Sanyo Valcan Lo-Vis Fluorocarbon Level Line Thoughts

by Karl Klavon
(Fresno, California)

For Tenkara lake fly fishing, I mostly use a floating T-line, which works a lot better when used with a tapered leader to distance the fly from such a highly visible fly line lying on the water. In the past I used green Amnesia and Stren Original Gold nylon mono for the butt section because of the lack of line memory, which were both bright chartreuse under a Black Light and also highly visible in daylight. So, when I saw that Valcan had marketed a Lo-Vis, Fluorocarbon level tenkara line I got quite enthused

I had tried FC lines before but in these large diameters line memory was too big a problem. Nylon did much better.I found that #s 4.5, 3.5 and 2.5 T-FC would provide the right step-down diameters and pound test progressions. I bought the Valcan Sanyo line spools in the a fore mentioned sizes and constructed 7.5 foot tapered leaders less tippet. The leaders cast wonderfully, and with the memory-free butt sections made out of FC, casting into the wind will be better than it was before with nylon butt sections. And the added stealth of the Sanyo lines was all to the well and good.

As an after thought, I took a look at the line under a Black Light, low-and-behold the lines lit-up like a lantern, the light olive green line transforming into bright sky blue glowing beacons. Showing that what we see is not always what we get when it comes to visibility.

Did I waste My money on undelivered line stealth? Not necessarily. Only time and fishing will tell. But the leaders I have used in the past were constructed with at least 60% of the leader being FL-green and yellow Nylon, and only the transition and tippet sections made up of No-Vis and FC tippet composed of the least visible line available. And I have caught thousands of fish on those highly visible leader constructions. Next season, we will see.

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