Superline Science: Truth or Fiction?

Got a quick question for all you guys on these here ‘super’ lines.

It involves braided superlines and rocks – the two don’t mix supposedly. I have to ask, another line fallacy, or backed up by anglers experiences out on the water? Let me give you a scenario (or two), and you can chime in with your thoughts. I’d ask the line manufacturers themselves, but…you just can’t believe all the hype. 

I was chasing basses from shore and had just brought a couple baits that I had stowed in a shirt pocket. Single spinning rod loaded with braid superline. Unfortunately, I snagged my jig up and ended up breaking the bait off, and so went to tie on a new bait and keep fishing. Problem was, when I reached into my pockets, I realized that I must have left my pair of snips back in the garage. This presented a problem…

I stood there for a minute or so contemplating what my next move would be. Going home was one option, as I’d never be able to bite through the braid after tying on a new bait. But then it dawned on me. One of the things you always read about in reviews and comments from guys online is that one of braids biggest weaknesses is how easy it seems to be cut by rocky bottoms and sharp edges. I’m standing on shore, fishing from a riprap bank that probably stretches for 1/2 a mile, so there are something like a minumum of 35,000 large chunks of limestone around me, any one of which I should be able to just nick the line and cut it clean after retying – DUH!

So I tie on a new bait, being sure to leave a long tag end. I grab the bait in one hand, the tag end of the line in the other and proceed to allow enough space to rub the line on an adjacent rock leaving about 1/2-inch of tag…or so I thought. Problem is the rock isn’t cutting the line.

I move to what appears to be a sharper edged rock, keeping pressure and tautness on the line as best I can and continue to rub the line back and forth over the rock’s edge. Still won’t break. This is just 8# superline, mind you. I keep at it for another minute or two, and after a bit of persistence, with enough pressure and continued sawing back and forth over several different pieces of rock, the line eventually breaks…and I get to continue fishing.

Thinking back on the whole situation, I wonder how in the hell just your normal fishing routine could nick the line enough for it to be snapped easily. I see-sawed the line under heavy pressure for several minutes, directly on bare exposed rock and could hardly get it to cut. And as everyone has probably figured out, you can’t just use regular old pliers or scissors to cut this stuff, you need some special heavy duty cutting thingies. Is fishing really that much tougher on line? Do rocks really just cut through braid like a knife through butter? Zebra mussel shells, I might give ya’ - but slimy wet rocks? I’m beginning to wonder…