Panfish ice line

[eyeguy 54]

Been using the micro ice flo green 3lb about 4 years now. Really like it. With the addition of the orange highlight rod from my favorite rod builder I thought  I would try the suffix ice magic. Seamed to work just as well and these eyes could see it nice when tying up a jig. What’s your go to line?

Edited February 7, 2021 by eyeguy 54

[smurfy]

i simply use the berkley ice line. depending on the rod, its either 4 or 6 lb test. but yea i'm liking the colored lines more and more for my eyes also!!!!! i have had good luck with that line. 

[eyeguy 54]

Micro ice is the Berkeley ice line. Do you go 4 and 6 for panfish? I use 4 in summer

[whateverisbiting]

Sorry to take this in a slightly different direction, but I have been thinking about how the light lines seem to have a lot of memory and twist easily.  I have not used an in-line reel in winter...is that one of the benefits of in-line reels to eliminate twist?  How about in summer; what kind of reel to use to match light lines to avoid twist? I do try to get a bail that is wider and not as deep, that seems to help a bit.

 

Most other people that fish with me are not real experienced and with light line and a spinning reel they don't pay enough attention and get tangled all the time from twist off the reel so I tend to give them braided with a fluoro leader.  Yes I have tried lots of brands and don't feel like there is one that totally solves this  I end up using 6-8 lb mono because of this but would like to drop to a smaller diameter.

[smurfy]

36 minutes ago, eyeguy 54 said:

Micro ice is the Berkeley ice line. Do you go 4 and 6 for panfish? I use 4 in summer

I use 4 lb for panfish, summer and winter.  I put 6lb on rods I use for walleyes and crappies. Same for summer.

[smurfy]

6 minutes ago, whateverisbiting said:

Sorry to take this in a slightly different direction, but I have been thinking about how the light lines seem to have a lot of memory and twist easily.  I have not used an in-line reel in winter...is that one of the benefits of in-line reels to eliminate twist?  How about in summer; what kind of reel to use to match light lines to avoid twist? I do try to get a bail that is wider and not as deep, that seems to help a bit.

 

Most other people that fish with me are not real experienced and with light line and a spinning reel they don't pay enough attention and get tangled all the time from twist off the reel so I tend to give them braided with a fluoro leader.  Yes I have tried lots of brands and don't feel like there is one that totally solves this  I end up using 6-8 lb mono because of this but would like to drop to a smaller diameter.

I notice not so much twist more of a curl when I first use the rods but usually goes away quick. I use open face reels.

[eyeguy 54]

Inline 13 descent reel on all my winter panfish setups.  Memory has not been an issue on the big spools on the reels. And no jig spin. So glad I switched over but it takes some practice to get used to them.  Pflueger spin reels in summer. Lots of casting and reeling helps the memory issue it seams. If they sit a long time memory can be a bummer. Less memory in 4 vs 6 I think. When I see too much curl I respool the spinning reels. 

[eyeguy 54]

5 minutes ago, smurfy said:

I use 4 lb for panfish, summer and winter.  I put 6lb on rods I use for walleyes and crappies. Same for summer.

 I have six on my eye rods. 8 on a couple for jigging in rocks on river during the summer. 

[smurfy]

3 minutes ago, eyeguy 54 said:

Inline 13 descent reel on all my winter panfish setups.  Memory has not been an issue on the big spools on the reels. And no jig spin. So glad I switched over but it takes some practice to get used to them.  Pflueger spin reels in summer. Lots of casting and reeling helps the memory issue it seams. If they sit a long time memory can be a bummer. Less memory in 4 vs 6 I think. When I see too much curl I respool the spinning reels. 

I need to go buy one more. Gotta keep up with the eyeguys of the world.

[Dash 1]

I use 3 lb trilene ice in winter. 4 lb  trilene low vis green in summer. My issue in winter is every once in a while the line winds on the front nut instead of the spool.  Happens on more than one reel so I must be doing something wrong.  I may try some higher visibility lines in future as my age inclines and my eyes decline. 

[eyeguy 54]

9 minutes ago, Dash 1 said:

I use 3 lb trilene ice in winter. 4 lb  trilene low vis green in summer. My issue in winter is every once in a while the line winds on the front nut instead of the spool.  Happens on more than one reel so I must be doing something wrong.  I may try some higher visibility lines in future as my age inclines and my eyes decline. 

Do you have the old silver reel?  Used to have them and had that issue. I put a finger on the spool to stop it from spinning when pulling out line. No more problems. The black reel doesn’t have that nasty knob that the silver one had. 

[whateverisbiting]

Thanks for the replies looks like I get to buy a new winter reel and back to trying lighter line.  Trying them in the store I can see it takes some getting used to why I have not taken the plunge.

 

+1 on the Pflueger reels.  My wife was complaining about her arm getting tired from holding the fishing rod.  My son got her a Patriarch and matched it with a St. Croix rod.  Super pricey but sweet combo and she loves it...light action but uses for all species landed everything from pannies to mid 30s northers.  Then my son got me an upsized one.  Then I bought one more.  And so it goes once I get a taste of performance in fishing gear there is no turning back.  I put that on ice fishing rods and it has been the best bet so far.

