Photo: MSU Bass Club,
Break-offs happen – maybe not to you, or maybe not all the time, but one way or the other, they occur. Might be on the hookset with a worm or jig. Maybe it’s while playing a big fish at boatside and he makes one last surge.
More likely, you hang a bait up in some rocks or stumps on the bottom of the lake and have to snap your line. So what do you do next?
If you’re like most people, you probably reel in, check the last couple feet of line for knicks or abrasions, then retie, perhaps after cutting half a foot of old line off. Well, according to the results of an interesting set of tests I saw this weekend, that might not be such a good idea.
The test was with mono, copolys and fluorocarbon of various brands, about 16 or 17 in all. Here’s the gist – attach the line with hook tie to something solid and pull steadily until it breaks, just like if you were hung, for example. Cut 4″ off the broken end, retie and retest with the same stretch of line. Do this half a dozen times with each line and average the samples. And the results?
Well, they varied as you might expect, but only 2 lines maintained their full strength after this much stretching. The other 15 or so ranged from 56%-90% of their original breaking strength. The average retie strength across all lines was just over 80% of original. In other words, breaking off, either on a fish or a hang-up, put enough stretch into most lines that it actually weakened them significantly, in the worst cases to nearly half their original strength.
While the study didn’t test to see how far down the line this weakness persisted, it would be a good idea that the next time this happens to you, don’t skimp on cutting off the end of the broken line when retying. Instead of inches, think feet. Play it safe, and cut 3′-5′ of line off before retying, or more. Do this even it it doesn’t feel worn or abraded. Failure to do so might just result in another lost fish at the worst possible time.
5 Comments
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Chris
September 10, 2012 at 10:21 am
If this is correct, I don’t think that cutting 3-5 feet versus 6 inches would make a difference. The whole line has been stretched and weakened. The only real solution would be to re-spool. Another good reason to use braid with a fluorocarbon leader I guess.
RichZ
September 10, 2012 at 1:40 pm
My question would be, if the tests you saw were condicted real world, or lab style. Mostly, I wonder whether the line being broken off was wet or not.
Brian
September 10, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Quick answers –
Chris: Not necessarily. While the whole line has been stretched to some degree, the point where the line broke was weakest and stretched the most (to the point of breaking). The term is referred to as “necking”, and you would also have shock/recoil at that point. You can see that with braid when you snap it – you end up with a short stretch that frequently starts unraveling.
Rich – lab setting, but with a 45 minute distilled water soak. Like everything else in life, your mileage may vary 🙂 Just interesting stuff to think about that you don’t often hear/read about elsewhere. BTW, glad to see you posting – hope everything/”recovery” is going well. Already miss your fishing reports – LOL.
admin (mostly Jay)
September 10, 2012 at 5:08 pm
What does this say about thing like yanking to get a bait unstuck or a smackin’ hookset? Does necking occur then?
Brian
September 10, 2012 at 8:18 pm
Jay – Not in the literal sense, per se. There are a couple phases to deformation, one called the ‘elastic’ phase, the other the ‘plastic’ phase. During the elastic phase, if you stop stretching something it will go back to its original length (think rubberband). Once you surpass that point, you get into the plastic phase. Here, the object won’t return immediately back to its original length. It is permanently deformed. If you keep stretching, right up until the breaking point, you’ll have a small area that gets real thin real quick.
That is “necking”, and it’s where the break will likely occur if pressure continues. Take one of those plastic 6-pack rings and stretch it tight until it is ready to snap. You should be able to see a portion that starts necking. That area immediately to either side of the breaking point suffers the worst damage. If you simply retie to one of the broke ends, you’re tying to bad line. Regular stretching during hook setting and pulling on a bait in most cases won’t be that severe, though studies show that you can stretch a line enough whereby the next time around it won’t stretch as much as it originally did.