yellow mystery stuff that sticks to your line

[stachy4w]

was fishing out of Port Hope today first time on lake ontario in very long time and had all kinds of light yellowish matter stick to my lines  lots of fish on the screen  no fish in the boat.  It took a half hour to clean this stuff off 1 line>You can't possibly land a fish with this stuff on your line.  It clogs the eyes and you can't retrieve your line..  Anyone know what this stuff is?

[Totally Hooked]

Spiny water fleas. They are a pain this time of year.

[apb]

Easiest way I have found to rove them is with a dry cloth

[John E Powell]

The easiest way to get rid of them off your line is to minimize their ability to stick to your line in the first place. Many people change over to 30lb test this time of year. 30lb test seems to be large enough in diameter to prevent their hooklike body appendages from catching ahold of your line. Some people just put a topshot of 150' or so of 30 lb line on top of their existing line. Others respool their reels with 30 lb. Still others change over to another set of reels for the summer/fall flea season.

[skipper19]

I used 50 % braid and 50% 30 lb mono on all my reels. When fleas came out I spooled each of them off on a spare reel and followed that empty reel with the next one until all were reversed. Pain in the butt....big time, but necessary. Now I just use 30 lb Ande mono all the time, except for the divers.

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Edited July 16, 2013 by skipper19

[Gator]

20 lb FleaFlicker line is easy to work with, and we had zero issues with fleas on the line this past weekend. Heck, there were fleas sticking to the hooks of the lures, there were so many out there. But none on the line. The stuff is gold. 

 

A topshot would work, but we only have six rods spooled for rigger fishing, so I buy a 2500 yd spool every couple years and fill them. Personally, I like the line, period, and have no reservations fishing it year round with a small swivel and 8' fluorocarbon leader.

[Adk1]

I have heard mixed reviews of the flea flicker..why/how does it work?

[Gator]

I think it has something to do with the shape of the line. No mixed reviews here...the fleas were the worst I've ever seen this past weekend. LundSSS posted ten feet+ on one of his wire lines. And I never had to pick them off the rigger rods. Frankly, I was surprised at how well it worked on Sunday, and we've been fishing it for a couple years now.