simple, no-brainer way of catching crappie, it is actually much more involved than most realize. I've been promising an article for a while now, and am happy to say that that is now a reality.

I've had the pleasure of working again with Ned Kehde, In-Fisherman field editor, to capture all the basic details of this method, covering everything from tackle to electronics. There is still a whole second chapter that could be added at some point in the future concerning all the little intricacies and such of the technique, but this (very long) article should give you a thorough primer to get started. You can find the article on the In-Fisherman website at the link below. At some point I'll add a copy to the articles section of BIB for future reference.

One last comment - don't let the title fool you. This is a year round approach that works in both warm as well as cold water. The only differences are in the movements and holding areas of the crappie throughout the season.

The art and science of catching cold-water crappie

The Impact of Line Damage on Monofilament Strength

Effect of Surface Damage on Tensile and Fatigue Properties of Nylon Fishing Line

Worawit Wanchana , Haruyuki Kanehiro and Hiroshi Inada

From the file of 'things you already knew, but needed a research study to prove'. You know the importance of checking your line frequently for nicks and abrasions, but this study quantified the degree to what effect that has on overall line strength (tensile strength). While the authors used very heavy tuna fishing line (monofilament of 150 and 400 lb. test) for this study, the findings should be pretty applicable across a wide range of monofilament line sizes, and if anything, the smaller sizes of line bass and recreational users utilize is probably more a concern relative to nicks due to less 'room for error'.

Here are some of the findings from the paper;

• Tensile tests indicated that the strength of notched nylon monofilaments was rapidly decreased with increasing notch depth, and that between thicker and thinner nylon monofilaments, the decrease in the tensile strength of the heavier line was steeper than that of the thinner line.
• It was shown that nylon monofilament absorbed in total about 5% water (the equilibrium state), and took about 10-14 days to do so. This time period should be much shorter for thinner monofilaments used by anglers, and many studies done by various persons or sites when testing lines have typically used soak times of between 2 to 6 hours.
• The tensile strength for the wet samples of both lines was about 10% lower than for the dry ones. This is a pretty well documented fact with monos.
• The tensile strength of both nylon monofilaments decreased about 30-50% with only a 10% (vs. total diameter) notch depth. This drives home the point that even a tiny nick or gash in your line can severely weaken it's overll strength.
• When comparing between dry and wet tensile strength of the same diameter and notch depth samples, it appeared that the tensile strength of wet notched samples were similar to dry samples.
• In the case of un-marred wet monofilament, the loss in breaking strength occurred after absorbing water due to the weakening of the line from water absorption. For notched wet samples, it appears that the surface damage has a more significant effect on the loss in breaking strength than that of weakening after absorbing water.

So the best advice and line of caution should be to A.) check your line frequently for any nicks or abrsions while fishing, and B.) if you notice or feel anything unusual, you should immediately cut off the bad section and retie on to a fresh section of line. As always, it's better to be safe than sorry. You just never know what your next cast might hook.

More Weekend Wrapup "Stuff"

I'm not a tackle minimalist, but I did a pretty darn good job of checking out 2 stores and 1 fishing show this weekend and walking out of all 3 with less than $60 in combined purchases. Here are a few other things I picked up in the last week that I'll be reporting on in the future, as well as related site news.

