How to Choose the Best Korda Fishing Line

This entry was posted on 25th July, 2023 by Anna Cooper

Choosing the right fishing line is crucial for achieving success in angling. It directly affects casting performance, sensitivity, and the ability to land fish. Today, there is a wide range of fishing lines available that can make it hard to choose the one that best meets your needs.

In the past, you had limited options for spooling up your reels. Monofilament line was the most common choice, but now there are other types of fishing lines to consider which have different advantages and disadvantages.

In this article, we will examine the ideal situations and reasons to use each type of Korda line. We will also discuss the advantages and downfalls of each type, particularly the four most popular Korda carp lines. Keep reading to find out the favourites of the Team Korda anglers, giving their thoughts on what line they choose when fishing.

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Exploring Korda Fishing Lines

What are the 4 most popular types of fishing lines?

As well as monofilament, it is worth being aware of the other fishing line options available to you: braid; fluorocarbon; or a tapered monofilament. Each has its unique properties which makes it best for certain situations.

Monofilament: A good all-around choice
Braid: No stretch, is very durable and long-lasting
Fluorocarbon: Sinks very well and has a refractive index close to zero.
Tapered Main Line: Perfect for waters where leaders are banned and you need to fish at long range.

Understanding exactly what each fishing line does best will help you ultimately decide which line is right for you.

What is monofilament line used for?

Monofilament is a type of mainline that is commonly used and has been around for a long time. It is also known as mono or nylon. Monofilament gets its name from being extruded as a single strand during manufacturing.

People use a mono line for several reasons. It is tough, reliable, user-friendly and forgiving. It can be used on any water body. Moreover, it is usually cheaper, so spooling your reels with it doesn't cost much.

Mono fishing lines are an all-rounder. They are a great choice for most angling situations. In specialised situations, or when other types of mainline offer an edge, you may want to choose something else.

Should you use fluorocarbon as a main line?

Fluorocarbon has been around for a while and has improved significantly. It is commonly used as a hooklength material, but it is also an effective choice of main line.

One of its biggest advantages over mono is that it is a much heavier line and sinks. So when you are fishing with semi-slack or slack lines it ensures the line is lying along the lakebed. This prevents the carp from bumping into it and being spooked.

It also has a refractive index close to zero – basically, it doesn’t reflect light in the same way that mono does in the water – and this makes it as good as invisible to fish.

What is braid fishing line best for?

Braid is highly regarded for its strength, sensitivity, and low-stretch properties. It is suitable for various fishing scenarios. The thin diameter of the braid helps you to cast further distances and makes it ideal for targeting larger fish species. Braid also has excellent abrasion resistance making it a reliable choice for fishing in places with a lot of snags or sharp bars.

Additionally, the low stretch of the fishing braid enhances sensitivity, enabling anglers to detect even the slightest bites and improve hook sets. Braid is commonly used for feeder fishing and with light predator tackle setups, making it suitable for drop shotting, jigging and lure fishing.

Many anglers use braid when fishing in weedy or vegetation-filled areas, as it is less prone to tangling and allows for better manoeuvrability. Overall, braid fishing line is a versatile choice for anglers seeking strength, sensitivity, and durability in their fishing endeavours.

What is a tapered line and why choose it?

In the past, fishing at long range involved using a thin mono main line. This allowed the angler to cast further. A leader was also used to absorb the force of the cast and avoid line breakage. But, this meant you had an extra fishing knot to worry about potentially failing and would have to play fish on a lighter breaking strain line.

You also had the issue that on some waters leaders are banned and on others, only mono ones are allowed. Thankfully with the invention of tapered main lines, all those issues have been consigned to the past as the line has a natural taper in it to include the leader and have a higher breaking strain line near the hook.

What happens if you use too heavy a fishing line?

Heavy, thick mono leader material often has a lot of stretch, which absorbs the power on the cast and reduces the distance you achieve. Also, a thicker line creates more resistance when travelling through the air, reducing your casting range.

Exploring Korda Fishing Lines

Who are Korda?

Korda Tackle is a well-established fishing tackle brand. Angling Direct offers a wide range of top-quality Korda carp fishing tackle. Anglers can find all the equipment they need to improve their fishing with Korda. This includes Korda rods, Korda lines and Korda fishing tackle boxes.

Korda fishing lines play a pivotal role in various angling situations. Korda provides a wide selection of lines to fit your individual needs. These lines are suitable for targeting carp and other freshwater species, and some are designed for specific scenarios and techniques. These lines provide superior strength, sensitivity, and visibility control, ensuring optimal performance and increasing your chances of success on the water.

Korda Touchdown Fishing Line

Monofilament fishing lines have improved significantly since 20 years ago. Today, Korda Touchdown fishing line is a perfect example of modern mono lines. Touchdown is far less stretchy than many monos and allows you to feel the lead down better – hence its name!

The Touchdown Korda fishing line offers a high level of abrasion resistance. Additionally, it has low memory for improved casting performance.
The line has a long lifespan. It sinks smoothly and has a high resistance to knots. Knots can be tied in it without difficulty.

