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Line Weight/Knots for Fluoro & Senkos in Brush/Docks

Hi Jack,

In docks and brush mostly? I recommend the 14 lb. test Sugoi in environments where you're unlikely to encounter fish weighing above 5 lbs. on a day-to-day basis. Keep in mind that the Sugoi fluorocarbon is a slightly thicker diameter and much more abrasion-resistant than 14 lb. test monofilament. Also, keep in mind that you should be fishing the Senko mostly weightless - and it won't be crashing like a rock to the bottom in the heart of the snaggiest part of the dock or brush as if you were fishing a 1/2 oz. jig in there. So you do not always need as heavy a line for a Senko as for a jig.

Don't blame me, however, if you hook the "Lady of the Lake" and break her off! I'd be in the same boat as you crying then, because I would still prefer the 14 lb. test Sugoi Fluorocarbon on my spool in the environments where it's hard to grow five pound plus fish - which includes most state north of the Mason-Dixon line.

I'd step up to 17 lb. test if you are lucky enough to be fishing a trophy fish environment such as in Texa-Mexi-Cali (Texas, California, Mexico) or Florida, where you can reasonably expect to encounter 6, 7, 8 lb. fish under docks and buried in brush on an almost daily basis.

In the Deep South, there are some pretty stout fish all throughout many of those fine fisheries too. Follow the same rules as above, depending on the size of fish you are likely to encounter - and the nastiness of the cover you must drag fish through - in any particular lake or impoundment.

As far as the knots that you are using, I believe you are "right on" because those are the ones which I use with the Sugoi fluorocarbon too. Fluoro is "slicker" than mono - make extra sure the knots snug down properly with fluoro. I have tested the Uni-knot and Palomar knot for slippage and breakage with fluoro. Neither knot will slip if snugged down properly, and neither will break inordinately. I have watched super-strong Gamakatsu Superline hooks (4/0 and 5/0) distort until almost straightened before 14 lb. test fluoro would break at the knot. Surprisingly, the almost-straightened hooks would bounce back to perfect shape as if nothing had happened after the stress test! Not surprisingly, the entire length (about 25 feet or so) of the fluoro test line would be kinked and molecularly distorted from the stress pressure before the knot would break. This was on perfectly new line right off the spool. On "used" line, I will usually experience the fluoro breaking at a slightly abraded spot on the line before it will break at the knot.

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