Fishing Line Selector

• Line type comes firstThe technique's usual line sets it, unless the bait or a written rule says otherwise. Where no written rule sets the line, beginners are steered from fluorocarbon to monofilament, which is cheaper and easier to tie. If you pick a line yourself, the strength is worked out for that line.
• Strength starts from the speciesEach species has a working range in monofilament terms, which technique, water and experience adjust. Braid is listed at about one and a half times that number, because it is usually spooled heavier than mono for the same fish; the result says which mono it is about as thick as.
• The leader has three reasonsWire or heavy leader for toothy fish such as pike, a leader in front of braid to hide the line and take abrasion, and a short fluorocarbon leader in salt water or for line-shy fish. Otherwise the tool says you can tie straight to the bait.
• Ranges stay narrowThe arithmetic keeps a pound-test range to three steps at most, so it stays useful at the tackle shop. A written rule can set its own range for a common case.
• Fly lines are chosen by weightFor fly fishing the tool gives a fly line by weight and a tippet sized to the fly, not a pound-test range worked out from the fish. A pound figure beside the tippet is that tippet's approximate breaking strength. Tippet heavier than 0X is named by its diameter in inches, as on the Orvis tippet chart.

What it does not know: the exact diameter of the line you will buy.

Read the methodology, or tell us what looks wrong.

• Pound test is not diameterBraid is generally thinner than mono at the same pound test, but there is no fixed ratio. Compare the diameters printed on the spools.
• Cover sets the strength, not the fishMost break-offs happen against wood, rock, shell or grass. Open water lets you fish lighter than the same species in timber.
• A leader is not always neededWe only recommend one when it earns its knot: visibility, abrasion, or teeth.