shelf life of hook tie

[Bradford Angler]

It will teach me to be tight but last year I came across a great deal at an angling fayre - any 4 spools of match silstar for 10 quid. Brill me thinks, here's a tenner and picked 2 4lb spools, one 5lb spool and one 3lb spool. Oddly though all the lines break at around the same weight - about 4 oz

 

any one know the shelf life of hook tie, if kept in a general tackle box environment ??

 

anyone know a general life for reel line too ??

 

I watched a Dave Harrel video couple of years ago where he said he changed his "water queen" every 6 - 12 weeks"

 

do any manufacturers mark up any codes on the spools as an indication of the age ??

[Dizzy Dave]

I think it depends on how long it has been exposed to UV light.

[poledark]

I've got some bulk spools of 4,6,11 &15lb Sylcastwhich are probably 12years old, and all are as good as the day I bought them.

I have been using Sylcast for many years, about 30+ and can't ever remember it letting me down.

Also have some of the cheap stuff from Argos,Damyl Ultrastrong, in 2,4&6lb about 10years old, seems to be as good as new!

 

Den

[The Diamond Geezer]

poledark:

I've got some bulk spools of 4,6,11 &15lb Sylcastwhich are probably 12years old, and all are as good as the day I bought them.

 Also have some of the cheap stuff from Argos,Damyl Ultrastrong, in 2,4&6lb about 10years old, seems to be as good as new!

 

 Den

Den

I very much doubt it, I'm afraid.

I'd bet you'd get a shock if you actually had them tested. Personally I reckon there should be a Best Before Date on all spools of mono; after all, you don't even know how long they've been in the shop before you buy them.

Nylon monos degrade with light (esp UV), air (oxygen), moisture and the higher the temperature, the faster this happens.

 

If you've been fishing without breakages, I guess you're fishing well within the *degraded) BS of the line but ...... one day!!!

 

Personally the most I'd do with a good mono e.g. Daiwa Sensor is to keep it for a season and maybe turn it round on the spool. I think it's a false economy and risks leaving line in the fish and the environment to chance your luck with very old line. Only a pukka test will tell!

 

DG

[poledark]

And what makes you think that I have not tested them? I tie a hook on with a noknot knot, take several turns round a pencil or similar and atach the hook to a digital balance. This is usually a good enough test, but if I want a more accurate one I use the pail of water test.

 

Den

[The Diamond Geezer]

And what are the wet knotted BS figures now compared with when they were new, then?

[The Diamond Geezer]

By the way, rather than using a bucket of water for "an accurate test", why not use the pukka thing, a tensile tensiometer?

[poledark]

Geezer, I do not like being called a fool, as I stated in my first post, they are all as good as new, in fact the 4 breaks at 3.25lbs, the 11 breaks at 12.3lbs and the 15 at 14.4 lbs, this was a few minutes ago.

The bucket of water test is extremely accurate and most nearly reflects the actual effect when fishing as a gradual increase in strain can be applied and held for some time.

 

It is a test that I have been using for about 45years and up till now no one has doubted my word

I believe that my digital balance (£140.00 worth) is actually a strain gauge and was sold to me as cerified accurate so I could be certain of the weights of fish to the nearest gram, but whether it is or not makes not one iota of difference, if the line maker says 11lb BS on the label, and when I tested it new about 12 years ago it broke at 11+, and it still breaks at 11+ then I feel safe in making the statement that "it is as good as the day I bought it"

 

As for you snide remark about leaving fish trailing yards of line then I will treat it with the contempt it deserves, one would think that I have never caught a decent fish in my life.

 

Den

[The Diamond Geezer]

Well, if those are the figures you have obtained, there's no argument but I for one am very surprised that such monos have lost none of their strength in 12 years

[chesters1]

you tell him poledark