By Chay Jackson

REVIEW OF VANISH FLOUROCARBON MONOFILAMENT BY BERKLEY.

Flourocarbon is a new type of monofilament line developed in the States over the last few years. It has the same refractive index to light as water and is therefore allegedly invisible in water, it also has a greater specific gravity than water and so readily sinks. It first found popularity in this country with fly fishermen who used it for tippets between their leaders and the fly but has been experimented with by coarse anglers both as a hook length and as a main line. I have found it very good as a hook length as it is as fine as co polymer and supposedly invisible. As a reel line it is very effective for long range fishing both with a feeder and with a waggler as its sinking properties are very advantageous for these methods and it has very little stretch.

The main disadvantage was it's slight stiffness and the prohibitive expense, often £7 for 25 metres. I have used a make called Riverge with some sucess for both trout and coarse fishing hook lengths for about two years and have been quite happy with it except for the price. It is however too expensive to use as a main line and as far as I know is only available in 25 metre spools.

Recently a new flourocarbon line has appeared on the tackle shop shelves marketed by Berkley, a name I have grown to trust as far as line is concerned. The brand name is Vanish but is only about £6 for a hundred metres. Both Pinky and I have used this line in six and eight pound breaking strains, both as a hook length and as a main line but have found it totally unsuitable for our type of fishing. Separately we discovered that this line has virtually no abrasion resistance and the slightest contact with almost any solid body causes it to fray and part at much less than its usual breaking strain. We have both lost good fish due to this and left hooks in the fish which we both hate to do.

Pinky has also found that when wound onto a fixed spool reel the inherent stiffness causes metres of the line to leap of the spool every time the bail arm is opened and many tangles result during casting. Other anglers we have spoken to find the finer breaking strains OK, so perhaps it is just the heavier lines that have this problem. Any-one who does not know Pinky might suggest that he had wound it on the spool the wrong way but he has been winding line onto fixed spool reels since the year dot!

We have both stopped using this line in either role. I have looked again at the Riverge flourocarbon line that I have been using and it does not seem to exhibit either of these faults to the same degree. It may be that as in many things in this life you get what you pay for and perhaps, as has been suggested to me, that Vanish was intended for the American market for spinning for Trout and abrasion resistance is not a requirement. Vanish is its name and that's just what it has done from my tackle box.

Our advice is to avoid this line at all costs, particularly in the above mentioned breaking strains.