Is there a fishing line that degrades faster then others? I'm thinking about all the line left behind from snags and tangles. I know it sounds stupid and I don't want my line to rot off the reel but it would be nice if discarded line would somehow just go away.
I change my line every season (just did it) and a few hundred yards of old mono in the waste basket made me think about all the fishing line that doesn't get thrown out.

Not a lot of option but one that is worth looking into is Ankor Bioplastics - Biodegradable Monofilament Fishing Line. I've never used it so I can't speak to how effect it is.

I don't have any good answers for you, but I just wanted to say that it's not s stupid question at all. Wish more people thought of things like that to keep our environment as clean as possible.

I probably change my line every 5 to 20 years-whether it needs it or not.

Most materials that fishing line can be made of degrade with UV exposure so anything above the surface will degrade. Underwater? Not much UV there.

good question-been into so many remote lakes in Quetico and still snag many yards of mono line in these pristine lakes. So sad.

RMinMN: "Most materials that fishing line can be made of degrade with UV exposure so anything above the surface will degrade. Underwater? Not much UV there."

I'm not sure about that. I have a wind chime that is using fishing line to hold the metal tubes that clang against a wood ball.

This wind chime is on the sunny side of my house and those metal tubes are still hanging for five years now. I think fishing line lasts forever unfortunately.
Tom

I've heard that fluorocarbon degrades faster with UV exposure, though I've also heard that about nylon monofilament. Fluorocarbon can weaken due to its crystalline structure as well, so it's not just UV exposure, but potential pressure on the line or kinks/bends as well, that can lead to premature failure.

Personally I replace my spool line and leader line every 2 years. If I had to do it on 20 reels, I'd probably pick and choose which reels get re-spooled, but I only use fluoro/mono on a couple, and braid on the rest, which will last much longer as long as it's not frayed. I really like Trilene Sensation as a somewhat stretchy, somewhat sensitive monofilament, and it's "dirt cheap" compared to even middle of the road fluoro. I buy a new spool of 12lb Sensation every season without even thinking about it.

---Also, I just re-read the OP and realized you were talking about which line biodegrades faster, not which line weakens faster. Sorry. I'll still leave my commentary here in case it's useful to someone, but I have (unfortunately) no knowledge on the rate at which nylon or fluorocarbon biodegrades. My guess is, based on its composition, fairly slowly... but I know that fishing manufacturers are aware of the effect on the environment, so they design hooks to rust and disintegrate (in water, or a fish's belly) pretty quickly. Perhaps some fishing line has been designed with this intention in mind as well, but I can't say that I've seen any bundle of fishing line that looked like it was disintegrating.

600 years.

NEIowapaddler: "I don't have any good answers for you, but I just wanted to say that it's not s stupid question at all. Wish more people thought of things like that to keep our environment as clean as possible. "

+1

I know this doesn't help regarding snags, tangles, line left in the water/wilderness, but when I remove old line from my reels I save it because one of my local bait and tackle places has a box where you can place your old line. My assumption is that it gets recycled, or at least properly disposed of. I mean, "eventually" I'll get back to the bait shop and can drop it off.

Pinetree: " 600 years. "

Here's what caught my eye in the link.

--It is estimated that monofilament line takes 600 years to break down once discarded! This means that monofilament line can cause problems throughout the environment when it is lost during fishing or improperly discarded overboard.--