Sunday, November 05, 2006

Playing by the rules


If you are thinking about going for an IFGA record fish you might want to bone up on the rules. They can be a bit complicated. This article from Jacksonville.com describes some of the many pitfalls that can cause a potential record to be tossed. For example 20 pound test line probably isn't.

The most common disqualification for a world record is line strength. The IGFA recognizes records in 11 line classes from two pound to 130 pound test. Monofilament line that's rated at 20 pounds rarely breaks at 20 pounds. Literally dozens of different brands break at different weights. This problem has been grossly compounded with the advent and current popularity of all the new superbraid lines. These tend to have actual breaking strengths far in excess of their rated class.

*** Update*****

Bish from Bish on Fish made a great point in the comments:

G'day Murdock,

The article on the IGFA rules is a good one, but misses one very important piont; line breaking strains are rated in kilos, not pounds. So, for instance, US line rated at 20lbs, can test out to 22.2 pounds and still be eligible for a record.

Thanks for the insight Tony!

2 comments:

Bishfish said...

G'day Murdock,

The article on the IGFA rules is a good one, but misses one very important piont; line breaking strains are rated in kilos, not pounds. So, for instance, US line rated at 20lbs, can test out to 22.2 kilos and still be eligible for a record.

Bishfish said...

Ouch! Correcting the corection - I knew I had 1 or 5 to many wines last night.

The line class for 20lb line is the 10 kilo class, so 20lb line can test up to 22.2LBS!

This differnece becomes even greater as you go up the line classes.

Sorry about the slip of my typing.