flea flicker line

[Schools Out]

So I generally use the same line on me trolling rods (other than my dipsys).......Trilene xt 17lb, all year and just changer leaders as I go from browns to walleye to salmon. But today in mexico bay I hooked into a nice musky on a NBK (15-20lb). At about 25 feet from the fish I had a solid 4ft of fleas, making reeling the bugger in impossible, so after a few minute of hand lining the slimy devil and cutting my fingers to @$%@; I land the fish, release the fish, and decided it was time for some flea flicker line. Being a cheap @SS I was wondering why I couldn't just buy some flea flicker at leave it on all year. Is there downfalls to the line causing many fisherman to use it just during fleas season? Dose it lose flea flickyness over time warranting the use just during flea season?

[Schools Out]

[Schools Out]

thats the evil devil right there......I know bad pic..... camera phone

[Missdemeanor]

First off AWESOME essox my man....I love catching those monsters.

My experience with flea flicker had been poor at best. When it first came out, I used it. I had three break offs in one day.....I immediately went and spooled up some 30# Ande and haven't looked back. Maybe they have made improvements. Maybe I had a bad batch. Thats my experience. The 30 # line works just as well imo.

[Silver Fox]

I think ff line is a "Godsend". I used to use 30# mono before this year and started seeing fleas show up on that! I switched this year. A buddy of mine has used it for 3 years and loves it. If you get it, get the 20# line NOT the 30# line. Big diff. 30# is awfull.

[REELJERKS]

I'm with Matt I did not like it at all...I run 30 big game in the green color and just change leaders (floro of course )

[Billy V]

Same for us. We didn't like the FF at all. It twisted really badly and had a ton of memory. We run 30# Clear Big Game for Kings and have been very happy with it.

[ray koziatek]

ff works well with spoons little more blowback if you double stack .As Bill said it twist real bad with spinnys ,to the point that it actually weekens the line. as for keeping the fleas of it works great (20lb test)

[Legacy]

question for you guys that didnt like fleaflicker....did you try 20# or 30#?

doublehaul,

my suggestion for you is buy a spool of 20# fleaflicker, spool up only a couple of rods, and try it. just like everything else either you love it or you hate it. i made the switch about 3+ years ago and havent looked back. im not a big fan of the 30# fleaflicker. i actually purchased a spool of 30# first before trying 20#. 30# seems bulky and spools funny on the reel. im not sure about the line twist that billyv experienced but it has only happened when the swivel has gotten junked up for me. you cant get too fancy with knots so as long as you stick with a palomar to your swivel then youll be fine.

and too answer your question

"Dose it lose flea flickyness over time warranting the use just during flea season?"

what ever that means the answer is no.

[L&M]

30 Big game all the way with floro leader this time of year. 15 until the flea's show up. Used flicker when it 1st. came out and as mentioned above nothing but problem's with it. Some use it with good results but most not. Cleanin the cabin out yesterday and I found a 3lb spool of it anybody want's it for free it's up for grab's, just come an pick it up.

[Schools Out]

what ever that means the answer is no.

That question was in regards to: Is there some sort of coating on the line the wears off over time. or is there some non-spherical line shape the hinders the fleas from attaching that weathers over time that would warrant one to use it just when needed

L&M What pound test is that spool.... Would be the perfect situation to give it a try

[FISHINMAN]

I'm with Mark 30# green big game and Seagur Floro leaders for me too. Fleas last Monday were almost non-existent over 6 hours of trolling.

[Bad Habit]

We used 30# Flea Flicker last year. Worked great when running clean spoons but did get alot of twist with spinnys. This year switched to 20#FF and seems to work much better. Even when the swivels, knots and downrigger cable is loaded with fleas the line stays clean. Just need to use good ball bearing swivels to reduce the twist when running spin doctors. There is still some twist with spinnies but I think not having to get fleas off a line when fighting a fish is worth it. Also, so far no problems with break offs.

[skipper19]

I use the FF on my downriggers for the "down" part of the line....Since I don't plan on fishing more than 150 feet deep, that's all I spool on the reel. The vertical part of the drop to the ball is the part the fleas cling to the worst...for total spool fill I have 17lb trilene xl for backing, then the 150 feet of 30lb flea flicker (rod to ball) and then back to 60 feet of trilene again for the portion going ball to lure/ spinney/fly combo or whatever. Because it is flat in conformity,The flea flicker "flicks" back and forth as it pulls through the water , and sheds them (FLEAS) off even if you don't use the whole 60 ft lead from the ball to lure that is the trilene, it still fliks them off from the twitching action. HOWEVER, do pay very very close attention to your knot integrity, the flat line is slippery to most knots and worse if you don't CAREFULLY tie your connections....Blood knots to splice 17lb trilene and 30 lb flea flicker are difficult and require several reties I have found in order to achieve a good knot that won't slip. Some other knots wil possibly work better but I haven't tries them as I haven't had trouble with this setup for two seasons.

As far as the performance of the line I havn't noticed any bad things about it...I have some reservations on whether it would work very well on slide divers..havn't tried it there yet but gotta guess the diver would not lock very good on it but if the diver was on the part that was trilene it might be OK.

[JBoock]

I used 20# FF last week on a couple of rods with limited success. (Who am I kidding the stuff was absolute junk!!!) We had fleas all over everything and it was like using 15# mono. For about the same price you can purchase Ande line. I used 30# Ande pink, it worked GREAT!!!! It is easier adding floro leaders then wasting the time removing all those fleas.

[Misty IV]

I have (2) reels spooled with 20# FF line. All my others are 30# pink Ande. When I was up over the 4th of July weekend, the fleas were HORRIBLE!! I put the FF lines in the water and didn't have a single problem with water fleas. The Ande was loading up with a few, though. I don't use the FF unless I have to. I agree it tends to curl up over time. I re-spool roughly every other year, simply because I don't use it a lot. I have noticed that when I am respooling, the coating on the line leaves residue which wipes off easily. Otherwise, I have no complaints about the FF line. I like it and it works when I need it to.