Spiderwire was one of the first of the next-gen superbraid gel-spun lines to cause a total paradigm shift in the way that anglers approach their sport. But they have not rested on their past laurels and have continuously upgraded their product line over the past two decades, making it thinner, stronger, smoother, slicker, rounder, etc. Now the Spiderwire engineers have made their proven Dyneema-based superbraid less visible in the water with a blue camo coloration.
According to the Spiderwire techs, their new Stealth Blue Camo Braid blends into blue-water surroundings to give saltwater anglers an added advantage. An addition to Spiderwire’s Stealth lineup, Stealth Blue Camo is a tough, sensitive line designed with saltwater anglers in mind. A camo pattern alternates between deep blue, turquoise, midnight blue and white line segments that blend into the fish’s environment. Above water, the white segments of the line make it visible to the angler for added support in detecting the tug of line-shy fish.
But that’s not all. Blue Camo braid also improves overall castability when loading it on your favorite baitcaster, spinning reel or conventional jigging outfit. The braid is treated with a fluoropolymer coating that enhances its smoothness and slickness, allowing it to glide through your rod’s guides when launching a bait or lure beyond the surf line or making a precision cast to a school of fish crashing a pod of bait on the surface. The fluoro coating also helps lock in the four colors in the braid, which Spiderwire calls its “color lock technology.”
I tested a 200-yard spool of the new Spiderwire Blue Camo braid for this product review and loaded it up on a Penn 955 International baitcaster outfit. With the profile of 12-pound mono, I was able to get all 200 yards of the Spiderwire Blue Camo braid on my 955, connected underneath to 75 yards of 20-pound mono backing tied together via a Yucatan/Bristol knot, with a 7-foot topshot of 30-pound fluorocarbon leader on the business end connected via the same excellent low-profile knot.
Heading up to a local harbor, I had a blast casting poppers to cocktail blues and small bass that hit the top water plugs with a vengeance. I found the new Spiderwire Blue Camo line to be everything as advertised. It certainly blended in nicely with the surroundings; I could still see it topside; it held knot strength with no hiccups; and it cast with minimal resistance as the line slipped smoothly through my rod’s guides.
I tried some of the other typical braid line knots like the Uni, double Improved Clinch, Triple Surgeon’s, etc. and this braid was totally good to go. It cinched up nicely, didn’t bunch up in a ball and felt like it would be durable for prolonged use. I plan on using this outfit again in the near future on my dorado charters, and we’ll see how it performs during a mahi madness feeding frenzy.
Spiderwire’s Blue Camo braid is offered in nine breaking strengths and with five spool sizes. Spiderwire uses Dyneema, the world’s strongest fiber, to construct the line. It is available in pound tests of 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 65, 80 and 100 and is offered in spools of 125, 200, 300, 1500 and 3,000 yards. The 10-, 15- and 20-pound Spiderwire products employ a four-carrier weave to construct the line, while the 30- through 100-pound Blue Camo braid is manufactured using an eight-carrier setup. Prices start at $14.99. Looking at line test versus breaking strength, the Spiderwire test lab reported that their 10-pound braid has a straight pull breaking strength at 24 pounds; the 15 breaks at 30 pounds; the 20 breaks at 38.8 pounds; the 30 breaks at 45.3 pounds; the 50 breaks at 65 pounds; the 65 breaks at 81 pounds; the 80 breaks at 103 pounds and the 100 fails at 140 pounds. There was no info on the 40-pound line that I tested, but it’s safe to say that it breaks somewhere north of 50 pounds of straight pull. The Spiderwire test lab also mentioned that the projected knot test is approximately 40 percent less than the straight test with their braids. Translated, if you tied a perfect knot with their 30-pound Blue Camo braid, subtracting 40 percent from the 45.3-pound straight breaking strength of the line equates to roughly 27 pounds of pull before the knot fails. It’s something to think about.
Spiderwire is part of the Pure Fishing Inc. group of companies. For more information on their new Blue Camo superbraid line or any of their other products, visit the website.
