Power Pro line deficiencies

[agelesssone]

Bought a bunch of Power Pro line off of Ebay, put some 40 lb stuff on a reel.

Also had a reel spooled up with 30 lb mono, it's been there for two years, decided to test line strength.

The mono at the six foot mark broke at 13 lbs, so I dug deeper in the reel. About 10 ft in, it tested to 16 lbs. At ten yds, it tested at 25 lbs which was the best I got no matter how far into the reel (big line counter reels for stripers, 200+ yds per reel) I went.

I decided to test the new Power Pro straight from the spool. 40 lb test broke at 22/23/22.5/22 lb's respectively.

My method of testing was to tie on an 8/0 circle with a Palomar knot, 24 inches of line, then tie a loop knot. Hook the loop knot onto my digital scale (88 lb luggage scale, tested with a 25 lb dumbell, shows 25.2 lbs) then hook the 8/0 circle hook under a steel arm that I would stand on. SLOWLY pull up on the scale until the line broke. NO KNOTS FAILED. Every line broke between anchor points.

I had some 20 lb lines that broke at 12 lbs! I had a striper snap (what I thought to be 30 lb test Power Pro Super Slick) my line last week that cost me a very expensive A-rig with 11 blades and five swim baits on it. (3 hooks, people, I follow ALL the regulations). At the time it snapped, my mind was thinking, that didn't feel like 30 lbs of pull. Now I know why.

I will be going through ALL of my striper reels tomorrow, testing each line and marking the reel with the ACTUAL breaking strength of the line on the reel.

This is just a heads up for you guys. I requested a refund from the guy I bought the line from and he obliged. I'll be sending the line back to him tomorrow as he has already refunded my money on PayPal.

And this is why I do all my transactions on PayPal, if I have a dispute, I can go through PayPal and they will make it right. A little pricey, maybe, but priceless when you have a dispute.

[Alphahawk]

That's bad news. Run into a similar deal with some Dam Tectan......a high dollar mono out of Europe I purchased from Cabelas would break while you were spooling up a reel....at different spots. Never got to even try it out and Cabelas wouldn't refund. Seems there were quite a few customers unhappy with same situation. Yep PayPal is only way to go.

Regards


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[XxthejuicexX]

Merv are you positive it's power pro.... I know you say it is but if you go on the power pro website they say they have counterfeit power pro on the market. I have always got mine from Dick's or tackle warehouse and I have never had any issues with it. I would also recommend throwing an A-rig on 65lb braid, same as a frog. Glad you got your money back.

[agelesssone]

Originally Posted by XxthejuicexX

Merv are you positive it's power pro.... I know you say it is but if you go on the power pro website they say they have counterfeit power pro on the market. I have always got mine from Dick's or tackle warehouse and I have never had any issues with it. I would also recommend throwing an A-rig on 65lb braid, same as a frog. Glad you got your money back.

I think you are right about this being "counterfeit "Power Pro". It has the proper labeling, but for the line to fail like it did, very suspicious. AND the 10 lb line broke at 12.5 lbs and the 8 lb line broke at 10.3 lbs.

The inconsistencies threw up red flags immediately and I sent the guy a message asking for my money back. He agreed rather quickly once I mentioned filing a claim with PayPal. He said he is a partner with a "large" tackle dealer in Florida.
They are probably buying knockoff stuff from China with PowerPro labels and selling it for a discount, thinking no one will test the line strengths.

[Reel Tune]

That's horrible. On the reels I have Power Pro I replace it about every 8 months or so. I've had some break-offs mid cast with the stuff, but I have been using it for about 10 years. It does fray easily, the abrasion resistance on all braids that I've used is horrible. I've found that after 6 months or so it starts to loose its color and the strength quickly dwindles. I do have some Seagur Kanzen I'm testing right now in 65lb, and 40lb.

[agelesssone]

Originally Posted by MidTNKayakAngler

That's horrible. On the reels I have Power Pro I replace it about every 8 months or so. I've had some break-offs mid cast with the stuff, but I have been using it for about 10 years. It does fray easily, the abrasion resistance on all braids that I've used is horrible. I've found that after 6 months or so it starts to loose its color and the strength quickly dwindles. I do have some Seagur Kanzen I'm testing right now in 65lb, and 40lb.

Do you have any thoughts or opinions you'd care to share on those lines.
I'll be buying new lines this week and any input from people would be appreciated.

[txnative]

I used Power Pro religiously until I had the same issue with 30 lb line. I was hanging up below OHD and breaking the braid instead of my "sacrificial" 15 lb mono leader. I switched to FireLine and have been pleased by the results ever since. I also use SpiderWire Ultracast as well and have had nothing but good thoughts about it.

I still use Power Pro 50 lb for my swimbait rod, and it had held up to some large fish in open water. I'm still not back to being a Power Pro fan, but changing based on a suspicion would be a bit premature for this specific example.

If you're changing lines, I'd recommend FireLine, Spiderwire Ultracast, Sufix, and Jeremy's suggestion. Just my thoughts, and I'm curious to see what others suggest.


