Can braided line be 'aged' in any way?

[Dave Bailey]

So, I finally replaced my fishing rod, Pflueger President reel with a Fenwick Eagle rod. As with the last one, spooled it with 20 lb PowerPro.

And yes, I did spool it correctly, and didn't put too much on, before anyone takes me to task about that!

But the same problem I had before; the line is so stiff that it gets unbelieveable tangles. Went out yesterday for the first time and spent more time trying to untangle rats nests, most of which I just cut. My old reel had the same line, but it had been on for a long time, and was as flexible as cotton thread. No more tangles. 

Now I will admit that the lures were too light to keep the line tense, but I wanted to get a heavy system going before replacing my lighter rod, which I always spooled with mono. But I used to be able to use light lures with my old Pflueger, once the line got older, and had no problem. I prefer the braided to minimise break-offs, but right now it's a real pain in the gluteus maximus.

So again, other than continual use, and cutting line off, is there any way to quickly 'age' the stuff? Alternatively, is there something I could fix to the rod that I could place the line in after casting, snap it shut, and produce tension on the line before reeling in?

Edited June 22, 2020 by Dave Bailey

[misfish]

Went away from Power pro and now, Nanofil .

It is just like you said, as smooth as cotton thread.

 

I am even going as far as to spool one of my float reels with it for this up coming steelhead season.  Seems many have gone to this .Well til the freeze up,then it,s off and back to mono .

 

[captpierre]

8 hours ago, misfish said:

Went away from Power pro and now, Nanofil .

It is just like you said, as smooth as cotton thread.

 

I am even going as far as to spool one of my float reels with it for this up coming steelhead season.  Seems many have gone to this .Well til the freeze up,then it,s off and back to mono .

 

Nanofil for me too.  Get 10 lb if possible. I’ve landed 40in plus Muskies with it. Keeping the line a little tight when reeling in helps a lot but hard to do with light lures. Tie some fluorocarbon at the end-3-4 ft. I’ve had braided line cut by zebra mussels in weeds  and rocks. 

[Dave Bailey]

4 hours ago, captpierre said:

I’ve had braided line cut by zebra mussels in weeds  and rocks. 

But zebra mussels are a cross between mussles and razor blades. 😆 Swimming off Beausoleil Island I had my hands sliced up by those beasts.

[canoecarrier]

I had this problem with power pro years ago, it seemed to only happen with that batch of line. Now the new stuff fades from the sun within a few outings and frays very badly. Had a 2 lb pike break 20 lb power pro line beside the boat. Luckily he spit my lucky lure up in the shallows and we saw! Got it back!

[Dave Bailey]

Thanks guys, after looking at some reviews I may just switch to Nanofil!

[AKRISONER]

I don’t know, I’ve been using power pro for years 20lb and have never had any complaints. It definitely will wear out after a year or so but it tells you it’s time to respool when the line gets frayed. 
 

some guys swear by j braid, it’s expensive as hell though. I personally find that nanofil has too much line twist and sometimes acts too much like mono or fluro. I like it on really light rigs for crappie and ice fishing because it’s ice build up resistant but much prefer braid when doing heavier fishing for big smallmouth or pike etc. 

classic powerpro is tried true and tested for a reason, just need to respool a little more often. The nice thing is they usually If you wanna save a buck you can unspool and then respool it on backwards.

 

[grimsbylander]

On 6/21/2020 at 12:14 PM, Dave Bailey said:

So, I finally replaced my fishing rod, Pflueger President reel with a Fenwick Eagle rod. As with the last one, spooled it with 20 lb PowerPro.

And yes, I did spool it correctly, and didn't put too much on, before anyone takes me to task about that!

But the same problem I had before; the line is so stiff that it gets unbelieveable tangles. Went out yesterday for the first time and spent more time trying to untangle rats nests, most of which I just cut. My old reel had the same line, but it had been on for a long time, and was as flexible as cotton thread. No more tangles. 

Now I will admit that the lures were too light to keep the line tense, but I wanted to get a heavy system going before replacing my lighter rod, which I always spooled with mono. But I used to be able to use light lures with my old Pflueger, once the line got older, and had no problem. I prefer the braided to minimise break-offs, but right now it's a real pain in the gluteus maximus.

So again, other than continual use, and cutting line off, is there any way to quickly 'age' the stuff? Alternatively, is there something I could fix to the rod that I could place the line in after casting, snap it shut, and produce tension on the line before reeling in?

Spinning or baitcaster?

[grimsbylander]

On 6/22/2020 at 4:56 AM, canoecarrier said:

I had this problem with power pro years ago, it seemed to only happen with that batch of line. Now the new stuff fades from the sun within a few outings and frays very badly. Had a 2 lb pike break 20 lb power pro line beside the boat. Luckily he spit my lucky lure up in the shallows and we saw! Got it back!

Something else was going on there. 20lb PP doesn’t break off on 2lb fish. 

[canoecarrier]

2 hours ago, grimsbylander said:

Something else was going on there. 20lb PP doesn’t break off on 2lb fish. 

Yes, says it right in the post you quoted lol! It faded and frayed within a week, that's why it broke.

[AKRISONER]

By the way I’m not saying it was...but there was a huge amount of counterfeit power pro being sold all over the place in recent years. You’d see guys selling it all over the internet and Kijiji. 
obviouslt you won’t have that problem if you pay the full $24 at crappy can

[grimsbylander]

1 hour ago, canoecarrier said:

Yes, says it right in the post you quoted lol! It faded and frayed within a week, that's why it broke.

Yeah, I read it...not a chance. 

[BillM]

Nanofil is the perfect spinning reel line.   6lb casts a mile!    All I run on my spinning setups.  

[Dave Bailey]

23 hours ago, grimsbylander said:

Spinning or baitcaster?

Spinning 

[grimsbylander]

5 hours ago, Dave Bailey said:

Spinning 

Ok. I personally feel 20lb braid is too heavy for a 2500 series spinning reel. Yes braid dia is awesome but the trade off is stiffness. If you want 20lb line because you’re fishing heavier cover, you can’t beat a baitcaster and 20lb works great on them. If it’s abrasion type damage you’re worried about, go with a lighter main line, say 10 or 12, and use a heavier weight leader....flouro. 
Not sure if this helps because I’m not sure what you’re looking to do, but I agree that 20lb braid can be nasty off a spinning reel. 

[singingdog]

I have been fishing 20 lb PPro on spinning reels for 10 yrs with no issues.