Regular respools are painless with Izorline XXX
BY MIKE STEVENS
SAN CLEMENTE — A phrase you’ll hear in the fishing gear world (perhaps more than in any other) quite a bit is “it comes down to preference,” and drilling it down to the itty bitties within that realm, it likely comes up when the subject is fishing line more than all other elements of tackle.
There is a lot of good fishing line out there, and in my case, use a bunch of different ones and really look for a reason I don’t like one rather than checking off reasons I do. I listen to a lot of opinions on the matter, then it ultimately comes down to a field test, and one I’ve been stoked with for the longest amount of time for trout applications is Izorline XXX.
Still, I’m just one dude, but in my efforts to keep tabs on things on a local, national and sometimes international level, I follow tons of forums, groups and wherever else anglers are geeking out online about gear, so I end up with a good idea of what products come up the most for a given application.
For trout stuff, I follow those conversations that fall under topics like: Eastern Sierra, ultra-light fishing, trout fishing, even panfish fishing for good measure. In all of those genres, someone is always going to ask “what kind of line do you guys use for X,” and in the hundreds of comments that follow, Izorline XXX (“Super Co-Polymer Premium Monofilament” to be specific) always comes up more than anything else.
Along with many others, I can vouch for its limpness and castability (my top factors) along with the strength and abrasion resistance (factors I’ll just notice if they are not up to par), but I think one of the traits Izorline XXX has that makes it so popular for ultralight anglers is one that rarely comes up in conversation.
An angler can get a “quarter pound” spool of Izorline XXX for under $20. Using 4-pound as an example (it is available down to 2-pound), that’s 3,350 yards of line. Considering your standard 300-ish-yard spool of comparable non-fluorocarbon runs around 8 to 12 bucks, scoring almost 2 miles of line for $18 or so has advantages beyond just saving money.
In my case, if I’m in the Eastern Sierra for a week, I’ll change the line on my creek reels (the line that wears the most punishment) two or three times. Depending on what the line on my lake rods go through, they might get a mid-trip reload as well. Someone else in the group forgot to spool up? Have to pull all my line off after a nasty tangle? No problemo, with plenty to spare.
Now think about the trout fishing that you do and how you can apply those benefits to your playbook. Maybe you only fish urban trout lakes all winter, even with some hellish tangles, a ¼-pound spool of 4-pound Izorline should cover you (and perhaps others in your party) through the whole season.
Another ancient fishing trope is the importance of changing line often, regardless of what kind of line it is. Freshly-spooled line is a lot better to deal with than line that has sat on a reel from one trip to the next (especially if it sat around a while), and you’re more likely to respool when cost isn’t a factor.
In an ultralight setting, I would take freshly-spooled Izorline XXX over, well, take your pick of Gucci high-dollar stuff that’s on its fifth outing because you’re fishing it to death to make it worth the price tag.