End of the Line
Posted by Pete Robbins on Dec 2nd 2019
I may be the last holdout amongst the world's self-styled "serious" bass anglers, but I still don't rely exclusively on braid and fluorocarbon for my fishing. For certain techniques — like many topwaters and spinnerbaits — and especially when it's cold, I still use a lot of old school copolymer.
Over the years I’ve gone through miles of Excalibur Super Silver Thread Copolymer. A friend introduced me to it in the late 90s, and despite occasionally straying (“we were on a break”) I always went back for certain techniques and purposes. My understanding is that it was originally brought over from Japan by Jim Bagley and sold under the Bagley’s label before being transferred to PRADCO somewhere down the line.
I guess it wasn’t particularly popular, because I rarely saw it in a tackle shop, and comparatively few online retailers carried it. To get the 3,000 yard bulk spools I favored I usually had to go directly to the source.
Unfortunately, that source dried up since my last order because when I went to the website I was greeted with the following message: “Thanks for visiting, but Silver Thread is no longer available.” I guess that’s my sign from the fish gods that it’s time to enter the 21st century.
I have enough seemingly fresh Silver Thread in certain sizes to hold out for a while, but in other strengths I’m going to need to make a switch. Sure, I could probably find some on ebay or by placing a message on social media, but at this point the best tact is probably to go cold turkey. That may be straight fluoro for all but a scant few casts per year, or it might be another copolymer, but as of now my longtime steady has dumped me and I can’t look back.