• I grabbed 2 packs of Gambler Shakey Shads that I plan on testing as part of my "Midwest Finesse" repertoire once the water warms and the sissy jig bite goes away.
• Beside the Megabass knockoff, I also bought one of the new RC2 Luck E Strike squarebills to test. Price was $6.99 and they are all made as silent runners.
• I now own a Lucky Craft Kelly J prop bait that I'll be reporting on later this spring when that bite comes around.
• Received my 6# and 10# spools of Sufix 832 line in neon lime. I'm really anxious to test this line out, and will be dishing out some thoughts after a couple good workouts. The 6# should get a lot of crappie and sissy jig work, and the 10# will be for shaky head fishing.
• Speaking of crappie, I added quite a few new crappie baits to the arsenal. It had been a while since I last added to that box, but I plan on playing with them more this year than I did last. A lot of guys have asked me about how I fish for crappie, what I refer to as 'OTC'-style. A detailed article is coming very soon in that regard. Also reorganized the crappie tackle box this weekend. I'll probably post pics at some point when I get things finalized.
• One more note related to crappie fishing. I bought a spool of 4# Berkley Sensation in 'blaze orange'. Hope it works as good as it looks :) From my testing, Sensation has the least amount of stretch compared to any other mono/copoly or fluoro line that I have tested.
• Spoke with IBF tourney director Kenny Swint at The Outdoorsman show on Saturday, and plans are for a lot more coverage of Federation Invitational events and anglers on this site in 2012. If all goes as discussed, you'll get postings of all tourney results rapidly on the site, hopefully including all the top-8 regional stuff that usually never gets covered. Once info starts rolling in, we'll probably deidicate an entire page to just IBF stuff so it will be easy for anglers to find and keep updated. Also planning interiew features with the Angler & Co-Angler of the Year winners, along with the IBF Classic winner.
• Back on tackle items, I now have my new Rapala digital touch screen weigh scale in hand. I've already been playing with it, figuring out all the features by weighing my rods. Do you know how much your rods weigh? You'll be hearing lots more about this little dude in 2012 on the site.
• Also got my hands on the new Little Pek-R Finesse Jigheads from Rod Yoder and RedShad Tackle. We'll see what we can do with those this spring.
• Lastly, I plan on doing a little bit of 'old school' fishing in 2012, going back to my roots. I've got a pair of 10' poles for panfish dipping and small pond live bait fishing. A lot more than meets the eye here, some of which I plan to cover on the site if I actually take the time to set down the bass poles for a minute. I started out fishing when I was just a little kid on the banks of Eagle Creek as well as the local creeks (more like large drainage ditches) using a cane pole and bobber, and thought it might be fun to revisit those roots, only with modern tackle and techniques. I'm even thinking about holding a 'learn to fish' day for kids and parents locally to introduce them to the simplicity of fishing (and especially catching). I've seen way too many instances of kids out fishing the past few years (both alone and with parents) and simply not catching anything, largely because of poor setup and lack of knowledge. It's good to reflect and revisit "where ya' came from" every once in a while, and we definitely need to get kids more interested in fishing and the outdoors in general these days..

NanoFil Line Review - Update

Back in June, I made a few posts about Berkley's NanoFil line, as well as a lengthy review. At the time, I had only fished the line for a few weeks. I've now fished the line regularly for the past 6 months chasing both bass and crappie, and can give everyone a more experienced set of thoughts.

In all honesty, not much has changed since the initial review. None of the superlines like knots, but NanoFil seems particularly sensitive. Mostly noticeable in the lighter tests - not as bad in the 6# and up. A few have asked about dropshotting with it. You wouldn't want to use it straight tied for a dropshot outfit, but it works fine with a fluorocarbon leader, which is the way I fish this line 95% of the time. Dropshotting with braid is an acquired taste from what I can gather. Some guys refuse to use anything but straight fluoro, while others use braid with a fluoro leader. I've used the leader and had no problems, but dropshotting is a small component of my fishing, so I haven't tested it a lot. Still caught some nice fish doing it though. Use a 4'-7' leader, mostly for the snugging ability of the fluoro to cinch good to the hook and the weight.

Another question has been about the line digging into itself since it's such small diameter. Surprisingly, it hasn't been a problem. I've not tested it with slammin' hooksets or anything, but in normal routine finesse fishing, hooksetting and unsnagging of baits, it's been negligible. Casting continues to be incredible. It's not such a big deal with the bass fishing, but it is with the way I like to crappie fish, and this line will outwing about anything else when tossing 1/16-oz. sized crappie tubes. Limited to no stretch aspects mean solid hooksets everytime, and I have lost very few fish from them coming unbuttoned during a fight.

Sensitivity and handling is great with this line, much better than normal braid - way better than Fireline and quite a bit better than PowerPro. I've completely removed all other line from my crappie jigging sticks because I like it so much. There's no "breaking in" period. It's been my exclusive line for finesse jigging bass this fall, and I caught somewhere north of 800 bass since October using the same spools of 4# and (mostly) 6# line without a single breakoff of the NanoFil (only broke 2 off from the leader). The line will show signs of fraying after a while as some have mentioned, but it's never compromised the strength of the line from what I can tell.

I've been using a flurocarbon leader better than 95% of the time, mostly Toray Super Hard Premium-Plus High Grade Fluorocarbon in 6#. Use either a J-knot, their recommended 11-turn double Albright, or a modified Albright (Crazy Alberto) with extra wraps to link fluoro leader to NanoFil, and test knot good before using. I've been sticking with the J-knot and it's been solid.

