With
spring here you’re probably doing some of the same things that we are in terms of making an inventory for tasks that need to get done before the fishing season gets into high gear.
One of those tasks for us is always inspecting line and replacing any that has seen a lot of duty.
Of course this inevitably leads to the question of what to replace it, do we enough on hand as well as is it time to try something new?
We’ve been fishing the HI-SEAS Grand Slam Fluorocarbon Coated Line for almost a year now. This line is billed as a fluorocarbon coated 100% copolymer. That’s a mouthful of buzz words that hold the potential to be an awesome tool or a complete flop.
For our way of thinking, the only way to know for sure is to spool up a couple of reels, tie a lure on, let fly and see what happens.
The Basics
The HI-SEAS Grand Slam is a value priced line that retails for about $7 for a 300 yard spool. Not bad at all by today’s standards.
The packaging is simple, straight forward and the plastic spool doesn’t have those annoying little indentations that make re-spooling tedious. Another plus in our book.
The fluorocarbon coating is another plus in that it should make this line less visible than a standard mono in the same pound test. Other advertised features of the line are high knot strength and abrasion resistance.
If you’ve done some research, you’ll be familiar with the way line diameter is measured which is typically in fractions of an inch and or millimeters. The Grand Slam tends to be above average on this scale.
This isn’t a negative; the majority of lines on the market that are known for their relative strength are usually comparable to the spec’s that are quoted for the HI-SEAS.
When you begin spooling your reel, you may be surprised at how slick this line is. Not only does it feel very smooth, it also feels very consistent as it runs through your fingers. This may not seem like a noteworthy feature, but there are quite a few value priced lines out there with an easy to feel inconsistency of diameter.
The Grand Slam spools nicely on casting gear. It doesn’t dig into itself or exhibit anything that would cause you to doubt it prior to using it. So now we’re to the point of tying that first knot.
Generally speaking, we use either a palomar, a double palomar or a modified Trilene knot with mono or co-polymer lines. The Grand Slam ties easily, cinches down tight without a hitch and doesn’t exhibit any slippage after it’s been cinched down.
Most lines feel great when they are first spooled on your reel, but that doesn’t tell you all that much. It takes time for most lines to begin to reveal their strengths and weaknesses. Some lines much less than others.
Let the abuse begin
With the HI-SEAS, we kept waiting for that inevitable chink in the armor to show. We tied on cranks, finesse jigs, soft plastics, weighted plastics, jerkbaits, and a host of other baits.
We’ve gone so far as to leave this line on a couple of rigs since we got it about nine months ago again, just to see how much punishment it can take.
So now the results are in.
To begin with the HI-SEAS Grand Slam Fluorocarbon Coated line has proven its strength beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The 10# has withstood strain that we put on it that would have easily snapped ordinary 12#.
It has also shown itself to be well above average in terms of being abrasion resistant. We’ve run this through some pretty nasty stuff side by side with some of its competitors and it has consistently taken more than its share of abuse.
Whether or not its nearly invisible underwater is something that is difficult at best to test. But in tank tests, as well as the number of fish we’ve pulled using this line, this claim isn’t one that we’re ready to dispute.
We haven’t had knot failures with this line nor has it shown signs of breaking down even after leaving it on our reels for this entire time. We’re actually going to continue to use it without re-spooling those combo’s.
Only now is it beginning to exhibit signs of developing some memory but a little bit of line conditioner has all but eliminated that.
In the final analysis, the HI-SEAS Grand Slam Fluorocarbon Coated line has proven to be an excellent value priced line that we wouldn’t hesitate to use in the vast majority of situations in which there is the right #test available. Which translated means from 6# to 20#.
So is it a home run or a bunt single? At the very least, it’s a stand up triple.
| HI-SEAS Grand Slam Fluorocarbon Coated Line | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| A very robust value priced line | |
See ya’ on the water …
