Specimen Mono

Specimen Mono is genuinely formulated for big fish work under demanding conditions and situations. It is designed primarily as a sinking line but can be made to float if coated or sprayed. But, straight off of the spool, is best suited to bottom work.

It is a medium stretch line similar to SINKING MONO and which doesn’t stretch so much like some others and mask bites at distance. However, it has all the stretch needed to help with absorbing the lunges of even the biggest fish which is important when fish are under the rod top.

A very tough, durable and long lasting line which is slightly harder and more abrasion resistant than SINKING MONO but still remains supple. Its formulation is very well suited to the rigours of big fish work whether they be river barbel or specimen lake carp. Also bear in mind that thicker lines will be (generally speaking) more abrasion resistant than thinner lines simply because there is more material. So the 15lb is more abrasion resistant than 12lb, 12lb is more abrasion resistant than 10lb etc. The other thing is that if you soak your line (prior to fishing or even during a session) it will become more supple and ‘softer’. Nylon is Hygroscopic. This also means that it can dry out and have the opposite effect.

It ties up extremely well and can be used with a wide variety of common knots from Grinner, Palomar, Half Blood, Water and No-Knot. It has a very good knot strength and, with well tied knots, should easily achieve the rated B/S. Ultimately though different knots can produce different results. For what it’s worth we calibrated it with the common 5 turn Grinner.

It’s parallel wound on the 300m spools to keep the line as smooth as possible and vastly reduce the possibility of overlaps, ripples and the compression which can be associated with some ‘cross’ line winding processes – especially on small diameter spools. This then helps to keep it soft and supple and provides excellent casting performance especially at distance. This process is very slow and obviously costs more. It’s also why the much bigger 600m spools cannot yet include this feature. But these are supplied on much bigger diameter spools so there are fewer coils per 100m anyway. This ensures that the line is as smooth as it can be and still superior to many.

Being available in either 300m or 600m spools means you can load a typical capacity ‘specimen’ type reel with just the required amount and with the bigger 600m spool fill 2 typical spools. Obviously, the amount you put on or can put on your reel depends on the chosen line size and its diameter.

The range of breaking stains cover the most commonly required sizes for specimen work from 6lb to 15lb. However, even the 6lb and 8lb sizes are not overly thick as, generally, our Specimen mono is likely thinner when comparing B/S per diameter to some other brands. This makes it very good for heavy duty trotting when targeting barbel in fast flows. And obviously easier to cast with.

The colour is dark olive and so would lighten slightly with continual use and the bleaching effect of sunlight. This is completely normal. Unless the line has had lots of use and it is probably time to change it anyway the knot strength remains high despite some colour fade.