Haven't had any problems with the white color, other than it can be difficult to see at times. My biggest hope for 2012 is that they release this line in a hi-vis version. White shows up good on flat/dark water, but is terrible in the sun or a glare/chop. Again, using a leader and fishing primarily 2'-6' vis water around here, but haven't seen any instances where the line spooked fish.

The line is very expensive ($20 for 150 yds), but by splitting spools, I've been able to go since June on 4 outfits using just 2 spools of 150 yd. line. When you add up all the crappies and bass I've caught using this line and divide by the cost of 2 spools, it works out to just pennies per fish. The only other braid I really want to try right now is 832 by Sufix. Heard and seen good things about it and would like to compare to NanoFil.

Keep in mind this line has been expressly marketed as a spinning rod line. I still don't think they make it in over 12# test yet. I'm guessing there are some reasons behind this, one being that hooksets with a baitcaster would probably be hell on knot breakage. I also think that line digging, which hasn't been a problem with spinning, might become one with baitcasting. This is all purely speculation on my part, but a fair warning for those that take the line in higher tests and might want to throw it on their casting rigs. Maybe you can get away with it, maybe not. I haven't tried yet. 

That's all that comes to mind right now. If you have any other questions feel free to post them. If I have an answer I'll let you know.

The Fine Art of Spool Splitting

Tackle life used to be pretty simple. Back in the day when there was only one line option (mono), you simply bought a really large spool of line, and then changed whenever you needed, filling your reel with however much you wanted. A few thousand yards might last for a couple seasons, and the line was cheap. If you had any extra left that wasn't enough to fill your reel completely, you kept it as leader material for Carolina rigs or you trashed it.

Now days, bass anglers pretty much have 3 options; mono/copoly's, braid/superlines, and fluoros. These last two "hi-tech" lines are considerably more expensive 'per yard' than mono, and subsequently, many are sold as smaller spools between 75 and 300 yds. Depending on the exact size and preference, you could easily fill between 1 and 4 reels from any given spool. Doing so takes a bit of planning on the anglers part though so as to not end up short on the last spool and waste a bunch of hard earned money.

Generally speaking, I try and keep all my reels filled with between 75-100 yds. of good usable line. This varies somewhat by type and spool size. I can get away with a little less on spinning reels, but you need a little more on baitcasters. If a spool I purchased has 75-100 yds. of line, then everything goes on. If that spool is ~150 yds., I'll get 2 x 75 yd. reel fillups out of it. Likewise, a 200 yd. spool gives me 2 x 100 yds. Finally, a 300 yd spool will get split into 4 x 75 yds. Beyond that, larger spools get dealt with on a case by case basis. The key to pulling this all off is to have a good measuring system. Here's the 3 options I use.

Option 1: Divide and Conquer

This works best on those 150-200 yd spools of braid, though it can be adapted to a larger spool. Simply pop your spool onto a screwdriver, pencil or other axle-like object. Grab the starting end of the line and loop it half way around a smooth (round) object like an aluminum fence post or your car antenna. Now simply start walking across the yard or down the street until the spool in one hand runs out, while holding the starting line end in the other. When the last of the line on the spool comes to an end, you have exactly two equal parts of braid. Simply cut the line back at the "post" and spool up your two reels. If you are only filling one, you can simply rewrap the braid by hand back onto the spool until needed. Nothing in this process will adversely affect the line.

Option 2: Measure Going Off

In most cases, you have to remove your old line to put your new line on. Option 2 is an easy way to quickly measure this line as it's coming off. I take the lines end coming off the spool and hold it in my hand, and then wrap 4 or 5 wraps around my elbow and back around my hand, just like you'd wrap an extension cord or an anchor rope. Stop after half a dozen wraps and then measure the amount of line you pulled off, dividing by the number of wraps you made. You'll only have to do this once to get your average measurement. In my case, doing this yields a measurement very close to 3' per wrap.

Therefore, if I want to remove 90 yds. of line, I simply hit the freespool button and then count the wraps as I pull the line off. When I hit my target number of 90 (like in this case), I stop, cut the line, and then join and rewind on the fresh line knowing exactly how much I'll use.

