TUF-Line

Tuf-Line offers an incredible strength and diameter advantage over monofilament lines. When choosing a Tuf-Line to replace a monofilament line, it's usually best to choose a Tuf-Line with comparative diameter to the monofilament. This might mean replacing 12-pound monofilament with 50-pound Tuf-Line. The benefit to this approach is maintaining similar handling characteristics to what's currently comfortable. Sure, that's incredibly strong, and yes, your days of breaking off fish and lures may be over. The area where this is not the case is in applications like offshore fisheries, where you may use a comparative strength Tuf-Line to the monofilament you've previously used in order to gain substantial line capacity on your reel. Another area might be one in which Tuf-Lines diameter advantage is used to dramatically increase casting distance, as in bank or surf fishing. Spool the line tight. Unlike monofilament, Tuf-Line has very limited stretch, a hard exterior and very little memory. Tuf-Line does not grip a reel spool like monfilaments do. The solution to any problems is found in how the line is spooled. Prior to spooling up with Tuf-Line, put a wrap of electrical tape on the empty spool. This gives the line something to bite into. Another option is to back the line with a few turns of Dacron or monofilament, which achieves the same result of preventing slippage. Wind the line on tightly and under steady pressure. Packing the reel well will eliminate any opportunity for the line to dig into the spool. If done properly the first time, you'll experience years of trouble-free use. Set drags properly: If running Tuf-Line straight to a lure, set your drag to no more than 30% of the line's breaking strength. If using a monofilament leader, recognize there is probably a drastic difference in the breaking strength of the Tuf-Line and a light monofilament leader, and set the drag to protect the leader. Double knots perform better. Tuf-Line's aerospace fibers and coatings don't bite into one another when knotted. For this reason, poorly tied knots can slip under a load. For general applications, use of a Palomar knot will hold with exceptional strength. To incorporate a wide family of knots, tie them with a doubled length of Tuf-Line to add significant strength.