I recently found some fishing line that I purchased back in the early 90s and it had me wondering how long is it good for unused, out of the box. Can I still use this with confidence, or am I better off throwing it away and buying new line?

Thanks,

Matt

I would have tossed it as soon as I saw it regardless of how it was stored, looked or felt

Confidence in 30+ yr old line is in the mind of the beholder

Mike

As long as it is stored in a cool, relatively dark place it should last just about forever. That said, line technology has changed so much that you’re probably better off to either toss it or put it on EBay for someone that wants to use it as a decoration (don’t ask me why, but people will pay big coin for old line spools).

I'm sure if you called Berkley (or whoever the manufacturer is), they could give you a better answer than some random guys on the internet.

If it’s mono, I’d say it’s probably not any good.i had some line that was about 15 years old and it was very brittle. I used it as backing for braided line. I never let line get so low that I run into the backing so there wasn’t any chance it would actually come into play. As backing it was fine so it didn’t go to waste.

Put on gloves and pull on it. I bet it will be pretty obvious which side of the fence it’s on. You know, for science! 😀

I use a very scientific and mathematically specific formula to help me calculate fishing line shelf life.

I write down the original purchase price.

Then multiply that by 2 to account for inflation.

Next, I subtract the age of the line (totally guessing works well here).

Finally, I divide that number by 3 because I like the number 3.

When the final answer comes out to less than 1000,

I throw both my calculations and the line away.

Unless it's unused braid which apparently lasts almost as long as a McDonald's French fry.

A-Jay

I have a couple 1/4 pound spools of 6 lbs Ande monofilament that I use on some of my BFS reels that is at least 30 years old. Landed a six pound striper on a Karashi with it last summer.

I'll use line until it breaks unnecessarily a couple times. Then it gets binned or used for 'other purposes'.

My test for mono is tie an overhand knot and pull it hard. If it breaks toss it.

I would be fretting about it when landing a hog .

tie about 10 feet to something that won't move and the other end to a scale. Let us know at what weight it breaks.