Disappointed with Trilene

[eye-tracker]

Just remembered a decent power pro experience I had:

I'm using one of the lightest variants.. 8 or 10lb.

The tree was coming to the surface

LOL...
I know your story well, on the weekend fishing with my brother in law he snaged bottom while jig'n...after bringing the boat around three times he was still trying to get free, then he started moving it. He raised a log from the bottom of the Ottawa river with his 50lb Power Pro. I asked him why he did not use a 8lb mono leader...his reply to me" That is how you get your line to break so easy" I just smiled as we drag'd the log to shore with my trolling motor

[Wall-I-Guy]

It's tried and true for me. I've hauled in a lot of fish on Trilene over the years!

But as someone else has mentioned, it has been known to breakdown in strength when just sitting, especially if exposed to sunlight I find.

I have a couple rods spooled with Power Pro...not bad either.

Maybe you got a bad spool....

[kevin scott]

About 7 years of years ago I picked up a few Suspending Rogues from a local store, as I was heading down to the B. o Q. for the opener.

What a disappointing weekend, 3 of the Rogues ended up being factory seconds. One sunk like a rock, it had no visible cracks, the 2nd was no better it floated and the 3rd (which I still have) the bill is so offset that it swims to my left when it's being retreived. Perfect for certain fish holding spots where you can suspend a rogue under an over hanging tree or dock without catching the tree / dock...

I spoke to the store manager who told me I would be better off sending them back to the manufacturer, which I did with a tastefully written letter (still wish I had a copy)

Pradco to my surprise rewarded me with not only a hat, but 2 replacement Rogues, 2 more on top of those , colours that were unavailable in Canada at the time (white...) and 2 - 300 yd spools of 8 & 12lb Excalibur which was relativley new on the market at the time.

Never really being familiar with "Excalibur" I thought heck if its free give it a try, I did and promptly went out re spooled all my rods (15 at the time) at a rather hefty cost, but it was worth it.

All I have to say is it is a confidence line for me. With the clearer water I now use a flourocarbon leader with the line. It has performed very well for me with very few problems.

My previous choices were either Trilene or Bagleys AN40, hard to find now

I use it mainly for 3 of my spinning rods, my 2 flipping rods, 2 worming rods, pretty well any rod where the lure is going to be 20' or less from the boat, personally, I prefer a bit of a shock absorber when I set the hook.

As for lures being farther away from the boat, or thick nasty slop / pad fields, I'll grab the rod rigged with Power Pro. As for deep water jigging I'll switch to the Power Pro as well.

Only 31 days left and counting ...

[furious]

I have used P-Line and Yo-Zuri Hybrid for 2 years now and have absolutely no complaints it si very easy to work with and is extremely reliable. Before that I always used Berkely Big Game and never had a problem with it either. As far as braid is concerned I use Western Filament 50# TUF line for flippin and 8-20 Firelin for spinning with a P-Line flouro leader. It works extremely well for tubes and Senkos.

[dana]

I've had power pro,spiderwire,pline,trilene,fireline ALL
disappoint me with BAD spools......
sorry dudes..IMHO....ya get bad apples...
however don't swear off one partcular brand because of one lousy spool..THEY ALL HAVE bad batches.

[Johnny Bass]

I Haven't used power pro but I hear it is expensive. And I think it is like braided line and comes in 100 yards at a time. If you are like me and like to tie on different lures for different structure. You will go through TONS of line in a season. I like to keep my spool filed to the brim for better casting. Just curious. Does power pro cast as good as mono? Also have you ever hooked a trout or a smallie on power pro? It isn't as invisible as mono and may spook fish. I do think Power Pro is good for musky though and any other fish that is not line shy.

[Markus]

Fished with my new spool of Trilene this morning and it worked just fine. No Problems. No doubt just had some bad line.

[DUBIE]

As dana said they all have bad batches. I've used Power Pro for 5 years now and had at least two spools that were bad. (It hearts when your in a turni)

[BASSSTALKER]

I have been able to do that with Iron silk 10lbs too

[Legend]

Just wonderin' Marcus if the Trilene you had the problem with came in a package with a free bass type lure?

I bought some 8lb over the winter... and thought it was a decent deal.

That'll teach me to be cheap.

Legend

[Jigs]

Marcus:

Pretty frustrating when you know your drag is set right, and line keeps breaking.

Have been a Trilene guy for years, but this year have had a couple of bad experiences with it.

Have one bait caster lined with power pro.....May just go that way on spinning as well. Never lost a fish due to breakoff with power pro. The line on the bait caster is 3 years old. Still good.