This makes it a great all-purpose line. It comes in a range of breaking strains: 10lb, 12lb, 15lb, and 20lb. You can choose between green or brown to blend in with the bottom. This line will cover any angling situation you may encounter.

It comes on 1,000m spools, so plenty enough to fill several reels – it is marked every 250m, so if you do choose to use backing, you could fill four spools with enough line for your fishing.

Advantages:

+ Incredibly user-friendly

+ Will perform well in most angling situations.

+ Good abrasion resistance

+ More forgiving if you do make a mistake when playing a fish

+ Sinks fairly well

+ Blends in with the lake bed, with a choice of colours.

+ Great value for money

+ Enough on a spool to fill four reels (with backing).

Disadvantages:

- It will acquire memory and twist over time.

- Less sensitive than other types of lines when feeling for a drop.

Korda Touchdown Fishing Line Review

Don’t just take our word for it! See what Korda’s Neil Spooner has to say about this mono fishing line!

“I was lucky enough to be involved in the testing stage of the Touchdown line, and for over ten years, it has been my line of choice.

Its reduced stretch compared to many other available lines makes it not only easier to cast further but also aids in feeling the lead down.

Couple that with great sinking properties and incredible abrasion resistance, and you’ve got a brilliant all-around line.”

Korda Kontour Fishing Line

The Korda fluorocarbon fishing line, Kontour, has been designed as an incredibly effective choice of mainline. Kontour has much less stretch than a mono. This allows you to feel the lead down better.

It also means that you are in more direct contact with the fish during a fight. You can fish Kontour straight through to your chosen lead system.

This Korda carp fishing line is also very tough and durable. It is available in 12lb, 15lb or 18lb on 200m spools, which may not sound like a lot on a spool, but it isn’t designed for fishing at long range.

Whilst this line does a lot of things very well, casting really far isn’t one of them – due to it being heavier (which is why it sinks so much better). For anything up to 100 yards or so, it is well worth considering, especially when targeting wary fish that have seen it all and shy away from lines.

Advantages:

+ Almost invisible in water

+ Sinks incredibly well

+ Tough and durable

+ Very low stretch

Disadvantages:

- Limited casting range due to how heavy it is – but is perfect for anything up to around 100 yards.

- More expensive than mono, but for the extra money you’re getting a much better performance in some situations, which will help you to catch more fish.

Korda Kontour Fishing Line Review

Korda’s Tom Dove prefers a fluorocarbon line. This is what Tom had to say about Korda’s Kontour line.

“Kontour is my chosen line for probably 80% of my fishing. I expect three things from whatever line I’m using – I want it to be low stretch; I want it to sink; and I want it to be as invisible as it possibly can be.
Kontour is a fluorocarbon, which means it is much heavier than other monofilaments, and it will sink two or three times as quickly as a normal mono would. That means that you can cut it through the surface much quicker when you cast out so that you don’t get so much bow in your line, and it stops you from having to use backleads in most situations.

It refracts light in almost exactly the same way water does, making it almost invisible in a fishing situation, which is exactly what you need when trying to stay as low-key as you possibly can."

Tom went on to say...

“Fluorocarbon has less stretch than other monofilaments, which means that you can feel the lead down much better, which is important to me as most of my fishing is all down to the way the lead goes down. Fluorocarbon is actually a very hard line, which makes it very abrasion resistant, but also means you can’t cast it quite so far, but for anything up to around 110 yards, Kontour is the line for me.”

Korda Sub Braid Fishing Line

SUB Braid is very different and much more suited to the conventional style of UK angling as it sinks like a brick and is very soft and supple. It comes in a choice of 15lb and 20lb and is much thicker than the Korda Apex braid at 0.30mm and 0.34mm.

Sinking braids always are thicker as they’re designed to take on water which allows them to sink so well.

Advantages:

+ Sinks incredibly well and due to its suppleness it follows the contours of the lake bed.

+ Incredibly tough and durable, meaning it can last for years.

+ Zero stretch, so makes feeling for a good drop much easier, and during the fight, you can feel exactly what the fish is doing.

+ Casts well at all but extreme range.

+ It has no memory and won’t twist like a mono.

Disadvantages:

- It costs a lot more than monofilament, as all braids do, but it will last a lot longer.

- Some waters don’t allow the use of braided main lines for fishing (only spodding and marketing on some lakes – we have dedicated braids for both).

- It can be more prone to lifting scales on a fish during a fight – but that is easily solved by using tubing or some sort of leader, such as the Dark Matter range or our Kable lead core.

Korda Sub Braid Fishing Line Review

Korda’s Tom Stokes uses this fishing braid regularly.

“The 20lb SUB Braid has been my go-to main line for a long time now, as I believe that it has many benefits over mono or fluoro. It is super strong and abrasion resistant, and it doesn’t bed down in weed like other main lines do.

It tends to almost cut through weed, keeping you in direct contact with a hooked fish, making it an ideal main line for big fish in weedy or snaggy environments.

SUB Braid has zero stretch, which means the drop is more exaggerated than with mono. This helps you identify what kind of bottom you're fishing over. It also helps make sure you're in the right spot..."

Tom carried on to say...

"The lack of stretch also aids accuracy when fishing to a clip, as long as you hold your rod in the same position, then your lead will land at exactly the same range every cast. Plus it massively helps with bite indication, especially so at longer range.

SUB Braid sinks incredibly well, especially so in comparison to many other braids on the market, and due to its suppleness, once it has sunk it will follow the contours of the lake bed much better than mono would.

I feel these properties give me a huge edge when targeting big, pressured carp in low-stocked lakes, where every little percentage counts and strength and reliability is a must The SUB Braid never lets me down, even in the most extreme situations!”

Korda Longchuck Fishing Line

The LongChuck tapered main line will give you all the benefits of using a thin mono with a shockleader but without any of the associated downsides. The LongChuck comes supplied on a 300m spool and at each end of it is an 8m length of 30lb breaking strain mono – which is an extremely low stretch as well as being lightweight.

With a high breaking strain to-diameter ratio, this line counters many of the problems you get with a heavy mono leader. This completely does away with the need for any leader knot as it has a 2m tapering section down to your chosen main line strength (10-30lb; 12-30lb, or 15-30lb).

The fact it is tapered at both ends means that if you do get cut off, then you can reverse the line on your spool and use the other end instead. LongChuck, both the leader part and the rest of the main line, has been designed with distance in mind – the 15-30lb version is only 0.33mm - 0.47mm in diameter, which is very thin for its breaking strain. It is also a very nice line to use, with great abrasion resistance and low memory.

It’s the perfect option if you sometimes need to fish at long range, or want the added security of a length of thicker mono at the rig end to help prevent cut-offs.

Advantages:

+ Does away with the need for a leader, and the leader knot which often causes issues.

+ Very thin for its breaking strain and also lightweight, so it travels through the air very well and helps achieve extra distance on the cast.

+ Low stretch, helps you to properly compress the rod rather than the leader taking a lot of the energy out of the cast.

+ Tapered at both ends so it can be reversed on your spool, should you have a cut-off.

Disadvantages:

- It costs more than standard mono, for the same length – but you are getting a lot more for your money as well!

- If you get two cut-offs which see you losing more than a metre or two each time, you will need to re-spool with a new line.

Korda Longchuck Fishing Line Review

A member of Team Korda, Darrell Peck shared his thoughts on this tapered mainline from Korda.

“For long-range fishing, one of the most important things is a good tapered main line. A thick line creates more drag through the rings and air, and a thinner line obviously creates less drag and casts further.

The tapered line has been one of the biggest game changers for me with regard to being able to cast and fish at greater distances. I’ve used other tapered lines before, but the LongChuck is probably the best-tapered line that I’ve used.

The reasons for that are that it is less stretchy – tapered lines that I’ve used in the past have tended to be very, very stretchy, especially when they’ve taken on a little bit of water, whereas LongChuck is vastly less stretchy. You can feel the lead down with LongChuck, even at long range, and it’s a very good main line to get those extra yards.”

How do you spool a fishing line evenly?

Once you have chosen a main line, you must spool it up correctly on your reels, otherwise, you will suffer from unnecessary issues such as line twists and crack-offs.

Why does my fishing line get tangled every time I cast?

It is important, and especially so with monofilament, that when you transfer the line from the spool that it is supplied on and onto your reels, you don’t unwittingly add a twist, as this will immediately make the line less user-friendly and cause you issues.

The same goes for ensuring that your chosen main line is wound onto the spool tightly and evenly, otherwise, it can cause crack-offs when you cast. Doing this also ensures that you have the right amount on the reel, and if you fill it up to just below the lip – any more coils of the loose line are likely to come off the reel and cause crack-offs or tangles – and do so under tension, then it will stay at this level when you use fish with it.

Luckily there is now an easy solution to ensure that your line goes onto your spools perfectly each time, by using the Compac Spooling Bucket. This Spooling Bucket allows any line to be wound on whilst wet and provides the tension that is needed to ensure it sits perfectly on the spool every time.

This spooling bucket from Korda ensures the line goes on with a minimal amount of twist. The Compac Spooling Bucket is collapsible, meaning that you can easily re-spool on the bank if you need to, and can also double up as a water bucket.

How to Store Fishing Spools

Many anglers now use several different types of main line, depending on which water they’re fishing at the time, and have spare spools for their reels loaded up and ready to switch over when needed.

A Korda Compac Spool Case is perfect to store these spare spools in a way that prevents any chance of damage to either the spool or the line on it, when not in use. These padded, zipped cases, which feature stiffened walls to add even more protection, come in two different sizes – which will fit pretty much any spool on the market – and each will hold three spools.

Selecting the right fishing line is a crucial aspect of successful angling. It directly affects casting distance, sensitivity, and overall performance on the water. To enhance your angling experience, we encourage you to explore the wide range of Korda fishing tackle available at Angling Direct.

From the exceptional Korda Touchdown fishing line to the reliable Korda Kontour line, the versatile Korda Sub Braid, and the specialised Korda Longchuck line, you'll find the perfect line to suit your fishing needs. Trust Korda's reputation for high-quality tackle and take your angling endeavours to new heights.