 

Also I agree if the line sits on there too long the memory gets stronger so I'll just change it out in the future.  When I put line on the first time I do a good job of de-twisting it but it does not last.

[eyeguy 54]

Tighten the drag up a bit has helped me with the twist in the summer on gills. 

[monstermoose78]

This what I use

[eyeguy 54]

Yep. Used that till the eyes had a tough time. 

[monstermoose78]

51 minutes ago, eyeguy 54 said:

Yep. Used that till the eyes had a tough time. 

Yeah I think I need bifocals . 

[Wanderer]

8 minutes ago, monstermoose78 said:

Yeah I think I need bifocals . 

Just got my first pair a few months ago...

 

And I’ll start getting the hi vis line from here on out. The clear steel is taking too long to retie on the ice.

[eyeguy 54]

3 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

Just got my first pair a few months ago...

 

And I’ll start getting the hi vis line from here on out. The clear steel is taking too long to retie on the ice.

Tri focal here.

[smurfy]

i'm still good with the 150-175 dollar store cheaters!!!!!!

[bobberineyes]

I've been wanting to switch the reels out to those eyeguy. It is tough finding a line that doesn't coil up so bad with those little open faced reels,  but what I struggled with last time out was the slip knots sliding on our set lines, maybe it's the eye on the rods...?

[eyeguy 54]

I wish. Had lazic in 2004 and got 12 years. Has to use readers all that time.  

[eyeguy 54]

41 minutes ago, bobberineyes said:

I've been wanting to switch the reels out to those eyeguy. It is tough finding a line that doesn't coil up so bad with those little open faced reels,  but what I struggled with last time out was the slip knots sliding on our set lines, maybe it's the eye on the rods...?

Hmmmmm I don’t use these reels for set lines. So don’t know about the slip knots. When I use slip knots I leave about 1/2 inch tags so I can snug them up When they get loose. If I fished eyes a lot in winter I would have braid with a short mono leader and a double uni knot to see how it worked. 

[Wanderer]

Big fan of the 13 Descent here too and I know they could handle most walleyes but don’t use them much for eyes except one with smaller spoons.  I also don’t bobber with them and leave longer tag ends on slip knots to re-tighten on those thin diameter lines.  Rattle wheels or spinning reels for my bobber lines.

 

The 13 Descent has handled pike up to 30 inches for me.  Good drag.  I haven’t messed with the clicker at all though.  Didn’t even realize it was an option.  Just the tension setting.

[eyeguy 54]

Clicker is noisy!  Lol

[Kettle]

6lb Berkeley Flouro on all my rods in the winter. Cheaper to buy the larger spool for all 4 of my ice rods

[slipperybob]

I used to use strictly Berkley fishing line until I started to expand my selection.  It's kind of more important to pay attention to the line diameter and the strength it has based on that diameter.  So I started to track that information for myself after I got, yes Berkley Digital Fish Scale.  I just tie the knot that I'm going to fish with and test it out on the fish scale in a crude method but insightful for real use.

Berkley Trilene Microice .18 mm 3# line break 4# 1 oz.
Berkley Trilene Microice .23 mm 6# line break 7# 10 oz.

Berkley Trilene XL .20 mm 4# line break 4# 12 oz.

 

Pline Flouroice .15 mm 3# line break 3# 3 oz.

Pline Floroclear .16 mm 3# line break 4# 1 oz. (2012 palomar knot 4# 4)
Pline Floroclear .18 mm 4# line break 5# 14 oz. (2012 palomar knot 6#1)
Pline Floroclear .23 mm 6# line break 8# 11 oz. (2012 palomar knot 8#1)

 

ASSO Micron 3 .153 mm 4# knot break 4# 8 oz. Mfg claim break of 4.8# 
ASSO Micron 3 .173 mm 5# breaks 5# 2 oz. Mfg claimed break of 6.2#

ASSO Ice Fishing .140 mm 3# line break 3# 6 oz. Mfg claim break of 3.4# 

ASSO Ice Fishing .160 mm 4# line break 4# 11 oz. Mfg claim break of 5.4# 

 

Stroft GTM 5X 5.28# test .15 mm line break 5# 10 oz.
Stroft GTM 4X 7.9# test .18 mm knot break 7# 2 oz.
Stroft GTM 3X 9# test .20 mm knot break 9# 6 oz.
Stroft GTM 2X 11.2# test .22 mm line break 10# 4 oz.

 

I sure miss that deep blue tinted Berkley Trilene ice fishing line.  To my surprise after using Bekley for years, there were better lines in terms of strength and smaller diameter out there.  I can say that it's easy to find Berkley lines in store.  P-Line sometimes easy to find, sometimes not.  ASSO and Stroft lines are kind of mail order only and sometimes you can't get it cuz it's not in stock.  Try all sorts of line.

[Wanderer]

So which one is your favorite @slipperybob?

[eyeguy 54]

Interesting info and thx. I never have paid much attention to break strength since rod and drag performance and a good knot are so important. 

[smurfy]

yea thats really interesting!!!!!!!!!

[Rick G]

Some very useful info , slippery on.

 

been using 3lb micro ice and 3 lb on-line florocarbon for a while now. no complaints with either line other than I have had a couple spools of the p-line split in spots after heavy use.