Coloured Carp Mono or Fluorocarbon Mainlines

I just what to give you my thoughts on coloured monofilament and fluorocarbon mainlines. Since I started carp fishing in the 80s I have never got involved in the colour of my mainline. Instead I've gone for a mainline to do the job I need it to do on the water or water's I'm fishing at that time. If there's gravel bars and snags, I want it to be tough, have great knot strength and very good abrasive resistance properties. At this stage in my life, I'm very busy running my shop and only really go to France now and my line of choice is Daiwa Tournament ST Monofil mainline in 15lb. The Tournament ST has Super High Abrasive Resistant qualities, excellent knot strength and it has a very low diameter with a silky smooth matt finish that makes it excellent for casting. I've caught a lot of big fish on this and held a lot of big fish out of snags on it because it is super strong. 

When customers ask me what is a good mainline and what I'm using and I tell and show it to them, they say, I don't like the colour of that because its Matt Grey. They then tell me, it will stick out like a sore thumb and the fish will easily see it. At that point I ask them to choose ANY Mono or Fluoro mainline and I show them something that shocks them.

In my shop I have a mottled green carpet with lost of different shades of green in it. I get the mainline of their choice pull a length of it off the spool, straighten it out and lay it down on the carpet , then I do the same with the Tournament St and they are shocked! Because the Daiwa Tournament ST has a matt finish it doesn't reflect the light half as much as all the other lines, so it makes it very hard to see. I have also looked at it many times in the water and I can see it just like most lines but in my head this mean's the fish will just swim around it.

There is a very well known fish scientist in the angling world that is employed by one of the biggest end tackle manufactures who stated that carp have very similar vision to our's except in the winter when it goes slightly cloudy - and I believe him. We also have fishing line manufactures that state, fish can't see red line and now there's one saying they can't see purple. If carp can't see Red or Purple why has Red strawberry and Purple Plum boilies and popups been so successful over the years? Or is it that the fish CAN see the coloured lines and just swim around them?       

I finished another blog with this statement but I really think its fitting for this one as well.

If you were walking through a wood or down a lane and you walked through a cobweb that you DID NOT see, if you are like me it would spook you and you will move quickly out of the way and rush to rid it from your face BUT if you saw it you would duck under it or go around it and carry on without being spooked! I'm not saying fish don't spook off lines but perhaps they just never saw it.