Option 3: Calculate Going On

Thanks to information found on the Internet or in your Bass Pro Master Catalog, almost all reels have an "inches per turn" measurement included in their listings. Last night I was spooling up a Shimano Symetre and wanted to put 75 yds (half a spool) of NanoFil back on. According to the catalog, this particular model retrieves 28" per turn (revolution) of the handle. Take that measurement, divide by 36" to convert it to yards, and then divide the amount you want to add by the amount of line taken in you just calculated. In the above example:

28" / 36" = 0.777; I want 75 yds., so I divide 75 by 0.777 and get 96.5 for my answer.

So I attach my new line to the old line backer and then spool the new line on, counting the number of handle revolutions I make. When I hit 97 I stopped, since that was the halfway point of the spool. What is remaining on the spool is approx. another 75 yds. that is now already premeasured and ready to be spooled (assuming a 150 yd. spool - adjust accordingly).

Sweat the Small Stuff (line diameter):

Two last points to remember. First, in some cases you could just buy spools of line that already are marked. Not a lot of companies on the market are doing this, but it is one of the things I like best about the Toray Upgrade fluorocarbon I throw. They have a pink line marker every 75 meters (82 yds), so everything is already measured out for me. Spooling up is a snap. Here's to hoping that more line companies follow the lead and do the same in the future.

Lastly, keep in mind the differences in diameter between the various types of line. Switching between monos/coplys/fluoros of similar strength and line diameters isn't much of a problem. However, when spooling up superlines, if you're using a much lighter and therefore smaller diameter superline in place of old mono or fluoro, you will probably have to account for the difference in space the thinner line will occupy on the reel, else you'll end up "underspooled".

A Crappie Day On Cataract

I've been trying to hook up and go fishing with my crappie mentor, but schedules just haven't allowed. I finally decided to just take a day of vacation from work on Monday to make it happen. Plans were formulated to make our first trip to Cataract this year since it had finally gotten back to normal pool. Additionally, we figured with the heat and being a Monday that the boat traffic would be light - we were right. I met Lee out there at 9:30 that morning and we fished until 3:30 before calling it a day. By that point we had managed somewhere between 150-200 crappie to the boat. Lee kept his limit and we got those cleaned and iced down in short order.

Water temps were running 88-91 degrees. There is still a little "dirt" in the water to be stirred up, but overall the lake was looking really good. Saw a lot of baitfish activity all over the lake today with several large fish moving on them from time to time. Got a decent look at one when he came up and it looked to be a big cat. Shad are running small, probably only about 2" or so from the looks of it. Never saw any floating to get an actual measurement.

We caught all our fish on jigs, and a lot of them were suspended in the water column. As we've been talking about recently, a lot of our reservoirs have no oxygen available to fish once you reach a certain depth. Many are also just starting to thermocline, and the fish will find a comfort range that also allows them easy access to their food. I shot a short video piece to show you exactly what we were seeing out there. If you look close, you'll notice that the boat is sitting in 17' of water in the video, but that the large school of crappie we are over is suspended about 10'-14' down and not on the bottom.

Another note from this trip - after getting home I stripped the last of my mono off my remaining crappie outfits. Today after work, I swung by Dick's and picked up a couple new spools of NanoFil line, this time in the 6# version. It's not quite as good for line watching as hi-vis/fluorescent line is (it's not bad either), but the sensitivity, handling and casting ability of this line (as an all-around package) make it far superior to anything else I have fished, including other light braids. With this line I've settled on using a short leader of mono/copoly/fluoro for better overall strength and durability (efficiency), plus you really limit the amount of NanoFil you lose off the spool due to retying over the course of a day.

Here's a couple more pics of the end results:

 
 

A New NanoFil Knot to Try

Got out this evening for about 2 hours after work and decided to chase some crappie. Pulled out the stick with the NanoFil line on it and tested a new knot. There's been a good discussion going on over at Tackle Tour about the line, including what knots work best. tried a new one that was recommeded for direct tying, the simple uni knot but with 9 wraps. Seemed to work well for me, and is a little easier to tie than the double line uni with 5 wraps, which supposedly tested weaker than the single line knot I mentioned. Seems strange.

 

Anyway, managed about a dozen nice chunky blacks, along with a few white bass, a few bluegill and even a largemouth. Line continues to perform well, especially the casting aspect. It just won a couple awards including "Best of Show" at the 2011 ICAST Show which is wrapping up in Vegas this week.

