Hi Vis and Flourocarbon Lines, How to Get the Best of Both
Well we all know that you can't catch fish if you can't see them bite. Often with crappie you'll only see your line start moving, telling you to set the hook. Maybe you have old eyes, can't see good, don't want to strain your eyes, ect.
What's the solution? High vis lines. You can see your line much better for better bite detection, tying knots, and more times than not high vis lines are a better quality line than many anglers use.
Those are the obvious benefits. Then there are the potential drawbacks, mainly spooking fish because of the brightly colored line. What can you do about this?
Well, how about we add a flourocarbon leader? 12 - 18" should do it. Flourocarbon is about as clear as you can get in the water, and they're usually more abrasion resistant than standard lines. The only drawback is the price tag, but since you won't be using but a foot or maybe two feet at once, it's not so bad. Alternatively you can simply use your favorite clear mono that you always use.
Now you might be wondering how to connect the two lines together. Swivels are an option, but they're just another thing you have to buy and keep up with. Also if you ask me, swivels kind of defeat the point of using a leader anyway, I don't like having a lot of metal in the water.
My favorite way to connect them is to use a uni-to-uni knot. If you haven't ever used the uni knot, I suggest you try it out. It's very versatile, very simple and it's easy to learn, and can be used for anything from connecting terminal tackle to two lines together. There's also a uni snell knot. You also don't have to worry about weak knots, since the uni knot is retains nearly 100% of the breaking strength of the running line. This makes it one of the strongest knots available. How do you tie it? Simply search for "uni knot" on your favorite search engine. With a little poking around you'll be able to find how to tie the same knot in both lines to make the uni-to-uni knot and connect two lines without swivels.
You can also get high vis braided lines. I'm not a fan but if you use these and worry about spooking fish, you can do the same thing mentioned above. Simply do a few more (8 or 9 vs 4 or 5) twists with the braid portion when tying the uni knot.
Hope that helps some folks, and please don't reuse this without permission. :)
