What, interestingly, did our distant and not so distant ancestors catch fish until a kapron thread was invented? The letters, drawings and annals indicate that in different ways. Of course, the first thing used was improvised material: animal veins, plant fibers. Caught on a fishing line twisted from horsehair (as evidenced by records of the XVII century). For quite some time out of competition there were threads made of linen and silk. First synthesized in 1930, nylon overshadowed everyone, but not for long. Already in the late 50s, Kapron forever overthrew him from a fishing pedestal.
Kapron thread is made of polymer granules, which are melted in a special furnace to a viscous mass. The latter is forced through dimensional filters and drawn into a thread, while cooling. Then the product is wound on industrial bobbins that can accommodate many kilometers of kapron thread. The composition of the granules and various additives in the alloy is the main secret of the manufacturer. Precise calibration of the diameter of the thread during manufacture is provided by computers.
But the kapron fishing thread is not as easy to manufacture as it seems, because its characteristics cannot be universal for various types of fishing. If in the manufacture of fishing line to focus on its strength, it is the best suited for a
fly fishing rod and leashes. But its rigidity and “memory” (strong residual deformation) make a strong fishing line unsuitable for spinning. It will be bad to get off the coil and constantly curl up into a spiral. In addition, its strength at the nodes is significantly reduced, which leads to rupture.
If the fishing line is too soft, any leash made of it will turn into a nightmare for the angler: he will confuse everything that is possible. And with a catch after a long cast of a problem. But with ice fishing, if the bottom is not deep, it’s better not to find fishing line.
Having lost hope that kapron thread will become universal, manufacturers have focused on specialization.
Fishing lines for winter fishing have good longitudinal stretching and are not afraid of low temperatures. But for the float or
bottom fishing rods , calculated on long casts, they are made "sinking". We also got out of the situation in the case of spinning rods: a perfectly smooth and hard surface helps the fishing line to glide well along the rings.
Alas, the kapron thread for fishing is made of polymer, which, like many chemical products, is not eternal. Polymer fishing line is painfully sensitive to ultraviolet rays (and generally to the sun), high temperatures and water. Although it slowly, it absorbs the latter, it cannot but affect its properties. If the kapron line is not protected, it dries up, crackes and finally breaks with the ease of a rotten thread. Since the kapron thread is wound on a spool, then, drying out, it overloads the lower turns with the upper ones, destroying them together with the reel or drum. All attempts by manufacturers to get rid of these shortcomings of the polymer thread have not yet been successful.
In order to store kapron fishing line for a long time, it is better to rewind it on a separate reel, but wipe it with glycerin first, wrap it in polyethylene or greasy paper and store it in a moist, cool and dark place.