Re: Berkley Fireline?
I think Fireline casts more like mono than other "superlines" since it has a coating. It casts further than mono, for the same given line strength, and has better sensitivity, lure feel and detecting a bite. As it gets older the coating will begin to wear off a bit and I've used it without breaking when you could clearly see the fibers, at that point I reversed the line and buried the old part of the line at the bottom of the spool, with the virgin line on top of the spool. I like it, but don't use it much anymore, even have a few spools of it sitting on my line shelf still.
I like casting mono better than superlines because I can change out the mono frequently (cheap) and mono gets fewer backlashes than braid. If you are casting a heavy lure, try to launch it to the next zipcode and then get a backlash, the super line has almost 0 stretch and will snap the lure off. I used to have spectra on a lot of reels, but not anymore. All of my trolling reels have spectra on them, with a mono topshot.
I don't use fluorocarbon unless I know it's going to make a difference, fishing a party boat with 20-30 other guys. With all of the fish I've caught not using fluoro, and then trying fluoro and not seeing a better catch rate, I'm not sold on it for all around general use. While using it, I would do as dingbat mentioned, a short 3' leader.
