The Next KVD

Darren is right on the nose. The Floroclear is just coated and only has a few properties of pure fluorocarbon. Floroclear benifts with added Abrasion Resistance, UV resistance, helps slow down water absorbsion (not 100% water absorbsion resistant like pure fluorocarbon), more sensative than mono but not anywhere near the sensativity level of pure fluoro, and is suppose to be more invisible than mono but I don't think line visability matters much even in clear water. Floroclear also floats until the surface tension is broken so it does sink alittle, but again nowhere near what pure fluoro can do. Floroclear is kinda like the middle child. Has some benefits of big brother pure fluorocarbon but has some attributes of mono including price. I don't use it and have not used it much as I'd rather pay alittle bit more to get everything pure fluorocarbon can do for me.

Wow, people are really jumping the gun. I doubt if they have even begun to ship them out at the moment. TW says they won't even have any until mid to late March.

Mono: Before every tournament and fish it till the night before the next tournament. Fluorocarbon: Depends on the initial quality and lb test. I got some P-Line Halo and Sunline Shooter on some reels that have been on the reel spool for just about 2 years now. Thinking I'll swap them out this spring though for good measure. Cheaper fluoros and lighter than 12lb test I replace about twice a year. Braid: Once every 2 years as sunlight and water eventually break it down, sorta like dry rot is what I can say to describe it.

Tried it and don't like it. It unravels on itself very easily. P-Line Halo in 20lb for jigs/texas rigs when the cover is heavy, 15lb for light to moderate, 15lb as well for shallow squarebill crankbaits, 12lb for mid to deep diving crankbaits. Sunline Sniper FC and Shooter are also extremley good.

Sunline Super FC is okay at $14/200yd spool, Vicious Elite is another at $14-$19 depending on lb test, Original Vicious FC is good at $9-$14 but I'd only reccomend 15lb test and up with that line, P-Line 100% is good but getting up there in price from $17-$26. In my personal experience however, it is usually better to spend the money and get the good stuff. They last ALOT longer and thus save you $ in the long run and just flat out put the cheap stuff to shame. I have had some reels spooled with the same line for 2 years now with no issue, and I fish 5 days a week during open water season up here. With the cheaper stuff I would respool once a month but the more expensive stuff just lasts! A little KVD Line and Lure and away I go. I love P-Line Halo, Sunline Sniper and Shooter.

Its worth the extra $20 to get the Sic guides. However, the Vendetta has a few models in the lineup that the Veritas does not have.

The Pline, from what I can tell your using the CXX which is basically like Trilene Big Game. Very stiff but very strong and sensative. A quick fix for that is to apply a few sprays of KVD Line and Lure to the reel spool and let it soak over night. Than give it a spray before every use for the day and it will be good to go. It will tame it down BIG time. The Stren, you might as well take that off the reel right now and go get a decent fluoro such as Sunline Sniper FC, Trilene 100%, P-Line 100%. What sizes are you using? Baitcaster or spinning equipment? Can you confirm which P-line your using, the CX, CXX, Fluoroclear, Volt, or C21? Big differences in handling with each.

The D series reels were a major step up in refinement when they came out over the previous Curado and Citica B series. The only downside is they are heavy at over 9oz. But they are built like a tank and last forever. I currently use 3 of them and have no complaints. With that said the most I'd pay for one even in a pawn shop would be $100-110. You can get a new Citica G for that price on ebay though which is a better reel than that Curado D.

There is always fish in shallow water. There is a guy in my club that does not fish over 10ft PERIOD no matter what season or conditions he is faced with and he usually is in the top 3. I would have done everything you did maybe add in a crankbait. Usually I start with 10 rods on deck with everything from topwater to deep and add or minus rods as the day goes on. One thing you could do is slow down as in deadstick. Everyone fishes shallow stuff quickly but few deadstick their baits. They are so preoccupied with make a flip to a tree, shake once, twice, reel in for the next flip within a few seconds. I would bet thats what the guys who do well there are doing. Everyone is fishing fast and they can't buy a bite, the few that figured out to fish painstackingly slow are the ones reaping the benifits.

Its all personal prefence. I don't use any trailers or trailer hooks for that matter with my spinnerbaits.

I just crank them. I do use a spinning outfit with 8lb line with them instead of my regular cranking setup. Shad Raps are the BEST coldwater crank I've ever found.

