I was looking for some mono for one of my reels in cabelas. I came across Triple Fish Silicon line. I was wondering if anyone had heard of or had any opinions on this line. It says it has a silicon coating that would provide further casting distance because of less friction. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, derek

If this stuff costs about the same as regular mono, I might give it a shot but I wouldn't expect any great results. If they want more money for it, I'd save my money and stick to my regular line. Any "coating" on mono is going to wear off in short order. You won't even notice any added distance this coating gives you, I'll bet. In theory, guide friction cuts down distance--in practice, what's on the end of the line and air resistance are the single biggest factors affecting casting distance. Guide friction causes minimal, if any, distance loss. In the old days, guys fished with 9' rods that had 3 or at most, 4 guides plus a tip because they thought that guide friction was costing them distance. What they didn't realize was that more and better spaced guides help rather than hurt distance, because the line pulls straighter thru the guides when they cast. You don't get a belly in the line between the guides. You'd probably need some very sensitive scientific instument to actually measure the slight increase in friction 7 guides cause as opposed to 4.

I've used braided lines that are coated with Teflon (Cortland Micron) and silicon (Ripcord Si). They cast about the same distance as uncoated lines of the same diameter, like Gudebrod dacron vs Micron and Power Pro vs Ripcord Si. The only thing the coating is good for is not grooving your thumb as easily as uncoated line, if you use a reel without a level-wind. And that benefit only lasts until the coating wears off, which is about 3 hours of steady casting.

IMO, spend your money on a good, strong line like Ande or Big Game, they give you the best bang for the buck. If you need some extra distance and want to spend a little more in getting it, take a look at the Tectan line in the same Cabelas catalog. A thinner line, such as Tectan, will get you more distance, mainly due to the fact that it will cut thru the air better when you cast and generate less air friction.