Power Pro Dilemma

Thanks guys!

Pelican,

The life expectancy of PowerPro is pretty much limited by the length of line on the spool. Even though I cut and retie quite often, I still get about three years from one refill of line before I've cut off so much line that I have to respool. I've got a couple reels that I don't retie as often that have six or seven year old PowerPro on.

IF your line gets really fuzzy and it starts to totally break down, then it's time to replace, but I like my line when it gets gray and limp, then it's well broken in and fishes the best.

Formerly Steve @ G & S

Lifespan havent reached it yet after 10 years with first spool bought. It 10# on a panfish set-up now and gets used often by my kids. Stuff is still strong limp dont see it giving out any at all. Its been past amongst about 5 reels you really get your moneys worth out of this line.

What is the life span for PP? Change it every year...3 years? Im a newbie using it...well almost a yr and curious does it need to be changed often or is it good for several years? Sorry if its a dumb question but like mentioned Im a rookie PP user

Pelican

longer rods and lighter set drag are necessary...

Two things happen with Power Pro or any no stretch line. One is that there is no give when a fish fights putting all the stress directly to the hook causing it to rip free. Two is with no stretch anytime you pump and reel or have even a momentary loss of tension on the line the hook is left free to come unhooked. To help avoid this keep the rod at 90 degrees to the fish allowing the rod action to buffer the stress or keep some tension on the line. It is more of user error than anything else. The way you fight a fish is key to staying "hooked up". When trolling the movement of the boat helps keep tension on the fish but also magnifies the stress on the hook with no give to the line. A drag set to slip easier is need in this application. A reel with a smooth working drag is a must. Often cheap reels have irregular drags and will result in more lost fish. With a braid type line the hookset need not be as firm as with mono, too aggressive of a hookset can end up being less effective than a firm but short pop.

Ive fished with many newbies and the number one thing I tell them is to not reel til the fish is next to the eye. It is the number 1 reason I've seen fish pop off. Females.... Point the rod to the sky and let the action off the rod do its job LOL

Ditto on the rod comment. I don't think people realize how important rod action is when reeling in fish.

I see alot of people in the boat who don't fish as often as I do. Almost universally they do at least one of three things wrong.

The first is reeling before they set the hook. I'm amazed how often I see this reaction to a bite. Frankly its almost epidemic among people I see sometimes.

The second is related to the first...just reeling without any thought to using the rod to play a fish some. Without seeing you, I'd guess you're doing essentially the same thing, especially if you are losing the fish boat-side. A lighter action rod will do plenty of the work for you if you let it. When I started using braid on spinning rods, I jumped down an action on most applications. I recognized there was a problem after I broke a couple of stiffer rods on hook sets. Now, if I'm, using braid, I go one action size lighter than I would have otherwise.

The third thing that goes wrong commonly, at least commonly among people I see fishing, is that right by the boat, they tend to reel to far down to the fish, and give themselves no wiggle room boat side. You don't want slack, but a little extra line out can go along way to making sure the fish gets to the net or over the side, but again this is where a lighter action rod really pays off, as you can count on the rod to play the fish on a given length of line. Note: This one tends to be a mistake among people who don't fish often, (sounds like you fish more than the person who typically struggles with this) but it is something to consider.

Cheers, CT

Use PP on all my poles and lose very few Eyes,or Northern.When trolling and I feel a fish on the line I let my pole just point gradually back until it's almost pointing to were the line is coming straight out of the pole and then give that quick few inch jerk that PP recomendes for setting the hook.Don't slam the pole and line like you would for mono/floro. If your doing that you might be tearing the hook in the fishes mouth.

Thanks for the advise guys, I am going to try the drag thing because I think that is where my problem is.

There needs to be some give. Either dial down your drag, use a lighter rods, use a rod with a moderate or a moderate-fast tip, fluoro leader, or new line. take your pick.

If you are losing fish because you are tearing the hook out of the fish's mouth, that is a drag issue, not a line issue. Yes you lose some stretch if you were a mono user, but you can compensate for that by lightening your drag.

I have lost some really nice fish on mono because I had the drag set too tight and was not able to back it off in time. So after learning this lesson the hard way, I just keep my drag on the light side. I too am now a power pro fan and have not had any problems hooking up.

Only other possibility I could see is if you fish live bait a lot and are feeling the bite and setting the hook too quickly.