GO FOR THE GOLD

Originally published in our SPRING 2000 edition

A long standing debate on the pros and cons of a clear monofilament line for fishing versus the ones with a blue or purple fluorescent property that makes them glow in sunlight is one that may never be answered. The clear line, they say is more difficult for the fish to see, so you will in turn fool more fish. The fluorescent line enables you to “see” the strikes and control the line better out of the water. We would like to say that clear may be a better line color, but in our experience with many fishing reports, there really isn’t much difference in angling success.

We had an older fellow a couple of years back that had just returned from a 7-day canoe trip. He told us that his son had been catching six walleyes to his one, and the only difference he could tell was that his son was using gold colored line. This gentleman wanted to know why. They had been on tap-water clear lakes and using Rapalas in about 10 feet of water.

The fluorescent gold line, we figured, acted as an attractor for the walleyes who were drawn to strike the Rapala that caught their eye first. This would be similar to the effect of adding a spinner to live bait to make them more attractive. When we told him this was probably what had happened, the fellow said that confirmed his theory. He had tried tying a three foot section of gold line just ahead of his Shad Rap, and he started match his son fish for fish.

At the end of this past summer, we got in a quick one night canoe trip between the last of our returning parties. The fishing wasn’t great the first day, and we didn’t want to be the butt of staff jokes by returning empty handed. The next morning we tried the “gold line” trick that had somehow found its way through a mind full of customer suggestions accumulated over the years. Paddling our way back, the gold line did out produce the clear line that was used on the other rod.

We are not proposing that in all cases gold colored monofilament line will be the ultimate answer in attracting more fish. It does prove, however, that bold line colors are not a major excuse for you not to be catching fish, and under the right conditions, may even improve your catch. It is our firm belief that as long as you have confidence in the color line you are using, it will not hurt your fishing success.