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Stepping up of Diameter
This practice is a little more subtle but is equally misleading with possibly more detrimental consequences for the consumer. It has also been practiced for many years and has become accepted practice for certain brands. The most notable brand has been doing it for 35 years. This involves supplying a higher diameter than that stated on the label to make the line stronger than it would normally be for the stated diameter and appear to be stronger for its diameter than it actually is. There is normally a range of diameters and the one above will be actually put on the spool of the one below.
Brand 1
Stated
Ømm | Actual
Ømm | Diameter %
Variance +/- | Stated
B/S kgs | Actual
B/S kgs | B/Strain %
Variance +/- |
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| 0.08 | 0.112 | + 40% | 0.5 | 0.73 | + 46% |
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| 0.12 | 0.150 | + 25% | 1.0 | 0.90 | - 10% |
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| 0.14 | 0.175 | + 25% | 1.2 | 0.98 | - 18.3% |
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| 0.15 | 0.192 | + 28% | 1.4 | 1.61 | + 15% |
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| 0.17 | 0.208 | + 22.4% | 2.0 | 1.80 | - 10% |
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| 0.20 | 0.233 | + 16.5% | 2.4 | 2.37 | - 1.2% |
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| 0.22 | 0.261 | + 18.6% | 2.7 | 3.47 | + 28.5% |
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| 0.25 | 0.282 | + 12% | 3.5 | 3.89 | + 11.1% |
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There can be no defense that it is within a notional level of tolerance as the diameter actually used is higher than the stated diameter of the next item up in the range.
Brand 2
Stated
Ømm | Actual
Ømm | Diameter %
Variance +/- | Stated
B/S kgs | Actual
B/S kgs | B/Strain %
Variance +/- |
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| 0.08 | 0.094 | + 17.5% | 0.81 | 0.65 | - 19.8% |
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| 0.09 | 0.113 | + 25.6% | 0.97 | 0.63 | - 35.1% |
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| 0.10 | 0.134 | + 34% | 1.21 | 1.24 | + 2.5% |
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| 0.11 | 0.140 | + 27.3% | 1.52 | 0.97 | - 36.2% |
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| 0.13 | 0.159 | + 22.3% | 2.14 | 1.77 | - 17.3% |
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| 0.15 | 0.181 | + 20.7% | 2.68 | 2.50 | - 6.7% |
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| 0.17 | 0.200 | + 17.6% | 3.09 | 2.44 | - 21% |
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| 0.19 | 0.217 | + 14.2% | 3.36 | 3.26 | - 3% |
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| 0.21 | 0.250 | + 19% | 4.06 | 4.22 | - 13.9% |
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In most cases the breaking strains don’t match up to the claimed breaking strains either but not in such an extreme way as the Italians.
These products are aimed at competition anglers who are fishing matches for both prestige and prize money
Using the thinnest diameter possible improves bait presentation and therefore bites and catch rates so a lot is at stake based on using the thinnest strongest line. The figures shown above for the percentage increase shown is of course only part of the story as this is for the diameter. The actual cross section area increases much more and significant. I give you the examples below.
As an example we take one of the lines above and show how much thicker the line actually is than it claims both in diameter and in cross section.
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