Seaguar Tatsu 8lb. Fluorocarbon

Shimano Cumara CUS-DX72M 7'2" Medium X-Fast

Shimano Stradic CI4 2500

1/16th and 1/8oz. Shakeyheads

Please remember this is just my opinion, not empirical evidence. That being said.

Upon opening the package my reaction was uggggh...ok. That really cool looking line spool, the gold square turned 45 degrees, is just a decal. Maybe I'm naive but I thought it was something different, not that it has anything to do with the line. Anyway, just feeling of the line initially it's soft,slick, and very small. Spooling up it lays nicely and doesn't make that kind of crunching noise that some stiffer fluoros I've tried makes. Knots (uni) tie nice and easy. I was a little concerned about that area because I tried Seaguar Grand Max FC Leader Material, which is also made using Seaguar's DSF two resin double structure technology (bigger words=bigger price tag lol), and it can be a pain to tie sometimes. To the water....

Immediately, a little better handling and casting distance is noticed over the last high-end FC I tried, Toray Bawo Premium Plus Hi Grade. It's not a huge difference but when you're throwing light finesse stuff like a 1/16th oz. shakeyhead, any difference is noticed. I personally believe the slight differences are mostly due to Tatsu 8# being a smaller diameter than Toray Hi Grade 8#. There's another difference though...stretch. I know plenty of others have already posted about this but there is a more noticable difference in stretch. Tatsu is also the better line in this category to me. Like all others (IMO) Tatsu is still lacking in this department but it's not a big issue. In fact, most would never notice but stretch is one of my pet peeves.

Knot strength, tensile strength, and impact/shock strength have been superb. I've only had one break-off and it was 100% my fault. I haven't been fishing it long enough to really get a good idea of how abrasion resistant it is other than not having to retie often. Really, I haven't had a situation where I said, " Ugh oh, I better retie". The few times I did have just been out of habit. So far, Tatsu is living up to it's reputation.

I really don't have anything negative to say about it. It's not light years ahead of Toray and Shooter, the two other elite FC's, but I will, for now, crown it Cream of The Crop in the light line FC category. By my standards anyway. Now when it comes to the 14-16lb. category it's going to have a hard time beating Toray SH Upgrade. I'll find out when my SH Upgrade gets worn out enough to warrant a change...it's lasted 8 or 9 months of really hard, bottom contact, heavy cover fishing and shows no signs of needing replacement. Until then....

I would like to convey my deepest sympathy and send my thoughts and prayers out to the families of the victims of today's and April 15th's tornadoes throughout the Southeast, East Central Ms. and West Central Alabama especially, as these are my neighbors per say. I hope they can endure, recover, and prosper in the days to come. I wish the same to others I'm not aware of outside my region as well.

Sincerely,

Phillip W.

I use 8lb on my cumara cusd68m with a stradic ci4 and i love it.

I'm glad you like it, Phil. It seems like you've been on the same quest I have, in terms of "which is the cat's meow." It's as good a line as I've been able to fish thus far.

I'm glad you like it, Phil. It seems like you've been on the same quest I have, in terms of "which is the cat's meow." It's as good a line as I've been able to fish thus far.

I have and it's been a long, costly journey. I was kind of ticked at myself for not just trying Tatsu to begin with but I did find my favorite jig/t-rig/c-rig line along the way so it ended up being worth it.

Cost is the issue...

Otherwise, the finest fluorocarbon I have fished.

Good review.

Thanks