It took two tough months' fishing, an alternative material and four lost fish, to bring me back to scuffed fluorocarbon. Although there have been plenty of blanks since, I strongly suspect fish spotted the silk too easily in the lake and possibly, the kevlar thread I tried afterwards as well. Most importantly, however, both materials gave out under playing pressure, the strain finding weak points in their multi-strand construction.
Pity. Both cast easily and sink faster than fluoro. The kevlar was an eye-opener. Amazingly strong off the spool, in flowing water its ultra-fine diameter combined with limpness make it as good as adding a bead into a plain tie, or sink dough onto tippet. At noticeably less than 6X diameter it was incredibly hard to spot in bush-stained water. The quality of construction is pitiful, however, with every tippet disintegrating under casting.
At the very least the exercise was a useful reminder how effective plain monofilament nylon and fluorocarbon are, and hopefully biodegradable synthetics can become
