For over 30 years I’d been a fan of Maxima, and more latterly the seemingly identical Drennan Specimen Plus, as the reel line for most of my fishing. I tried umpteen other brands during this period but always went back to “Old Faithful”.
However, all that’s now changed – I’ve at last found something that I’m even more confident in. After reliability, the most important factor for me is that for ledgering and stillwater waggler fishing the line should readily sink. Indeed for waggler fishing on stillwaters a floating line is a major handicap in anything other than a flat calm, and the resultant unnatural presentation can even mean a total absence of bites. On the other hand, for floater fishing or trotting a stick float a sinking line would be a disadvantage. Most monos don’t sink without regular treatment with washing-up liquid or something similar. You can’t usually tell this until you use the line as few suppliers put this information on the spool. Why on earth not? They wouldn’t expect us to buy a fly line without knowing whether it floats or sinks would they? So why is mono so different!?
It doesn’t say so on the box but Pro Gold sinks very nicely. I say box, as unusually this is what Pro Gold comes in. This is to protect it from deterioration from ultraviolet light. The latter affects all nylon monofilament to a greater or lesser degree and can lead to a sudden and massive loss of strength.
Pro Gold is also claimed to have a very consistent diameter, which should lead to greater reliability. A lab test on the whole spool would probably confirm this, but to my mind lab tests are only part of the story. I find they’re most useful in drawing up a short list to field test. The final arbiter will always be how well the products behave in actual fishing conditions.
With Pro Gold the answer is exceptionally well. Many other monos excel in one or more areas, which means they’re not so good in others. For instance, a line with high abrasion resistance would normally lack suppleness, which means that amongst other things it won’t cast as far, especially on a fixed spool reel. Like almost every line on the market, Pro Gold is claimed to be both abrasion resistant and supple. For once the claim appears to be true. You can probably find lines that are more supple, or possibly even more abrasion resistant than Pro Gold. However, I doubt that you’ll find many, if any at all, that are both. Certainly Pro Gold is the most supple of the many abrasion resistant lines I’ve used.
Unfortunately, there’s not yet an industry standard for measuring the strength of a fishing line. Most UK suppliers quote the dry, unknotted breaking strain. They can then, quite correctly, point out how thin a line is for a given strength. Others quote the breaking strain when the line is both wet and knotted, which gives a lower figure. IMO, this is more useful as it relates to actual fishing conditions, and this is how Pro Gold is rated.
For instance, 4.4lb Pro Gold has a stated diameter of .192mm, and this is equivalent to a “normal” rating of 5.4lbs. Likewise, 12lb Pro Gold with a diameter of .355mm has a dry, unknotted breaking strain of approx. 16lbs. For a line that’s not pre-stretched, this is more than satisfactory. So is its knot strength, especially for so supple a line. Once again, Pro Gold comes across as having a very well-balanced set of properties.
To sum up, I haven’t tried every line on the market, but I have tried a great many. For me, Pro Gold gets my gold medal, and is my first choice whenever I want a sinking mono.
Pro Gold is available in ten breaking strains from 2 to 15lbs. 100 yard spools cost £4.95, but bulk spools at £9.95 for 500 yards or £14.95 for 1000 yards are much better value for money. For further details phone Gold Label Tackle on 0121-373-4523 or fax them on 0121-377-7785.
Copyright Steve Burke, January 2001.
