What can you tell me about Berkley Fireline or Fireline Crystal?

I'm looking at spooling up a new reel with about a 12lb line. My rig is a Lews T170 MH Fast pole, Lew's Speed Spool Inshore LFS Series reel. Bass, Northern.

I'm sitting here looking at them and wondering what you would go with.

Thanks
Jim

I hadn't tried any Fireline since the first year it came out. But due to the guys here recommending it and it being on sale this week I just spooled up a Penn Levelmatic on a 7' heavy rod with 20lb to use for rockfish and lings this summer. I may even get a chance to test drive it on some Northerns this summer if we can swing a fly in trip.

I have been using it (20# Test) for a lot of years, and have at least 30 rods spooled with it (for trolling on Erie)!
I either use it for backing for my leaded line reels (we fish down to 120'), and as main line on reels with out lead. Some I'm running has to be over 15 years old, and never have I had the Fireline break.
I usually run 50' of 20# Seaguar Fluorocarbon as a leader between the lure and the Fireline.

19 more in the boat !!



When the Fireline Crystal first came out, I had trouble with the lighter poundages breaking on my perch rods. I changed them out to regular Fireline, but I think they may have gotten the problem fixed with the lighter test breaking. At least I haven't seen anyone complaining about it anymore...

A lot of the braided lines actually break at a MUCH higher point than advertised.

Here's a list for 20# test lines...

20-POUND BRAIDED-LINE TENSILE STRENGTHS

Manufacturer Line Color Actual Break (Lbs.) % Rated Strength Variance
Berkley Fireline black & flo-green 54.5 273% H
Triple FishBully Braid Moss green 46.3 232% L
Cortland Master Braid Emerald green 41.6 208% L
Cortland Spectron white 41.3 207% L
SpiderWire Stealth green 39.7 199% L
Stren Super Braid hi-vis gold 37.6 188% L
SpiderWire Spiderline Moss green 35.7 179% L
Ande Braidfluoresc yellow 34.6 173% L
Western Filament Tuf Line black & white 34.5 173% L
Western Filament Tuf Line XP green 33.8 169% L
PowerPro Superline Moss green 33.0 165% L
Platypus Bionic Braid pink 31.5 158% L
Izorline Spectra green 30.5 153% L
Offshore Angler Magibraid green 30.0 150% M
Cabela's Ripcord Si Plus green 27.6 138% L
Sufix Performance Braid lo-vis green 23.4 117% L

Standard deviation: 0-3 = L (low), 3+-6 = M (moderate), 6+ = H (high)



Bill

I prefer FireLine over braid on my spinning reels but much prefer braid on casting reels. FL does wear more than braid so one should cut off the first 10' or so every couple trips.

Fire line good, nanofil great.

thanks for the information guys. I still haven't wound that spool. Still undecided.

Appreciated
Jim

Same line, just rated differently. 10lb Nano is basically 2lb or 3lb FireLine.

8lb fireline for lighter stuff & fluking on the surf and never looking back. 14lb for plugging.

6 lb for LMB, senkos, slop frogs in lilly pads.

Nits not fancy, but I really like the stuff.

I use fireline exclusively on my spinning reels. While I have used 2, 3 yes it existed for a while, and 4 lb, mostly use 6 lb test. I have used it for the last 13 yrs for bass fishing. Don’t use a leader, tie to lure using the polomar knot. Prefer the smoke color.

Advantages: no line stretch, thinner for longer casts, lures go deeper. Lasts longer than mono.