Crazy tough. Virtually invisible. Easy to cast. Seaguar’s AbrazX proves that next-generation fluorocarbon lines belong in every smart angler’s arsenal.
It was legendary college basketball coach John Wooden who said, “Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.” Apparently fishing-line specialist Seaguar has a whole lot of character, because this innovator continues to turn out winning fishing lines that not only break ground, but solve some very long-standing angling puzzles.
Case in point is Seaguar’s impressive AbrazX fluorocarbon, a line I now consider unequaled if your goal is an invisible line that excels when fishing heavy cover. If you’ve been under a rock somewhere fluorocarbon lines have been revolutionizing angling for bass, walleye, trout and most other species for several years now, but Seaguar has been the unquestionable fluoro line leader. Seaguar’s high-end Tatsu fluoro is a personal favorite, and the company’s InvizX fluorocarbon is another proven winner, and so the company’s AbrazX fluoro can sometimes get overlooked by anglers. But let me tell you they are missing out.
Of course, before any day on the water I will take a peek at my ScoutLook Fishing app to see what the wind and weather will be doing that day, as a strong wind will not only help me tweak my fishing locations, it will also force me to increase my jighead or Carolina-rig weight. It is an absolute must to keep bottom contact with either of these effective presentations. Bass holding on offshore structures are bottom-oriented, so keeping your bait in the strike zone is crucial for success.
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When you are fishing any type of hard cover, such as rocks, docks or stumps, you need a line that is ultra-abrasion-resistant, and I’ve seen nothing that compares to AbrazX. All of Seaguar’s fluoro lines resist abrasion to some extent, but AbrazX was developed to be two times more abrasion resistant than any other fluorocarbon lines on the market, and if you use it extensively as I have, you’ll find that statement is more than mere lip service.
For those anglers imagining a line built like a rope—or something extremely difficult to cast, take heart. These are concerns that Seaguar took into account when developing AbrazX and they took care of them—bigtime. Since AbrazX doesn’t absorb water like monofilament line, this unique line maintains top-end knot and tensile strength. And as you know, when you are fishing those nasty varieties of hard structure where big bass lurk, you don’t need to be worrying about your knot breaking or your line becoming frayed and snapping on your next six-pounder.
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My favorite times to reach for casting reels spooled with AbrazX are when I’m dragging baits over offshore structure. My boat will likely be positioned away from the cover, so I’ll need to make long casts to enable my lure of choice to stay in the strike zone for the maximum amount of time.
Thankfully, Seaguar’s AbrazX makes use of an extremely soft, supple formula that allows for long casts with relative ease, allowing me to bomb-out a Carolina-Rig, football-head jig, or big shakey head a very long way out there, and then keep it crawling along the lake or river bottom structure where most of my target fish will be holding.
This exact presentation came into play last summer when I was filming on location with Team ScoutLook, and the local bass were holding tight to offshore rock-to-weed transitions. One of the only ways these fish would eat was when a Carolina-Rigged soft plastic came crawling slowly in front of their face. It was a memorable day, made possible with help from AbrazX.
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During the summer months, especially, bass like to position themselves around hard underwater structure like this, where they congregate to feed on crawfish, or maybe the sunfish and bluegills that are there eating the small insects and plankton growing on the rocks. Fishing these offshore areas during the summer months is ideal, because during this stretch bass also are drawn to the deeper, cooler water.
My Carolina Rig on that fateful day consisted of 17-pound-test AbrazX main line, with a 12-pound-test AbrazX leader that was 24 inches long. The reason for the lighter leader was to allow for quick and efficient break-offs if snagged, preventing loss of my expensive tungsten weight attached to the main line. The rig worked beautifully.
Use of an extra-wide-gap hook is important since you are making long casts, and you need that wide hook gap so your plastic bait can slide out of the way when setting the hook. My favorite is a Lazer TroKar TK120 Magworm hook matched to the plastic bait I’m using at the time, but 3/0 to 5/0 are my go-to hook sizes.
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There are countless plastic bait options for the Carolina rig; I’ll typically experiment to find the hot pattern, but my usual starting baits (see image above) are a Zoom Super Speed Craw, Baby Brush Hog and a Zoom Lizard. If I’m throwing a Carolina rig to an inactive school of bass feeding on baitfish, I’ll start by rigging up a Super Fluke.
Now if the bass are extremely tight to the bottom, or the bottom is VERY rocky causing a Carolina rig weight to continually get hung up, I’ll switch to a football-head jig. This rig is extremely common on smallmouth fisheries such as Minnesota’s famed Mille Lacs. The key to fishing a football-head jig is to keep it in contact with the bottom at all times, and crawl it slowly over rocks, gravel or sand.
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By relying on AbrazX I know that I can keep my football-head jig down close to the bottom where the smallmouth are feeding on crawfish, yet because of the lake’s clear water, I don’t have to worry about spooking bass. And like all of Seaguar’s premium fluorocarbon lines AbrazX is nearly invisible under water, which is a huge advantage.
Are you committed to hauling more big bass out of hard structure in 2018? If so, my recommendation would be to spool a few reels with Seaguar’s AbrazX, and get ready to experience more strikes and hookups, and more-consistent angling success.
