Cadillac Tackle | Sunline

A good fishing line is about more than just brute strength.  It’s the whole package… the texture, the visibility, the handling, the resilience, the roundness, the lifespan, etc…  If your line does not excel in these categories, it’s not a “Cadillac” product.

Sunline was the natural choice to highlight in this series because they are known for quality. I never realized how fanatical Sunline was about quality until I began talking to FLW pro Dave Wolak and veteran tackle rep Mike Valster.  Sunline is downright obsessed with perfection.

You gotta admit... that's one sick spool of line!

Here are some highlights from my conversation with Dave and Mike.

FS: Mike, can you tell us why Sunline is the “Cadillac” of fishing lines?

Mike: “Sunline puts a tremendous amount of effort into research and quality control. Their big thing is quality control. They go through massive lengths to get the highest quality raw materials.  They usually have to pay a higher price to get the best, but the people who use Sunline really appreciate these things.”

FS: I notice a huge difference between Sunline and other lines when it comes to the consistency of feel… the way it feels in your hand and between your finger tips.  The Sunline stuff feels so smooth.

Mike: “When you look at some lines with a micron microscope, they will vary in diameter and the crystals won’t look right.  This makes a big difference in performance. Sunline really prides themselves on consistency and quality control.”

Sunline meticulously tests their line for aspect of consistency and quality.

FS: Can you expand on “quality control”?  What do you mean by this?  Is this just one of those industry buzzwords or does it really mean something?

Mike: “Sunline has a complete R&D department.  You know… all the people in the white coats. They are pulling samples every single hour, every day, not just once a day or once a week. They constantly pull line to do all these different tests.  If for whatever reason something doesn’t pass the test, it’s scrapped.”

No, this isn't a NASA lab. This is an actual photo of a Sunline lab.

“They actually slice the line into the thinnest little strips — so thin you can’t see them with the naked eye.  Then they examine it under the microscope.  They do abrasion resistance tests.  They have a barometric chamber that can replicate natural elements all at once.”

The temperature and humidity chamber

FS: Is that like the thing Michael Jackson was said to sleep in?… Just kidding, go on.

“They put the line in a chamber to simulate different weather conditions — moisture, heat, humidity, dry air…”

“They’ve got people whose only job is testing abrasion resistance and measuring how many abrasions it takes to break the line. I’ve been in the business 16 years and have been to a number of factories and worked with many companies, but Sunline rivals anything in the world that I’ve seen.”

FS: Let’s bring Dave in on this… Dave, what makes Sunline different in your eyes?

Dave: “They have a tremendous sense of diligence in everything they do.  They want to have the absolute best products and surpass everything else by a landslide.  I feel that every time they come out with something it is top notch… all the way across the board.”

“There were days I worked at ICAST for them.  We would all meet after and discuss the product feedback we were getting.  They’re really interested in getting things right. They pride themselves on relationships and high quality products.  Of course, it’s a Japanese company, so that’s a customary way of how they do with things to begin, but it’s even higher than that.”

“A lot of people don’t realize, but bass fishing is actually sort of a luxury sport in Japan. So, you don’t get a lot of cutting corners.  People pay to have the best. They aren’t catering to the bargain hunters who will buy cheap quality.  Even Sunline’s lowest priced fluorocarbon is good.”

Just a few products from Sunline's lineup

FS: Which Sunline product do you use the most often?

Dave: “I probably use FC Sniper more than anything. It’s limp, yet extremely strong.  I can use it on spinning or casting.  But I use everything… from Machine Gun cast, to Shooter Defier, to the Shooter fluorocarbon, and the FX2 braid.”

FS: I notice two things about FX2. The first is how unbelievably round it is. The second thing is that it’s straight up raw braid.  Sunline didn’t slather it with coating.

Lots of attention to detail... right down to the way it's packaged. Buy a spool of this 8-strand braid and you'll see what I mean.

