Curious to see if anyone else has had any issues with Almight randomly breaking. 

 

On one of the episodes of BTL last week, Matt Pangrac mentioned how he'd noticed that Almight gets sort of "brittle" with age and that he was having to respool often or, at least, cut off a good bit of line every time he fished. Well, yesterday that same bug bit me. I'm fishing the 11lb pink almight to a 10lb Invisix leader on a 7' ML Daiwa Airdx. I put the line on fresh 2 months ago, have taken less than 100 casts with it (jighead minnows), it's been on my boat maybe 8 times (half of those never left the rod locker), and stored in my garage the rest of the time. I was fishing a neko and had caught 1 8" bass before I got 3 random breakoffs on the stuff. First one was maybe 5 casts after the little bass. My line felt funny coming through the guides, but I checked for wraps or issues multiple times. I'm reeling in the bare neko and the line snaps above the leader. Figured maybe I'd missed a tip wrap or something. I cut off an extra 10 feet and retie. I caught another fish or two and went to set the hook on one and *poof* the braid snaps again midway between the leader and rod tip. I cut off another 10' and retie. Catch a fish or two and it happens again. I switched a reel with 15lb Revolve and 10lb Invisx to that rod and fished the rest of the day without issue. I, also, checked the guides with a Q Tip and all was good. 

 

I've only got Almight on two reels, but they'll both be respooled before I fish them again. 

I've been fishing it on two setups for almost a year now. I haven't had any break offs but did notice that it seems to be a little stiffer than it was originally. Otherwise its been fine. 

Hmmm…odd…I was going to get some this week. I have .5PE on my bfs setup (not almight, but varivas). I have a 6lb flouro leader attached via an Fg knot. The first time I went to tie it, when I went to cinch my knot, I snapped the braid at the knot connection. The entire piece of flouro that was “inside” the knot was still intact. The failure was right where the knot ended. Upon further inspection, I realized that I actually nicked the braid when I went to trim the tag of the leader. 
 

That wouldn’t explain your break off mid “spool” though. You checked your guides already. Did you check for nicks on the edge of your spool? Did you check for obstructions/nicks in the line guide as it leaves the spool? 

None. I’m using the heaviest offered.  18.5lbs.  1.5#whatever that means.  
 

zero break offs.  Line is on third season.  All ly losses are when I try the FG knot.

I tried the Fg knot all sorts of ways. Sometimes, it’s just easier to buy a purpose made product. So I bought the one trick pony daichii Fg knot assist tool. It’s the bomb. Only good for one thing, but does exactly what it’s intended to do…

39 minutes ago, Smirak said:

That wouldn’t explain your break off mid “spool” though. You checked your guides already. Did you check for nicks on the edge of your spool? Did you check for obstructions/nicks in the line guide as it leaves the spool? 

That is the only thing I didn't check. I will take a look tonight. The combo is only 2 or 3 months old and has barely been used, so I doubt that's it. 

 

40 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

None. I’m using the heaviest offered.  18.5lbs.  1.5#whatever that means.  
 

zero break offs.  Line is on third season.  All ly losses are when I try the FG knot.

Do you mean seasons as in winter, spring, summer since Almight didn't hit the market until Spring of last year? Even so, my spool is much fresher and less used than yours. 

 

 

I haven't used any braid smaller than PE#0.6 and, yes, broke off a snook on that - figured that was ok.  

I've been rolling Allbright knots 45 years and shooting them through fly rod snake guides. 

I tie improved Allbright leader knots 14+4

No reason to switch now.  

BTW, I rate both braid coating quality and life by how the braid glides when rolling this knot -  - if coating peels before 3 years, I switch brands.  

and didn't break off this redfish on PE#0.6

1 hour ago, JHoss said:

That is the only thing I didn't check. I will take a look tonight. The combo is only 2 or 3 months old and has barely been used, so I doubt that's it. 

 

Do you mean seasons as in winter, spring, summer since Almight didn't hit the market until Spring of last year? Even so, my spool is much fresher and less used than yours. 

 

 

dang. I think I bought the line April 2024.  My internal calendar is off kilter.  Seems way longer.   I bought from the first small batch *** received.  I think. 
 

I might be adding Defier time in my feeble brain.  Sorry 

I was usually stick with .08 for ML-M gear, but I stepped up to #1 for Almight.  It should be here tomorrow.  I'll see how it handles fishing tight to the jetty.

19 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I haven't used any braid smaller than PE#0.6 and, yes, broke off a snook on that - figured that was ok.  

I've been rolling Allbright knots 45 years and shooting them through fly rod snake guides. 

I tie improved Allbright leader knots 14+4

I use a uni-to-uni. I tie 100s a year without issue. Plus this was breaking well above the leader knot, so not a knot strength issue.

 

18 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I might be adding Defier time in my feeble brain.  Sorry 

All good. Just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same line. 

 

 

 

A buddy reccomended I Q-Tip test the reel since I'd only checked rod eyes. It was all good too. I stripped the Almight off the two rods that had it and respooled with 832 last night. I could definitely feel a difference in the Almight as it got deeper into the spool. The stuff at the end was much stiffer and felt coated- almost like someone had waxed the line. Whereas, the stuff deep in the spool looked and felt like new. I'm wondering if there's some sort of coating on the braid or fibers within the braid that causes it to go bad sooner than other braids. Either way, my confidence is shot in the stuff and I won't be going back anytime soon. 

The Hook Up Tackle just dropped a video on this (in part).  They noticed issues.

2 hours ago, webertime said:

The Hook Up Tackle just dropped a video on this (in part).  They noticed issues.

Ben thinks its the same a the D braid, which I really wish SL didnt Dcon.  I was going to go with the sinking Xbraid, but the color looked like a super light yellow, almost a glow color.  I figured it would stain and get nasty real fast so I went with Almight.  If there's any kind of weakness it the Almight, ill find it pretty fast.

18 hours ago, webertime said:

The Hook Up Tackle just dropped a video on this (in part).  They noticed issues.

Thank you. I just watched this and feel less crazy now. I don't think my knot was coming untied like the one guy talked about, but everything else he said matched what I've seen.