BASS BARN banner

Power-pro breakage

5.5K views 54 replies 39 participants last post by  eyelit  
#1 ·
So far this fall I have had my line randomly snap at least 3 times. It always seems to break above the leader somewhere in my power-pro. The first couple times I went to cast and watched my rig sail away. Annoying, but I figured my line got frayed in the back of my truck or something so I took extra care. This morning a fish hit me like a freight train... drag was set pretty loose and line was peeling out... snap... 50# power-pro barely under stress...somethings goin on here and i need to figure it out before things really start heatin up... Im planning on going over my rod guides with a fine tooth comb to make sure there are no imperfections in them and I dont think my reel is causing any issues. :confused: One friend suggested that I got a defective batch of power-pro but I find that hard to believe. I wear one of those cloth gloves thats dipped in rubber when I cast so the line doesnt take my finger off... maybe thats fraying it??? Am I overlooking something???
 
#2 ·
Where is it breaking? Check your tip-top guide and all other guides very carefully, but really check the tip-top guide. Run a cotton ball through the guides and if any cotton is pulled from the ball you've found the culprit. Check the edge of your spool to see if there are any nicks on it. If everything checks out ok, change the line.
 
#12 ·
Im not 100% sure.... but im inclined to say its close to the leader... this morning the fish swam away and I had plenty of line to reel in as i stood there in shock... so when it broke it broke in the water not at the tip...i checked out those links flyerphan provided and went outside... hooked my leader up to a tree... let maybe a hundred feet of line out... and pulled like hell... pulled wayyyyyyy harder than i have ever pulled on a fish... line held... figures :please:

more than likely a crack in a guide happened to me last year lost about 100$ worth of plugs till i figured it out take a q-tip and run it around the guides if the cotton gets hung up its a crack and like said above probably the top guide....cheap to fix go to Grupmys theyll take care of it in 5mins
I checked out all my guides.. the seem fine :huh:... my spool has a couple imperfections on it but i cant see them fraying the line... next week i think im gonna have grumpy take a look at it just to be sure

If your breaking in the same area....I vote for the bad guide reason as well. Only other thing would be your doing something when you tie the knot?? I doubt it. Probably the guide isue. Use a Q-Tip to run the guides.
Thats one thing i can safely say... checking my knots was a lesson learned last year... im pretty good with it now..
 
This post has been deleted
#13 ·
what do you mean by do your homework? I see where plenty of people have had issues with power pro breaking and its making me seriously consider spooling suffix next time around... and then theres everyone including my friends that swear its never done them wrong...

Blynch thats a good point ... i intend to do that every time but who knows i may forget sometimes especially if im rigging up in a rush as i was this morning... ill make sure i do that every time from now on
 
#43 ·
Power Pro for life

8+ years putting power pro through some nasty stuff and never had a failure that was not my fault, its all in the knots...if you heat them up your asking for trouble;)

Me too. Never once have I had an issue with Power Pro.

Beaver, I guess it's possible you got a bad batch, but I highly doubt it. It's almost always something else causing it.

I tried Suffix on one reel and did not like it. And on the contrary of what I've been reading in this thread, I had more windknots on the one reel with the Suffix than in all my reels combined with PP. (I'll never use Suffix again) I like the feel of PP much better. It's great line.

One possibility is you may be fishing near rocks, even 25-100 feet away on a certain angle your line may be chafing on rocks and you don't even know it.

P.S. The polamar is the only knot I ever use with PP. It held on a 95lb halibut that went under the ship one time, and many other big fish and situations too (eg: snags). It's the simplest most reliable knot IMHO. What I do is I connect my PP to the swivel via polamar, then I use the clinch knot from the swivel to the leader and another clinch form the leader to the snap (no swivel). Neither have ever failed.
 
#21 ·
I have used Power Pro #50 on both my convetional setups and my spinning setups 6-7 years. The only problems I ever had was really my own fault. Usually a small nick in a guide or just too lazy (or cheap) to cut back the first 25' of line as it gets beat up in the surf.
On my conventional, I have noticed that if I get a birds nest on a cast, it crimps down on the line and it has broken on the next cast or so. Again, my fault.
Is Power Pro the best stuff out there? Who knows. It works good for me and since I bought a 1500 yard spool 2 years ago, I'll stick with it for a while.
 