Might try and chase more crappie this weekend if I can figure out a place to go that won't be overrun with boaters. We'll see. Brutal heat wave coming in late Sunday, so fishing trips might become limited next week. 

Crappie + NanoFil Update

Now that we've covered the weekend's tour journals...

I got out for a few hours each day this weekend with the primary purpose of trying out the NanoFil line. I've already posted the specifics of what I found in my NanoFil line review, but wanted to give some details on the actual fishing. Saturday I stayed at the home lake and managed a mix of white bass, crappie and largemouths, plus a bonus catfish, all while tossing tube jigs on the new line - maybe 20 fish in total. Nothing much specific to report there other than figuring out that the double line 5 turn uni seemed like the best knot for the new line. Still had a couple breakoffs though, mostly related to what I believe was reaching the breaking point of the line with the knot quickly under impact.

Sunday was out to Raccoon to a lake that I hoped would generate a lot more bites in the way of crappie. got an inside report on what area of the lake to check out that put me right on some fish. I found them in some brush piles sitting in about 10' of water in the mid-lake area next to deeper water. Fishing 1/16-oz tube jigs, I was able to manage 82 crappie to the boat in about 2.5 hours. Water temps were running around 77 degrees and the water was stained but not muddy. Didn't catch anything large, most fish running either side of 9.5", what we consider to be typical Raccoon Lake "eaters". Also didn't have any fish breakoff at any time, so I got a real good idea about how well this line is going to perform with crappie. As mentioned, it's moved quickly to the top of my favorites list.

Tuesday night had me back to trying to figure out the bass thing with the new line, and I think I've done that. Granted, the easiest thing to do would be to just go buy a spool of larger pound test line so I'd have a higher break strength, but that's no fun and I wouldn't necessarily learn anything. So I played with leaders and found out that I can get nearly the full strength of the line back by using one. The key is in the connecting knot you use.

For specifics, I was using about a 3' leader of 6# Toray Super Finesse fluorocarbon. As for the knots, I tested the following:

• Triple Surgeon
• Uni-Uni
• Seguar knot
• Alberto
• Double-line Albright (~11 turns); Berkley Recommended
• J-knot

The first two were horrible; the next two were OK but would cut themselves with a bit more pressure; but the last two are the deal! Using these knots with the 4# Nano/6# fluoro combo restored the overall line strength back to the 7#-8# breaking strain that the unknotted line tests at. As soon as I figured this out it was back to the bank to test it on the water. "Two thumbs up" as they say and the picture will attest to. One word of caution - the key is to tie a good clean knot. This line does not like to be crossed over itself under strain. Test all leader knots with an appropriate tug before fishing to make sure everything seated down correctly.

One final comment. Someone asked about using a loop knot with this line. There are several versions of loop knots, but I quickly tested a triple surgeons loop on a crappie jig and found that it broke too easily to be recommended. Again, I think it is in the way the line crosses itself with certain knots. Take your time, cinch everything down slowly and with lubrication, and then check the knot under strain before using.

NanoFil Line Review

Keeping in mind I've only had the line to test for less than 2 weeks, I've tried to run it through a variety of situations to get an idea of just what it's pluses and minuses are. The spool that was supplied to me was of 4# test, so that somewhat limited me to what presentations I could try. It's also not the best time of year for finesse work on the local lakes. That said, I have been able to get out and toss drop shot and split shot rigs for bass with it, along with a little bit of sissy jig work (caught about 17-20 bass in total). I also got in several hours worth of crappie fishing using jigs ("OTC" methodology) that accounted for another 100+ fish. So here goes:

The lab: I first took the line into the lab and popped it under a high powered microscope. While I didn't have the capability to do a cross sectional analysis, I can tell you that this line does have a fairly round shape as claimed, much more so than Fireline. Their picture on the package gives the appearance of a solid bundle of fibers that comprise a single round filament, but my impression was that it is more like bamboo (if that makes any sense). Bamboo while round, is actually hollow on the inside and has that 'segmenty' look to it. NanoFil appears similarly under the microscope. Two things give me this impression. The first is its shape when looking at knots tied in the line while under the scope, and the second being that I was able to completely flatten out a segment that was creased with a small lab tool. Still, it does a pretty good job of holding that roundness under a variety of situations, which is a positive in my book.

Line Strength: On a straight line pull with just a length of line between your hands, it has really good strength. I found someone else who mentioned they tested it's breaking strength at about 2x labeled strength, and I would agree with that assessment. This is very similar to both Fireline and PowerPro, Fireline also being a Dyneema-based line.