RW, I think its because we don't have alot of brush that deep in our natural lakes up here. Plenty of rocky terrain down there though. Pretty much it. The diffence being the spoons. The Sexy spoon in the video is a flutter spoon that has alot of action while the Hopkins spoon I'm using is a plain jigging spoon. I based my setup and technique off of what Jason Quinn showed in an episode of The Bass Pros Season 2 or 3 can't remember which one at the moment.

Again its all in the makeup of the specific brand. I wouldn't neccessarily say most copolys are better than regular mono. The thing that makes Hybrid and CX different is the amount of fluorocarbon used. Some copolys do not use fluorocarbon at all in there make up. Trilene Sensation, Izorline come to mind as copolys that do not have fluorocarbon in it. Hybrid fuzes the fluorocarbon with the nylon in the lind while CX uses a fluorocarbon sleeve over the nylon core. Stretch is like any mono and fluoro. Anywhere from 20-30% for most. You want zero stretch stick to braid. A few HIGH end fluorocarbons don't stretch much but they still have give. I used CX Premium for everything from crankbaits, jigs, softplastics, to topwater. It is an excellent line that can do just about everything except flipping mats or topwater frogs which need braid. Fishing lines are like tools. Each has its strength and weaknesses and each work different to different people. What you think is the cats meow is "junk" to another person.

It depends on the makeup. Most of them float like mono. A few like YoZuri Hybrid and P-Line CX Premium will start to sink (slowly) when the surface tension on the water is broke such as when using a T-rig worm or jig or any subsurface presentation. It is still nowhere near what 100% fluorocarbon can do but it still has less bow in the water to the bait so you get a bit better sensativity.

I actually like this line. For the past 5 years I have used CX Premium and the 100% Fluoro and never had any issues. Great sensativity, decent price, okay abrasion resistance, excellent knot strength, good casting ability, sinks when surface tension is overcomed. Would still be using it if I didn't fall in love with Sunline the last 3 months of the Minnesota fishing season.

Alot of good suggestions already discussed. One I have yet to see is a 3/4oz football jig and a big 1.5oz Hopkins spoon. The football jig is pretty simple, work it like a carolina rig and hold on. The Hopkins spoon is a jigging spoon but I throw it out as far as I can and work it like a worm. The only difference here though is I snap the rod from the 9 oclock position to 12 oclock fast to make the spoon jump several feet up and let it go back down to the bottom. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE POWER method in deep water. Big 7'6" MH rod, fast reel, and 20lb fluoro at the minimum! You can cover soo much water in a short amount of time doing this.

I had one of the early Twilight rods and had it broke after a few days use, got the replacement and had that one fail as well. Decided that was it for me and took my money back and went to old reliable St.Croix.

Mercer is too busy working the Elite Series trail and got his facts wrong. Fluoro is the way to go for slack line.

You'll get alot of different anwser as people have their own preferances. What one brand works for someone doesn't mean it will work to the liking of another. My personal preferances though are: Sunline Shooter, P-Line Halo, and Vicious Elite with the Shooter being my favorite but it is a really stiff line but I learned how to control it.

Of course they'll exclude Megabass, Shimano, GLoomis, Jackall, ect. like always which does not help me much. Been really wanting to get a new Chronarch E all winter long. Guess, I will keep saving.

Hmm, maybe thats the issue as to why I can't get them to suspend. The one I got where the real early ones so I guess I'm going to have to find some lighter yet better quality split rings and hooks. I replaced the stock hooks with VMC so maybe those are just a tad too heavy. The ones I got now don't sink fast but they do sink.

I've only used the trebles and they are good. I replace all stock hooks (except Rapalas and Storms for obvious reasons) with them with a few exceptions for the Mustad KVD Elite Series Triple Grips on a few specific crankbait series.

Yup sure do. They do catch fish but only after I swap out all the split rings and hooks. The only thing I don't like about them is no matter what the water temp is I just can't get any of them to suspend. They all slowly sink. I've fished them from 34 degree water to 50 and have yet to find them to suspend at any depth. But they do catch fish like crazy though.

The smaller sizes handle mono just fine, its when you step up to fluorocarbon or braid that causes issues, atleast for me. If you look at what size reels the guys on the Elite Series have a good percentage of them use the 4000/40 size.

Umm, some copolys implement a very small coating of fluorocarbon. So its not really marketing. Just look at P-line Fluoroclear or CX Premium or CXX. All 3 of those have a coating of fluorocarbon but yes the guts of it is still nylon mono.