#22 ·
Don't just check the inner portion of your guides (especially the top). When you store your rod or have your bait hanging, the line drapes over the outside portion of the guide as well. This is the part of the guide that usually gets nicked up when you lay/drop it on the ground or throw it in your car. Had this happen to me a couple of weeks ago... rod was in the rod holder as I unhooked a fish, let the weight drop, and the line parted at the tip, Sure enough, there was a chip in the ceramic insert where it met the metal frame of the guide. Inside of the guide was completely smooth.
 
#23 ·
The rep on Power Pro is that they let bad batches get past their quality control process, and the bad line has weak spots in it, and the weak spots lead to mystery breakoffs.

This is the reason why you hear such varying opinions on Power Pro: if you get line from a good batch, the stuff works as well as any braid out there; if you get line from a lousy batch, then you get mystery breakoffs all over the place, lose fish, plugs, and/or rigs, and you end up thinking that Power Pro is junk.

The reps from Power Pro claim that they have this problem solved, and bad line will no longer find its way to the public. This could be true - I have no idea. But as long as I see guys like Beaverhole having problems like this, I'm going to stick with Sufix. Power Pro is too expensive to have to worry if your line is going to break when you get a good fish.

Beaverhole, do check your guides for hairline cracks or other damage. If you find that everything's fine - and I bet you do - then dump the line you have and get something new. You'll be out a few bucks, but you'll get rid of these problems for good.
 
#25 ·
I had power pro break for no apparent reason till I checked my guides I had 1 with a cracked ring and the tips insert fell our from walking thru brush and trees, after the guides were replaced never had a problem
 
#26 ·
Power Pro got a bad name last year or the year before because they had a bad run. It was a single production run that was defective and they made good on it to everybody who contacted them about it, both retailers and customers.

The problem became bigger when some of these "close out websites" were able to get their hands on it some how. This turned a single production run into what is now 2 years of problems and counting. :eek: I have no idea how the closeout people got their hands on it but Im sure Power Pro would not want them to have it.

Im not saying its the only reason people dont like it, but I think it has turned alot of people against the product. We also have alot of new companys making it today too. Everybody has something different they prefer. If you had an issue with the product, but always liked it prior, theres a good chance you got wrapped up in this defective run that people are making money on still today. Just an FYI. :thumbsup:
 
#30 ·
suffix braid is great. no mystery break offs, which is a common theme with power pro. plus it handles better, doesnt knot up in the wind like power pro. i used to stand by power pro, but over the last year, i have converted to suffix. lots of time on the water and fish caught, and i am sold on it.
 
#32 ·
try switching to sufix... As a tacklestore owner ive seen many angry customers in last few years complaining about snapping powerpro! We sell them both due to demand but trust me when i tell you that sufix is a considerably better braid ... It is even apparent when spooling reels on the machine by how smooth the line flows on the reel and howtight it packs in evenly. Powerpro is a good braid but after trying sufix ive seen immediate differences. Powerpro is alot cheaper than sufix at 17.99 a 150yd spool compared to 27.99 a 150 yd spool so i guess we get what we pay for. hope this helps..... chris
 
#35 · (Edited)
Im liking this hollow core stuff more and more for all applications. Its soft, does not cut as bad when leadering, it has many options for leaders and compared to the others, the pricing is not that bad. I have fished 40lb for bass, bonita, etc.... anybody ever fished it for fluke??

I agree with you 24/7, alot of people are switching over.

If you spool a reel and the line is bad, who gets blamed?? You and I do!!! We sold somebody bad line. :eek: I think its a smart move to go over to Suffix for the shop.
Alot of places are going to PP cause of the cost???I really think suffix is better it last's so much longer!!I've got 4 year old suffix on a stradic that is white from the salt and the sun and It still rocks!!!I fished it the other night and had a nice bass pull the crap outta it and it didn't break!!!!:thumbsup:
I love suffix!!!!!

FC:cool:

BTW you guy's rock thinkin of the fisherman and not skimpin due to cost!!!BRAVO!!!!!
 
#33 · (Edited)
Im liking this hollow core stuff more and more for all applications. Its soft, does not cut as bad when leadering, it has many options for leaders and compared to the others, the pricing is not that bad. I have fished 40lb for bass, bonita, etc.... anybody ever fished it for fluke??

I agree with you 24/7, alot of people are switching over.

If you spool a reel and the line is bad, who gets blamed?? You and I do!!! We sold somebody bad line. :eek: I think its a smart move to go over to Suffix for the shop.