Dave: “The fact that it doesn’t have a coating makes it an extremely versatile braid. I think there’s a fine line, between having a little bit of texture and having no texture.  If you have that waxy, coated smoothness, and you cast through a baitcaster, it can shoot off too fast, over-spinning the spool, and you get backlashes.”

FS: Backlashes with braid are the worst!  That’s a big time waster.

Dave: “Yep.  You want just a little bit of friction.  You’d think a smoother braid would handle better. That may be the case with spinning, but it doesn’t work the same with baitcasters.”

FS: Any thoughts, Mike?

Mike: “Not having the coating means there is nothing to wear off.  Also, our color holds up about 30% better.”

FS: When I first spooled my reels with FX2, I was amazed at how little residue and color had rubbed off onto my thumb and finger.

Mike: “Another thing we found out is FX2 doesn’t pick up a lot of water.  That’s a big deal to guys fishing in really cold conditions and guys up North.”

FS: Here’s another thing I’ve got to say… FX2 actually looks beautiful spooled up on my reels.  I’ve never had a braid look so smooth on a spool.  I took a picture of it after fishing with it for a while and it still looks good!!

Mike: “Think of it like a pile of stacked firewood… when it’s uneven and different diameters, it doesn’t stack well. Sunline is really big on consistency of diameter. If your braid is not round, and is more oval, it won’t lay on the reel as well. It tends to want to dig in and bind up on itself.”

FS: That’s a huge inefficiency factor too.  People forget to quantify those kinds of interruptions.  I can’t tell you how many presentations I’ve blown because of braid cutting into itself and interrupting the line’s flow off the spool.  Say goodbye to those bites.

Dave: “Just to add to Mike’s point about consistency, I’ve gotta say… Out of all the hundreds of spools I’ve used, I’ve never seen an imperfection in Sunline.  Their quality control really is unbelievable.”

Sunline's UV radiation chamber

FS: Dave, do you think the price is worth it?   Let’s take fluorocarbon line for example… You can buy a spool of Stren fluorocarbon for like $9.  I mean, times are tight.

Dave: “Let me put it this way… I have a rod that I use right now that I’ve been catching 6-7lb fish on.  It has the same line I used from last year when I won at Champlain. Personally, I’m the type who would rather pay a little more and get a better product and know that it’s also going to last a lot longer too.”

Rememer these fish from last year? At the time of publishing, Dave is still using the SAME spool of line!

“When you buy Sunline, it’s going to hold up a lot longer.  It’s more UV resistant.  If you have a slugfest tournament, you sometimes don’t re-tie as much, but I feel confident that where my line should have normally broke, Sunline won’t.”

“There are times I land a fish, and I don’t even realize that I had nicks in my line until after.  I’ll check it and I can’t believe I was still able to land that fish.  Somehow the line still has enough integrity to not break.”

FS: Reaction FC is awesome. I like it for jerkbaits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, finesse swim jigs.

Mike: “Reaction FC is a 100% fluorocarbon, but it has a little more built in stretch… about 10% more stretch than our FC Sniper.  They [Sunline] were looking to make something a little more technique specific.  You get all the benefits of fluorocarbon, low visibility, maximum diving depth, sensitivity… but it comes with a little stretch.  This is really good for deflection too, because that stretch can load up a little bit before the lure pulls off.  It gives it better action than a really stiff line.”

“Let’s say you catch that fish and it makes a surge, you’ve got that little bit of give.  We also wanted a fluorocarbon that has superior casting performance. It’s not stiff at all.”

FS: No, this stuff is more limp than most monofilaments.  Very soft and supple.

That’s all we have time for.  Thanks for the info guys.  We appreciate your time.

————

Author’s Conclusion:

After using Sunline exclusively over the last couple months, most other fishing lines remind me of that stuff they use to hang price tags on new clothes.

Fishing line is not just something to connect your lure.  It’s so much more than that and Sunline really seems to understand this.

Fish Strong!

You may also like: