Mono line vs dyneema

A lot depends on shooting distances and where in terms of clear and unobstructed environments, or with rocks, barnacles, marine growth encrustations, etc. I use spectra in locations where sharp edges abound, mono where there is nothing but clear water. In the kelp I don't use mono and always carry two knives, just in case! In times of desperation a knife wobbling its way to the bottom needs to be replaced pronto.

Mono that glows, what next? That may be worth a try as you should be able to see that line in the water and it may go well with my Predathor "Vuoto".

Hey Bill, This pic was just to show how my gun line keeper is set up. It was the yellow dyneema that I had trouble with. I am currently using the 400lb mono with no trouble. One more word of advise, inspect that dyneema (wear and abrasion) really good where it is fastened to the sharkfin.

I checked the Benthic website and I think what I have is the stiff Aussie 1.9 but I will check it when I get home as I got a spool of it. The guys at Benthic say they sell a lot of it and are having very good results so I'm thinking it's just my setup. I don't know of anyone else besides me that's had problems but I would suggest shooting it a few times just to test it.

Stiff Dyneema On Shorter Guns - Some Thoughts
I know this thread is a bit old, but I have shot the 1.4 and 1.7mm Stiff Aussie Dyneema, too. The 1.7mm on a long airgun so no worries about band tangles at all and not much need to talk about it here as it is not comparable to most of what others use. But the 1.4mm was on a Pathos 100 with 2x Small ID bands running a bit hot and I can offer up some thoughts on that.
The dyneema does like to be kept taught - more so than with mono - in order to avoid tangles. But still sometimes just the direction you run your wraps in can make a difference. Hard to exlain, but on the two wraps on my Pathos, I have to turn the last wrap inside out, twisting my hand as I lay the loop over the line release. This has 100% stopped the tangles I had before. That's how picky it can be. When I wrapped in the "other" direction, I would have tangles 50% of the time, none since that small change. So, don't give up - keep trying different ways of wrapping the line. If it still tangles, you may have to add a second hook/anchor a bit further down the stock to change the frequency or "dynamics" of how the line unwraps during the shot (this is not my idea, but Jon from Ulusub says this often helps).

That said, my personal feeling is that a 7mm x 130cm shaft as the one I am using is right on the lower limit of what works well with 1.4mm dyneema. Even this thin, it does slow the shaft down more than mono leading to more shaft drop and a need for more on the fly ballistics math - in simpler terms: You have to compensate more for shaft drop than with mono. This makes fast instinctive shooting a bit harder. For that reason, I actually swapped the dyneema back to mono a while back and it improved my shooting over different distances but now I wish I hadn't made the swap... Yesterday, I lost the best fish I have ever seen on this island I am currently stuck at. I placed a good holding shot on the fish but it went around a rock and cut my mono. Would never have happened with the dyneema and as the fish cruised right up to me, I would have had plenty of power, too... I was devastated, still am and I'll remember this one for years and now, I am actually considering rigging with dyneema again knowing it's not 100% bliss, the shaft drop will increase.

Anyways, long story short: I think on just a slightly heavier shaft than 7mm x 130cm I would almost surely use dyneema (if your hunting calls for improved abrasion resistance) as it is less of a compromise on heavier shafts. I would certainly not use 1.7mm on lighter shafts. And for BW hunting, yes to stiff dyneema. Perhaps even on a dedicated hole gun with a small shaft but you'd loose a fair chunk of the longer end of its range - hence, why I say "dedicated".
BTW, I crimp the dyneema, too with Majd's "inside loop knot". I saw some tests that showed the loop really helps stop the crimp from sliding and breaking strengths with crimps were better than with knots.

Long story short. I have given up on the first couple of meters behind the spear in dyneema. It offered little advantage around coral or sharks over ultra hard mono. I am currently using two meters of 400lb stainless leader ( although I hate it because it’s heavy & a hazard) between the spear & the remainder of the 500lb mono shooting line, just for tuna over coral. It’s been ok, & I’m going to keep using it for the time being.

This 125 cm roller shoots a 160 cm x 7.2 mm shaft with 1.9 mm Aussie stiff dyneema. I preffer it 1000 times over mono.

sharkey said:

Long story short. I have given up on the first couple of meters behind the spear in dyneema. It offered little advantage around coral or sharks over ultra hard mono. I am currently using two meters of 400lb stainless leader ( although I hate it because it’s heavy & a hazard) between the spear & the remainder of the 500lb mono shooting line, just for tuna over coral. It’s been ok, & I’m going to keep using it for the time being.

Click to expand...

sharkey said:

Also I never use stainless cable & wont dive with anyone who does.

Click to expand...

sharkey said:

Again this is based upon experience. My experience is that the stainless cable not only wraps up a diver, (mono could do this also) it cuts, it cuts through limbs & fingers, etc very efficiently. When you are a few hundred NM from the nearest medical facility even smaller or minor injuries carry much more potential risk. Removing stainless cable is a simple way to remove a serious potential threat with very little reduction in utility.

Click to expand...

..i just read your post above with interest, that you now using stainless steel leader as part of your shooting line.
because i remember your posts from 2018 in another thread , where you firmly made other recommendations....

We have to keep trying different things don’t we?
I am certainly not using stainless steel cable for the full double wrap before the breakaway. I still believe that stainless cable is a risk & it is also heavy & slows the spear. I am only using stainless cable as a leader in the first couple of meters of shooting line for a compromise & only on dogtooth tuna & locations where sharks take over 50% of the fish which have been speared.. For other species of tuna & topwater fish like marlin & wahoo then ultra hard mono is still safest & my preferred shooting line.. Some of my typical kit from a recent ( before covid) trip showing a roll of 500lb mono & you can just see the shooting lines on the spears behind the guns. No stainless cable in that shot & I will only use a couple of metters if it is absolutely necessary, not as the default.

denmyos said:

Does the stiff dyneema has a different name.?
I'm in europe and "can't" buy stuff outside europe.

Click to expand...

Yeah I am interested too.
I live in Greece and can't find it anywhere.

sharkey said:

We have to keep trying different things don’t we?

Click to expand...

..very good advise here..will keep that in mind..

sharkey said:

.. Some of my typical kit from a recent ( before covid) trip showing a roll of 500lb mono & you can just see the shooting lines on the spears behind the guns..View attachment 56498

Click to expand...

..nice picture of your very well selected equipment fore the trip..
it would be just as intresting to see some pictures or videos of how that trip turned out..can those be seen somewhere ?

subversive said:

..nice picture of your very well selected equipment fore the trip..
it would be just as intresting to see some pictures or videos of how that trip turned out..can those be seen somewhere ?

Click to expand...

We shot a few good sailfish, maybe about 40 dogtooth tuna to 60kg, wahoo, yellowfin, big GT’s & I saw one large black marlin on one drift towards the end of the last day. We managed to get five out of the fish mentioned above in some drifts. I feel if we had another day or two then we would have had drift which produced all six.
No mate, I don’t have permission to publish other people’s faces & if I started doing that then I expect the people who bring me along on lots of these trips would cease the invitations. I have posted the odd photo of fish here in the last several years but I try to do if for context rather than hubris.