Coating: If you look at both Fireline and PowerPro under a microscope, you'll notice that both appear to have some type of coating on the line, probably as some type of protectant. This also makes those lines somewhat stiff, at least originally until broken in a bit. I didn't really notice anything similar with the NanoFil. That said, after using it for the past couple weeks, it almost seems like it's covered in Teflon (half joking). This stuff is incredibly slick and very hard to get a good grasp on. Regular knots won't hold with this line. I tried both a clinch as well as an improved clinch and both slipped easily under pressure. It did seem like a Palomar would hold, and their recommended 'NanoFil knot', which is actually a double Palomar might be good reassurance (more on knots later).

Diameter: As claimed, this line is incredibly thin. As per my intial post about 10 days ago, my 4# sample of NanoFil had a diameter that was .001" less than 2.5# fluorocarbon. Doesn't sound like much but it makes a difference. I found several eyelets on jigs that didn't seem to have an open gap where the eye was formed, but the NanoFil would slide right out. It's something you'll want to be aware of when using this line. It might take an extra crimp with your pliers to get some of your eyes on certain baits to close down enough to not let this happen.

Knot strength: Here's the first weakness I think I've found with this line. It takes much less pressure to break the line once a knot has been tied in it versus the strength of the line itself. While you have to work a little to get the 4# straight segment to snap in your hands, it is pretty easy to pop the line once it's tied to a bait and get it to break. I'm guessing that if tested it would probably rate right around its stated breaking strength. It's something you'll want to keep in mind.

Ironically, this actually turned out to be a good thing when crappie fishing. When you hang a crappie jig in some deep wood and have to break it off, it's not uncommon when using other lines, especially mono and fluoro, for the line to "break high". In other words, due to good knot strength, sometimes the weakest point in the line might be a crease or nick 10' or 20' up the line. As such, when you break off, you leave a lot of line in the water attached to your bait, and lose a lot of line off your spool. I broke a lot of jigs off in hung timber when crappie testing, and can never once remember where the line didn't break right at the knot, saving nearly the entire length of my line. So it's not all bad in this regard.

Casting Distance: Another major claim of this line is that it casts farther than your normal lines - I agree. You can wing this line a long way. Simple little flips will get you out more than you need in many situations, and good heaves will throw a small bait a good distance. One evening a bunch of little fish started rising and breaking the surface all around me. Couldn't tell what they were, but I guessed either little crappie or white bass. This was an evening I was split shot rigging, so all I had was a 4.5" worm, a tiny split shot hook and the lead. I removed the lead, bit the tail of the worm off to less than an inch, and threaded it on the split shot hook. Amazingly, I was able to cast that little 1 inch weightless worm tail 30'-40', and managed to confirm my suspicions. Believe it when they say this line casts well.

Sensitivity: Being a superline, you would expect great sensitivity under tension, and this is what you get. No problem feeling everything my little split shot banged into when drug across the bottom. Same goes for bites. What surprised me a bit was the apparent sensitivity when crappie fishing under a semi taut line. Fluorocarbon usually excels here, and mono is so-so. Most superlines don't do well because of their density. They're light and "flighty" in air. NanoFil acted much more like a mono or fluoro in this category, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Density: I saw someone ask online if NanoFil floated. The answer is yes. Being comprised of Dyneema, it has a density that is lighter than that of water. I put a segment of NanoFil and a segment of Fireline in a tub of water and repeatedly pressed both under the surface. In both cases the line segments would repeatedly rise back to the surface. I noticed the same thing when crappie fishing while letting my jig sink, the line laying on the surface only to be pulled under the water toward the end of the line as the jig sank deeper.

Knots: I mentioned about what seems to be poor knot strength, and what knot Berkley recommends (NanoFil). I did play around with a few others and if given the time, I would personally recommend a double line 5 turn uni knot. You can Google search this site or the Internet for instructions on how to tie it. Not the fastest knot in the world to tie if you're in a hurry, but I believe it is a bit stronger knot to use with this line. It's what I now tie with this line if I'm in a position where I have the time to do it right.

