Bluegill - Big Bluegill

Do you love big bluegill?

I've been a fan of Fireline since it came out. Tippet on floro in 2-6lb. Maybe half my reels set up this way. Have a couple reels yet with all mono for Brookies in Penn woods runs, use your basic Trilene in 2 and4 lb.. What are your favorite light lines and applications ? Have I missed something new I should check out and try ? steve b

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Hey Steve;

Great post! I also am a big fan of both Fireline Crystal and Trilene XL. I use Fireline for NP, LMB, SMB, WE, and Cats...really anything other than panfish. However, I think Trilene XL, dollar for dollar, is a great line for Crappie, BG, YP, RES etc.

Are you stating you use Fireline with a Florocarbon leader? If so, can you tell me more, like the length of your leader and what knots you favor for tying the Floro to the Braid? Surgeons? Uni-knots?
Yes Tom, I add some type of floro, believe what I have here now is P-line, to the Fireline 4lb mainline. So far with bluegill/brok trout size fish, a double surgeons knot is sufficient. For fishing the brush choked little runs in the Penn hills for stocked trout I just use Trilene XL. Don't want Fireline wrapped around 3 trees, two rocks, etc.. steve b
Double surgeons - got it. I think uniknots would be good too, but it took me a few years to learn to tie an efficient surgeon - so I'd better start practicing.
back to back uniknot seems easier to me and i've never had a problem with it. i use it for leaders and for adding that last quality 50 yards of line onto my reel spool.
Tom's right! For best bang on the buck it's hard to beat Trilene XL as your all around line and it's the one I have spooled on the majority of my reels... I still use alot of Vanish Transition though; but it's pricey, a bit brittle and can break upon tying your initial knot... However, I believe it's really good for line shy finicky biters in tough conditions where an invisible line really shines!!
I use trilene micro ice for filler on my spools. Usually 4-6 lb. Tie on a very small swivel and then use a 4-6 foot long leader of Gamma in 2 lb. Great combination and the swivel keeps the line twist from carrying down through your jig which I find very helpful here in MInnesota.
Some of the finest, supple, strong line on the market is Maxima... I use 2 lbs test and have just got some 1 lb... incredibly strong and makes tying knots very easy. Any line is only as good as the knots that hold it together.

Rob
I need to check this out. I'd love to have access to some high quality 1 lb. test!
From many years of light tackle jigging, I can't find a better,thinner, more supple mono than Tectan ,sold by Cabelas.It's 4,5,6 # test lines by actual diameter measurement are smaller than major brands 1 & 2# test ,no leader necessary!
I tried Tectan a few years ago.... Great line out of the box... BUT... I found it didn't handle UV very well at all and I had to change the line much more often than usual. The other problem I had was knot strength... it didn't seem to 'Draw down' properly... but that could have been me.

Rob
I used Tectan exclusively for years. I had to quite about 8 years ago because of that exact same problem--UV just beat the heck out of it.

I generally respool after every trip anyway so it wasn't always an issue.

Very castable stuff.
Fireline Crystal and Vanish Floro is my bread and butter.

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