I have a friend who swears in using only 4 pound test line thru the ice for panfish. I went as low as 6 pounds,but to be honest I use anywhere between 8-10 pounds quite often.I know i should downsize.
Any experimenters out there compare various pound test to see if catch rate varies much?

Last few years I've been using 3lb. Before that I used 4 lbs. Can't say ive noticed any difference in catch rate. Fishing mainly small lakes and ponds. Need my reading glasses to tie knots now a days.

quote yogi59weedr: "Last few years I've been using 3lb. Before that I used 4 lbs. Can't say ive noticed any difference in catch rate. Fishing mainly small lakes and ponds. Need my reading glasses to tie knots now a days."

As you get older those small diameter lines get tough to thread or even see when laying on the ice.

For panfish, I use 3lb test, almost eclusively.... 2lb when the bite is off. The main thing is keeping the line tight. Any slack in your line and you loose conrtol of your presentation and miss a lot of bites. Unless you are fishing for 2 lb Crappies with heavy spoons, you should not have any problems landing fish.

quote Pinetree: "I have a friend who swears in using only 4 pound test line thru the ice for panfish. I went as low as 6 pounds,but to be honest I use anywhere between 8-10 pounds quite often.I know i should downsize.
Any experimenters out there compare various pound test to see if catch rate varies much?"

4 pound line is the absolute heaviest I use, with my shy bite rods I use 2 and sometimes 1 pound test and when its a light bite it absolutely is the difference between fish and getting skunked.

quote yogi59weedr. Need my reading glasses to tie knots now a days."

+1

quote Basspro69: "

quote Pinetree: "I have a friend who swears in using only 4 pound test line thru the ice for panfish. I went as low as 6 pounds,but to be honest I use anywhere between 8-10 pounds quite often.I know i should downsize.
Any experimenters out there compare various pound test to see if catch rate varies much?"

4 pound line is the absolute heaviest I use, with my shy bite rods I use 2 and sometimes 1 pound test and when its a light bite it absolutely is the difference between fish and getting skunked."

You must have good eyes to thread the one pound line on the hook.

I wonder if the fish shy away close to the hook or at a distance even. Just thinking like you pick the fish up on your vexilar I wonder when the thin line starts to play in and they won't shy away?

I know last year in a super clear lake I tried catching sunfish with gulp on a very tiny jighead and sunfish would not bite or just barely touch it. Went to a real small bare red hook and gulp and they inhaled it. I could watch their habits in clear water-very interesting.

Well down to Fleet and getting some 2-4 pound test. That will be so thin I probably will get all tangled up in it.

One time on Mille lacs, perch fishing, 4# flouro out fished 6#mono 19 to ZERO. Identical setups 4feet apart.
For gills and crappies I use 2 # and a ultra ultra light rod or a spring bobber. Those tiny jigs will keep the line tight and alert you to many more bites than you would know about with heavier. I am absolutely convinced lighter line catches many many more fish.
Totally need to bring 3.5 power readers :)

4 pound clear for me with panfish, and sometimes I have see it make a difference with finicky Walleye. Many times I have seen where the difference in number of strikes increased dramitacly when switching from 6 to 4 pound test.

I don't get much hard water fishing here in central In. When I do I use 2lb. mono, 4 at the heaviest.

I use 4 lb. most the time and 8 lb. when using a minnow as I'm trying for walleyes. I find that with small baits lighter line straightens out better, which means less line twist. I also write on each rod what lb. test I have on it.Next tiem On the next reel I replace line I will use 2 lb. test.

I use 2# I am not sure if it works better due to less visible or you can get better action on lighter line.

T

yup we pretty much stuck with 4lb unless you were in a shanty. Reason being was that at least 4lb had a little strength to it if the wind was blowing and it was cold. 2lb always seemed to blow all over the place and was hard to not damage.

I can't imagine catching them on 6 with regularity.

I bet the tie fast tool would handle light mono and Floro with the gryp knot better than most other knots. It excels in tying smaller diameter lines to thicker diameters such as a hook eye........you probably would want 5 or 6 wraps........give it a little snap to get it off the tip of the tool and pull slowly to tighten. Definitely the cats meow for certain situations and used quite heavily by the trout fishing crowd and for good reason. The loops are around the main running line and pressure just causes the loops to grab tighter, thus the name > Gryp knot.

Well I bought some two pound test line. I will let you know how it works out?