Not much published.....
My main source of data is the "Fly Fish America Gear Guide", both the 2002 and 2003 "Annual Gear Guide"s had extensive articles on Fluorocarbon (among other subjects), and I always save these for future reference. As part of the comparisons, I will compare Gen.1 and Gen. 2 at the bottom.
Let's recap -
The advantages of fluorocarbon over nylon follow:
1. Refractive index - water = 1.33
- Nylon = 1.62
- Fluoro = 1.42
Therefore, fluoro is less visible to fish.
2. Fluorocarbon is substantially more abrasion resistant than nylon. (no numbers to quantify it, however.)
3. UV resistance - Nylon weakens with prolonged exposure to UV (e.g. sunlight). However, Fluoro is unaffected. In fact, this is a problem - always dispose of both materials in the proper manner, but fluoro is very persistent, and will virtually never decompose naturally!
4. In both dry and wet knot strength, fluorocarbon has highest knot strength of any leader material. However, care in tying knots is very important, as fluorocarbon is very susceptible to frictional damage when tying knots.
5. While monofilament nylon does absorb water and deteriorates in strength when in use, fluorocarbon has extremely low water absorption, and subsequently is virtually unaffected. x
6. Strength - Generation 1 had less breaking strength (pound test) for the same diameter than nylon. Gen. 2 numbers will be shown for comparison to your favorite line.
Cost - Compared to nylon, Gen. 1 is much more expensive, and Gen. 2 is even more expensive.
All I could find for Gen. 2 is that it is stronger (lb. test) than Gen. 1 for a given line diameter. It is also more expensive.
Here is the comparison of Gen. 1 and 2 for strength per diameter. This example uses Rio Fluoroflex (which is a Gen. 1 Fluoro) to Rio Fluoroflex Plus (which is Gen. 2)
X No. Actual Diam. Gen. 1 Gen. 2
7X .004" 2 lbs. 2.7 lbs.
5X .006 4 lbs. 5 lbs.
3X .008" 6 lbs. 9.4 lbs.
1X .010 10 lbs. 14 lbs.
Cost comparison for these brands, MSRP:
Gen. 1 = $ 9.95 per 25 yard spool ($0.398 per yard)
Gen. 2 = $12.95 per 30 yard spool ($0.432 per yard)
Sorry, Juro - that's all the info I have. Wish I had more.
BobK