Chris Bryant

[TNBronzeback]

i bought a spool of Academy Sports brand of H20 braid, its similar to power pro but it feels like it has some kind of coating on it. Strength hasnt been an issue as of yet, but im not a huge fan of how it sits on the reel, but maybe thats cause its thier heaviest # test. Might make a good live bait rod, but probably not as a casting line in my opinion.
Until i started using PowerPro, i did use Cabelas Rip Cord and had pretty good luck with that, but i stopped using that when i found powerpro that i didnt have to order.
Im also currently using Stren Braid i bought 3 years ago. Its thier hi-viz orange. it sits on the reel very nice, casts smooth, i find it plenty sensitive as that is what i jig with. i havent done any strength tests though like your doing on any of the lines, but so far, the stren has my vote.

[SalmonDaze]

Any time line breaks at anything other than the knot, it's from line deficiency. Knots are always rated at % of line strength. This may seem obvious; and it is; but also remember everything made by man has degrees of perfection, never 100% perfection.

I expect the tolerance for fishing line is probably a manufacturing delta of +-3% (hopefully less).

Therefore, 20LB line should fail (acceptably) at as low as 19.4 LBS new, out of the box. However, the manufacturers know this and will move "up" the higher end so as to minimize low-end tolerance failures.

Add in the effects of use, UV, and time; and you should expect to have line tolerance degrade in a fairly uniform downward curve.

I switched to using large diameter mono backing and frequent changes to my expensive top line some years ago. The new stuff, like nano-fil is simply awesome but just far too expensive for filling reels from bottom to top of spool.

[Headhunter]

My opinion, power pro is horrible.

Power pro super slick 8, great line.

[Dakota]

Good post Merv. Overall I haven't had trouble with the PowerPro to except one break and 40 pound braid with the appeared to be very large striper. But I may have had a nick in the line or something? I am interested in trying the power pro slick I have to look at the reviews on that.


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[Dakota]

Oh one more thing I have bought all my power pro at Bass Pro and even Walmart. vs online.


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[creekcrappie]

I use power pro in 65 lbs for my A Rigs and I haven't had any problems yet.

[agelesssone]

Today I tested 13 reels spooled with braid from 20 lb test to 65 lb test.

I was very disheartened by my findings. My 20 lb Power Pro low vis green that I had on most of my live bait down rods was breaking at 13/14 with 15 lbs. being the highest reading I got on four separate reels.

Moved on to Power Pro Super Slick 8, 30 lb test. The best reading I got on it was 18 lbs. As I tested a reel, I marked the average breaking strength on the reel for future reference.

Power Pro Super Slick 8, 40 lb test was breaking at 23/24. On all of these tests, I pulled out 15 to 20 feet of line to remove any rod guide abrasions from the equations.

I went to Academy Sports and Outdoors and bought two spools of line, Suffix advanced 832 Superline, 50 lb and 65 lb. I took these home and tested them right out of the package. The 65 lb was breaking at 44/46 lbs and the 50 lb was breaking at 34/36. I returned it to the store after the tests.

I then purchased Spiderwire Ultracast Invisibraid 65 lb test. It broke at 58 lbs and, admittedly, I only performed one test because I was happy to finally find a line that was even close to it's advertised rating.

That is what I will throw my A-Rigs on from now on. When you spend $23.00 on an A-Rig (14 blades, 5 arm) another $4.00 on hooks and $5.00 on swimbaits, (plus tax on all of it) you hate to have a ten pound striper go swimming off with it.

The rest of the reels are marked and I will throw baits according to the line weights I have written on each of them.

But, guaranteed, no more Power Pro Super Slick for me. I love the way it casts, but the line strength is just too iffy for me.....That is what I was throwing the A-Rig on when the striper took it away.....and it didn't even feel like a very hard tug, maybe a ten pounder, if that.

Oh, and my trolling rods with three year old 30 lb mono? 18 lbs was the best out of 6 tests. So it all comes off and gets replaced. I have new 30 lb mono that tested out at 26/27 lbs.

I have a spool of 40 lb mono that I didn't test yet as well as a spool of Stren XT 14 lb and a spool of BassPro Excel 20 lb that I didn't test yet.

I'll get around to testing those later this week.

I ordered some 80 lb Northland Bionic Pike/Muskie Braid on the advice of my partner who fished for muskie up north quite a bit. I'll test it when it comes in later this week.

I have to find reliable line for when I'm doing guide trips this summer. Don't want clients upset because the line breaks.

[Travis C.]

Merv I use Fireline, Spiderwire or Viscious.

Viscious is acutally made by the company that used to do all of Stren's production spooling/R&D. I have had good results with the 65lb that I tested.

Spiderwire is a recent test as I never used it much before. So far it has done well. The only thing in the 20lb or 30lb is it seems to get wind knots easier than others.

Fireline has been the best. It is far tougher and more trustworthy for me than any other I have tested. Have caught some really good fish far better than the 10lb line they were tied to.