Hi All!
I took a hiatus from fishing for about 20 years. Much has changed in the product landscape since my last trip to the tackle shop. I recently started a whole new collection of tackle as many of my old rods were heavy, floppy dinosaurs in comparison to the newer stuff. When I started investing in gear again in 2021 a friend recommended I use braid and I had mixed results in the beginning due to buying the wrong stuff. I have since corrected my mistakes and am very happy after I finally found a product that works well. I am a generally light tackle guy with nothing over 7ft 6" or 3000 sized reels and 15 lb braid & I exclusively do artificial lure angling.
This brings me to my question:
I was happy to find my old reliable choice in monofilament, Double X, is still in the shop and I was tempted to just buy that, but alongside it, I noticed a Brand I am not familiar with: Elbe.
Now, the price difference between the two isn't really a factor, but I did notice the Elbe product is a little cheaper, which is what introduced doubt. Is Elbe a reliable brand with reliable products?
As most of the reading I have done shows that most anglers recommend fluorocarbon leaders for artificial lure stuff, I picked up two spools of Elbe's fluoro leader material and tested that out. It has performed decently with no real let-downs aside from one incident where I learnt that fluorocarbon is not as resilient as I had hoped when it comes to abrasion which cost me a Salmo lure on some rock. I am not unhappy with its performance and I have learnt to be a little more careful around structure. I have landed a few decent fish on it, most notably being a 7kg Barbel on 15 LB leader material. The leader was badly chewed up, but I did manage to land the fish. So I'm assuming their Fluorocarbon material isn't bad. It's not the most expensive but performed well enough for my purposes. I don't usually target Barbel on light tackle, but being the aggressive species that they are, I do often hook them.
I have a few Abu Garcia reels I used to use for Barbel. Specifically 5600 and 6500 series on 7ft heavy/medium-heavy casting rods. I'd like to throw some heavier line on there and put them into service again. As these do not get used that often & I am proficient at casting them I thought I might as well throw monofilament on there to offer some shock absorption. Probably something in the way of 14 &/or 20Lb. I also picked up a few smaller reels (2500 Daiwa Prorex, Okuma Ceymar C-30) requiring backing with lighter braid, so this purchase will likely do double duty for that too.
With the above in mind, Do you have any experience with Elbe's line? Specifically their MegaAbrasion monofilament? Care to share your opinion and experience? Do they make a solid product, or should I avoid it? Opinions on their and Fluorocarbon leader material is also welcome!
I have tried to find online reviews, but aside from one on FB post, I came up short. Neither could I find much info from the manufacturer. Couldn't even find their website. Perhaps my Google-Fu is weak.
Your input is greatly appreciated. I look forward to reading your responses.
Kind Regards,
Jano
I took a hiatus from fishing for about 20 years. Much has changed in the product landscape since my last trip to the tackle shop. I recently started a whole new collection of tackle as many of my old rods were heavy, floppy dinosaurs in comparison to the newer stuff. When I started investing in gear again in 2021 a friend recommended I use braid and I had mixed results in the beginning due to buying the wrong stuff. I have since corrected my mistakes and am very happy after I finally found a product that works well. I am a generally light tackle guy with nothing over 7ft 6" or 3000 sized reels and 15 lb braid & I exclusively do artificial lure angling.
This brings me to my question:
I was happy to find my old reliable choice in monofilament, Double X, is still in the shop and I was tempted to just buy that, but alongside it, I noticed a Brand I am not familiar with: Elbe.
Now, the price difference between the two isn't really a factor, but I did notice the Elbe product is a little cheaper, which is what introduced doubt. Is Elbe a reliable brand with reliable products?
As most of the reading I have done shows that most anglers recommend fluorocarbon leaders for artificial lure stuff, I picked up two spools of Elbe's fluoro leader material and tested that out. It has performed decently with no real let-downs aside from one incident where I learnt that fluorocarbon is not as resilient as I had hoped when it comes to abrasion which cost me a Salmo lure on some rock. I am not unhappy with its performance and I have learnt to be a little more careful around structure. I have landed a few decent fish on it, most notably being a 7kg Barbel on 15 LB leader material. The leader was badly chewed up, but I did manage to land the fish. So I'm assuming their Fluorocarbon material isn't bad. It's not the most expensive but performed well enough for my purposes. I don't usually target Barbel on light tackle, but being the aggressive species that they are, I do often hook them.
I have a few Abu Garcia reels I used to use for Barbel. Specifically 5600 and 6500 series on 7ft heavy/medium-heavy casting rods. I'd like to throw some heavier line on there and put them into service again. As these do not get used that often & I am proficient at casting them I thought I might as well throw monofilament on there to offer some shock absorption. Probably something in the way of 14 &/or 20Lb. I also picked up a few smaller reels (2500 Daiwa Prorex, Okuma Ceymar C-30) requiring backing with lighter braid, so this purchase will likely do double duty for that too.
With the above in mind, Do you have any experience with Elbe's line? Specifically their MegaAbrasion monofilament? Care to share your opinion and experience? Do they make a solid product, or should I avoid it? Opinions on their and Fluorocarbon leader material is also welcome!
I have tried to find online reviews, but aside from one on FB post, I came up short. Neither could I find much info from the manufacturer. Couldn't even find their website. Perhaps my Google-Fu is weak.
Your input is greatly appreciated. I look forward to reading your responses.
Kind Regards,
Jano
