Get rid of used fishing line

One sure-fire way to increase your success on the water next spring is to strip your reels of the line you used in 2007 and respool with fresh stuff.

Old line will cost you fish and fishing time. It will break at inopportune times, like when you have a big fish near the net, and it will snarl into nightmarish birds’ nests that can render your outfit useless.

Line is one of the easiest variables for anglers to control, but too many people simply take it for granted. Strip it from your reels today to resist the temptation to forget about it next March or April, when you’ll be in a hurry to grab your gear and dash to the lake.

Professional anglers change their line almost every day. That’s a bit extreme for weekend fishers — and costly — but it underscores the fact that experts acknowledge the potential vulnerability of worn line.

When it comes time to wind on fresh line, anglers have more choices than ever as the manufacturers continue to develop new and better products. I have tried most of the line options on the market and learned how to take advantage of their performance features.

Monofilament line

Monofilament line has been the basic standard for generations. It’s a plastic product, extruded to the diameter that determines its breaking strength (or “test”). It works great for many, if not most, fishing applications, and no doubt is the product with which most anglers are most familiar.

Mono is great for spinning reels and baitcasters. It floats, is stretchy and has a relatively low “memory.” It behaves well on spinning reels, which is important considering the trouble that results when coils jump off the spool and tangle.

I use monofilament mostly on my baitcasting reels when I’m looking for durability and just enough stretchiness to cushion the surge of a big fish. It works great for spinnerbaits, topwater lures and crankbaits for that very reason.

Heavy mono, 17- to 20-pound-test, also is my first pick for pitching and flipping jigs, tubes and creature baits into thick cover.

Flourocarbon lines

Fluorocarbon lines look like monofilament, but their characteristics are much different. Fluorocarbon is more dense than mono; it sinks and has very little stretch. These traits make fluorocarbon great for anglers who want to get their baits deep quickly and who rely on extra sensitivity to indicate strikes and the nature of the bottoms their lures are tickling.

I like fluorocarbon for drifting with jigs for Mosquito walleyes and with tubes and drop-shot rigs for Lake Erie smallmouth bass. It’s also a great choice for those times when I want to get a crankbait to dig deeper, and for flipping in areas where I want almost no stretch to wrestle big bass from line-busting cover.

Braided lines

Braided lines are my third option. They are almost unbreakable unless they have been scuffed by rocks, have zero stretch and float.

I have found braid to be the perfect choice for those times when I’m dragging a frog or rat bait over thick vegetation. The no-stretch characteristics allow me to make solid hooksets when bass attack the bulky surface baits and then winch them to the boat through the matted greenery.

Braid also is excellent for working vibrating, lipless crankbaits over the top of emerging weed beds. The sensitivity is such that I can tell instantly when the bait hits the weeds, and then rip it clean. That sudden action often triggers largemouths and pike that are lurking in the cover.

Now’s the time to strip your reels, but I recommend waiting until just before you resume fishing before respooling. Line that you wind on today will sit on the reel for several months and tend to conform to the shape of the spool. That extra added memory can make mono and fluorocarbon a bit more difficult to manage.