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Information on Nylon Fishing Lines
by Garrison Pence
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Overview
Nylon is ubiquitous in the selection of fishing line. Bait casting reels, spinning reels and spin casting reels all typically come spooled with nylon monofilament line. Nylon is also used as backing for reels spooled with other types of line as well as for leader material, tippets and snelled hook wrapping.
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History
A so-called synthetic superpolymer produced by the DuPont company in 1938, and called nylon, heralded the introduction of fishing line that is inexpensive to manufacture, thin enough to use in a variety of reels and available in many colors. First manufactured in the late '30s, the new nylon monofilament line was not immediately popular with fishermen accustomed to the more pliant Dacron and braided lines. It was not until some years later that a truly thin variant that the company named "Stren" became an acceptable substitute for the common fishing line materials.
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Manufacture of Nylon Fishing Line
Not all nylon monofilament fishing lines are created equal. Although the process for manufacturing the line--extruding molten plastic through a die mechanism--is standard and straightforward, the quality of the plastics and their coatings can vary drastically and affect the overall performance of the line.
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Advantages of Nylon
The more premium brands of nylon monofilament fishing line offer a combination of that are superior to those of less expensive monofilaments. These include ability to cast, strength, pliability, resistance to stretch and knot strength.
Monofilament fishing lines are the most popular choices among anglers, accounting for better than two-thirds of all fishing lines sold. Modern monofilaments have tackled many of the problems which plagued the earliest incarnations of the line. New variants can be clear, fluorescent, more resistant to stretch and easier to cast in a wider variety of reels. The price/performance ratio remains very good. A fact noted by many anglers.
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Disadvantages of Nylon
For all the improvements made in the manufacture of nylon fishing line, there remains limitations that render it less valuable than other formulations in certain circumstances. Mono is still subject to "memory," which makes it try to return to the shape it was stored in; it still absorbs water, which makes it more prone to breakage; and it still maintains a great deal of stretch, which limits its hook-setting capabilities, particularly when a large amount of line has been paid out, as in trolling.
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Alternatives to Nylon Monofilament
The more recently developed lines, which include cofilament and fused varieties have eliminated the problems of memory, stretch, tensile strength and water absorption. Some have focused on solving particular weaknesses of monofilament line and as such have become more specialized. Lines which have a tougher coating to avoid abrasion, lines which eliminate the problem of stretch and lines which are ultra thin for their breaking strength represent technological solutions to fishing problems that monofilament-using fishermen simply learned to live with.