Lilne Color: This line has an obvious bright white color to it on the spool. While I've never owned any Fireline Crystal, I think that is probably the closest thing in terms of line color to compare to. Interestingly, the white shows up pretty good in terms of line watching, much better than red, green or smoke superlines. The hardest situation to see the line under is an overcast but ripply day with glints of sunlight reflecting off every wave. The line blends right in in that case. But on bright sunny days or flat calm waters, the line shows up pretty well and is easy to follow.

Current thoughts - bass: Just like I think 4# Fireline is a little too light for bass fishing (think sissy jigs), I think that 4# NanoFil would be a bit risky also. I'd like to get my hands on some 6#-8# test and give that a try. For drop shotting I simply added a leader of 6# fluoro to the NanoFil and then tied my Palomar as usual. This is also an option if you're concerned about knot strenth or line visibility. I'd need to test leader connecting knots a bit more to see what worked best, but you might get the best of both worlds going this way.

Another option is to use this light of line with a more moderate action rod, something that will provide a bit of cushion and impact absorption. This will work for some tactics, but not with others. I definitely plan on picking up at least one spool in these higher tests to play with when the sissy jig bite comes around again.

Current thoughts - crappie: I need a bit more time with the line to be certain, but as of right now this might become my "go to" line when crappie fishing. Sensitivity is great, casting is unreal, and the line handles better than most any other superline I've used. It's thin diameter cuts through both the water and the wind, and the line doesn't seem to be as "flighty" as most superlines. It really does seem to act more like a mono/fluoro than a braid in that respect.

One of the biggest issues for me with crappie fishing is there is no perfect line. A lot of bites are detected by line watching, which is easy with a fluorescent blue mono or yellow superline, but terrible with a fluorocarbon no matter how they try and tint it. I think I can live with the white NanoFil color in most situations though. Fluorocarbon gives the best slack line sensitivity of the bunch. Back on the negative side though, monos and fluoros both stretch a lot, so hook setting with a lot of line out or in really deep water can be an issue.

Then there are the handling issues. Mono twists a lot and can jump off a spool if wound on wrong. Fluoro is fine in lighter tests on a spinning outfit, but suffers the same twisting and jumping ability. Superlines handle twist great and tend to relax nicely, but their coatings can sometimes make the line not as user friendly as it could be. There are lots of other little things I could get into, but if Berkley ever figures out how to make NanoFil in 'flame green', I might have to give up bass fishing :)

So final thoughts - Berkley might really have a good thing going here with this NanoFil. I want to pick up a couple heavier versions of the line to play with things like sissy jigs and floating worms, as well as drop shots, etc. for bass fishing. On the crappie side, more testing is needed, but the difference between the two outfits I had with me today (one Fireline, one NanoFil), for the way I like to fish, was night and day. I can't wait to get out and try it again, head to head against my crappie mentor to see if it's as good as I think. Berkley - please make this line in flame green next!!!

NOTE: See the following updated site review after 6 months of on-the-water use: 6 month NanoFil update

Thoughts On Rods: Pay for Performance

I had mentioned a week back about the frog rod I recently picked up. For the money ($65), it seems like a good deal at the moment. I've been throwing it quite a bit recently, but unfortunately the frog bite has been off for me. Still, I've landed a few, and have fished over and around a lot of slop as well as open water, and I'm happy with the results to date.

I was reminded of this "cost for performance" aspect of bass fishing recently on several fronts. One is a link I posted on the Big Indiana Bass Facebook Page to a story of a lake record largemouth bass of better than 14 pounds that was caught on a Shakespeare (Ugly Stick) combo with 10# line, a bream hook and a nightcrawler. I'm not advising any serious bassers to go out and buy such an outfit, but I think a couple points can be argued about that story.

One, if the presentation is right, the fish don't know or don't care what kind of tackle you're holding in your hand at the moment they decide to bite. The guy could have been holding an NRX/Core combo for all that fish knew. Turns out he wasn't.

The second similar thought is that if the outfit fits the presentation, then cost shouldn't necessarily be a factor. In this case, if you're presenting a nightcrawler on a hook under a bobber to bluegill or bass, sensitivity certainly isn't a criteria you would need high on your list. If he's not even holding the rod, or only out for a few hours and not making 60 casts an hour, then weight and ergonomics don't really factor in either. You might even argue that given he was fighting a 14 pound bass on 10# line, the fiberglass component of that rod probably matched exactly what he needed to successfully land that bass; something very tough and forgiving that would cushion the weight and fight on the light line.