10 lb test has a diam. of what?...4lb mono??; pretty good.

I really like the no stretch, and the sensitivity::Could be bye bye Trilene

Regards: Jigs.

[Moosebunk]

I bought a new rod and reel for a buddy as a wedding gift a few weeks back. LeBaron was out of Trilene XT in 10lb, which is in my opinion the best all around mono, so I spooled his rod with 10lb Maxima Chameleon. Two nights after the purchase I was fishing the Mississippi River for walleye. I hooked into a nice fish and brought it right to shore when my line snapped. I was using 6 lb Ironsilk. I retied another lure and on the second cast it nicked a rock behind me and snapped off again. I remembered why I disliked that line at that point.

Anyway I moved down the road to fish in Lanark for pike. I pulled out the buddies new wedding gift and gave it a few casts. The Medium Lightning Rod and the new Mitchell Avocet Gold Reel complimented each other greatly, but I was most impressed with the strength and casting distance I was getting from the Maxima Line. It also was nearly undetectable once under the waters surface. I caught 4 pike in an hour, and I crossed their eyes with my hooksets (mainly for fun). I used no steel leader and the biggest pike would have run 4 to 5 pounds with the rest around 3.

My buddy got the rod on our Temagami trip and fished it with no hitches all last week. He really appreciated and enjoyed his gift.

I like Trilene XT, but I might have to strongly consider getting Maxima for myself with my next purchase.

[wolfe]

Trilene XT is on our reels as I write this and, like Devy & Fishforfun, we have had good performance out of it in the past. I loathe Stren, however!

Just like any product, their are occasional "lemon" productions which may occur with flaws. Maybe that's what happened to you, Markus. And also, although you purchased it "new', perhaps it had a long "shelf life". I guess everything has an expiration date. Who knows?

With the recent rave comments on the past thread regarding Power Pro as incentive, we have purchased some and are bringing it along on our trip next week for the next respooling. Hope we have as good of luck with it as you all have.

W.

[scttsmpsn]

I have Berkly Iron Silk 12lb. on my bait caster which I use for trolling and Berkly Sensation 8lb. on my spinning. Both of these lines have worked amazing after trying many brands these are my two I only use.

Cheers,

Scott

[McQ]

There are times when line gets blamed (especially mono) and actually the problem is caused by other faults.

All mono line is produced from a formula of nylon pellets, melted - mixed and extruded under pressure, run through a cooling process and spooled on huge master spools. It is then transferred to retail size spools. At all times quality control is exercised and the product is usually stable at retail. There can be bad batches when dealing with lighter test since they are subjected to more heat during the process.

Comparing mono to braids or coated lines is the old apples and oranges argument - they are distinctly different and are not to be confused. Mono has stretch and that is the average fisherman's best friend - don't be fooled by the no stretch element of the super lines - this attribute is hard on equipment and is very unforgiving.

Back to faults - most mono line problems originate from improper spooling and damaged reel spools or rod guides.

How often do you spool light mono line and apply pressure to the line by running it through your fingers or spool off a pencil hub with pressure on the line? This method causes heat and hastens the demise of mono. I notice a few of you place the line in a bucket of water to control spooling, this is one way to aid proper spooling and I'll bet you are running the line onto the reel with the line running through your finger & thumb - you are actually cooling the line and reducing potential heat flaws. It isn't necessary to wet line before application to replace lost moisture - fresh line has a very limited amount of moisture in the formula but nylon will absorb water over time and repeated use while fishing.

The majority of line breakage flaws ( while spooling ) will be caused by running the line against the edge of the plastic spool, small nicks or abrasions on the reel spool, bad rod guides and be sure to check the pickup bar on a spinning reel for nicks too.

Most important of all and it has to do with your buying decision. Why are you using such light test line for general fishing applications? If you know that there are bigger fish on your fishing spot and if you know you will be fishing over rocks or course weeds your choice should be to utilize line of sufficient strength to minimize breakoffs from abrasion and the pure shock of a hookset on a larger fish.

I use three test selections for all my fishing and they are Berkley 10# XL for jigging, 12# XT for long line trolling and fireline 20/8 for bottom bouncing for walleye. In my line of work I get to try them all and have at one time or another used virtually every product on the market. I maintain strong convictions for the Berkley "tried and true" products because they work and I have a minimum of problems. That's not to say that this is the answer for everyone out there because many different applications come into play and we all have a different style of fishing, just use a bit of forethought before you make your line choice as to what you want your equipment to provide and your headaches will be few.