The other thing that drove this point home was an old post of mine I found online going back to early 2003. Someone had asked about inexpensive rods for bass fishing. Here is my reply, cut and pasted:

"Not sure if there are any near you, but I have been using a 7' MH Galyan's rod IM7 (actually 3 of them) for just over a year now and have been pleasantly surprised. With literally hundreds of bass caught on these outfits I haven't had any problems yet. They only cost $40. Can't speak for their long term quality, but have been awesome in the short run (15 months)."

I bought those 3 rods back in the fall of 2001. Not too long after that post had been made, Galyans clearanced out their remaining IM7 Performance Series rods for $20. They had switched manufacturers and/or styles and went to a more traditional lightweight fast action model - it sucked. Regardless, I was able to pick up 5 more of those rods in the MH power, both 6'6" and 7'0" models. That gave me 8 of them, one of which has never been used and still has the tags on it, another that still has the entire handle plastic wrapped (might have thrown it once or twice that way). The other 6 have been used to no end, and after all this time and thousands of bass, have never failed me yet. Not a single broken rod, or a single broken component.

The word was that this rod was manufactured out of St. Croix's private label division at the time. I don't think St. Croix does much of that any more, but a decade ago it wouldn't surprise me. This particular rod does remind me a lot of a Premier model type rod, but it's greatest attribute (other than it's durability) has been it's moderate fast action. Now days, the closest thing to it I've found for the price is a $150 KVD Tour Edition rod (those fat maroon colored ones).

Another "lucky" rod I've had in the arsenal is a pair of Stanley SJ2 "Special Jigging" rods, 6'10" telescopic. I've had these at least as long as the Galyan's rods, and was told that they had a brief period of time where Stanley used Loomis blanks for some of their stuff. I'm not so certain I don't have one or two of those. I paid $94 at the time, which was rather expensive back then, but could see how they might charge that for a Loomis based rod. Still, between the two, I've been repayed so many times over in tourney winnings with the fish I've caught flipping and pitching with those two sticks. Still use them faithfully, and again, not a single problem with either of them over this length of time.

So I think the point of all this is that with a little research or luck, you can get by in this game for a whole lot less money than you'll see strapped down on most guys' decks. I admit, I've bought my share of inexpensive rods that turned out to be that way because they could only last a season or less given the use/abuse I put them through. There is a lot of "junk" out there, though I hesitate to use that term too harshly - more like 'equipment designed to be fished occasionally', not built for tourney level applications and use. If you like the high dollar stuff, it is sweet and nice to use, and I hope to eventually own a few of those type outfits one of these days (I'm actually up to 3 Loomis rods now in the arsenal). Still, the fish could care less.

NanoFil FIeld Test Coming Soon

Perhaps you've seen all the press releases recently, or read some of the discussion forums on Berkley's newest line release coming later this month. It goes by the name NanoFil and is advertised as not a mono, not a braid, and not a fluorocarbon. Here's the details:

"This is a spinning reel fishing line made with Dyneema®, much like a superline. This ultimate spinning reel fishing line consists of hundreds of Dyneema® nanofilaments that are molecularly linked and shaped into a unified filament fishing line. Dyneema, The World’s Strongest Fiber™, gives this line superline type strength and our uni-filament process makes it feel and handle like a smooth monofilament."

Thanks to Marc Kirsch, Associate Brand Manager with Pure Fishing, I now have my hands on a 150 yd. spool of 4lb. Nanofil to field test. I'll be heading out to spool up shortly after posting this, but plan on giving the new line a good workout on both bass and crappie over the next couple weeks. I've used a bunch of Fireline for both species the past several years in 4, 6, and 8 pound tests, and can't wait to see how this new line compares. It supposedly has the roundness of monofilaments, as well as the smoothness, so it doesn't grab water like a braid, but maintains the low/no stretch properties of a superline along with their great handling characteristics.

Of course I had to pull out a micrometer and get some quick specs on the new line. It's labeled as having a diameter of 0.004", and I mic'd it out at about 0.0043". For comparison purposes, my Toray 2.5# Super Finesse fluorocarbon mic'd at .0053", while most all 4# monofilament rated line comes in at 0.007" - 0.009", making this line about half the diameter of equivalent mono/fluoro/hybrids. Even 10/2 PowerPro gets mic'd at about 0.008", so this stuff if super thin.

You can check out the YouTube video advert below for more info, but be watching the site in the next week or two for a write-up on the field testing of this new line.