Testing Booth: Tokuryo Line Lab

Tokuryo Line Lab fishing lines: Remember the name

What we discovered here at Fishing Monthly Magazine (mid 2021) while researching a comparison of braided lines, was that anglers have a diverse range of reasons for their choice of fishing line. They included everything from brand loyalty to abrasion resistance, to line diameter, to breaking strain against actual breaking strain and even the colour of the line.

All of the lines impressed the author with how well they sat when spooled on a reel. In this case the Tokuryo Casting PRO 8. what anglers wanted to know about lines.

What I am testing

The Tokuryo Line Lab range includes products that will suit most anglers’ needs. There is everything from finesse PE lines to jigging braids, fluorocarbon leader/ line options, monofilaments and shock leaders. To see the full range, go to www. jurofishing.com and click on the Tokuryo Line Lab link.

For this testing booth I am using the Casting Pro 8 carrier braid, the Finesse Game 4 carrier braid, the Fluorocarbon 100% leader and the Pro FC casting fluorocarbon line. You will find a fact box with more detail on these products. These are all based around light line applications.

Tokuryo Pro FC fluorocarbon

I am the first to admit that fishing using straight-through fluorocarbon line is something I have steered away from. Not Tokuryo Line Lab lines are new to the Australian market. The author was very excited to have the opportunity to put them through their paces.

Other things that couldn’t really be tested, but were important to anglers, were things like good knot tying, knot strength and fit for purpose (finesse or heavy applications).

This feedback provided me with a great base to do this testing booth on these Tokuryo Line Lab products. I knew exactly 8.8lb Finesse Game braid and 11.6lb Fluorocarbon 100% leader had no problems dealing with this bit of bycatch when flathead fishing. completely losing the sensitivity/feel that this combination provides. The reason super lines took the market by storm in the first place (how much more the angler can feel).

My first impression of the Pro FC was that it felt more supple than other spinning fluorocarbons I had used and, with that, the line lay better on the spool when I put it on my spin reel. This also resulted in very neat and tidy knots.

The first outing using the Pro FC was trout fishing at Lake Eucumbene. The majority of my straight-through fishing had been for trout. The aforementioned

because I haven’t had success using it or because the benefits of using it aren’t compelling, more because the ones that I have tried have given me nothing but grief while I was using them. Line memory and line fatigue being the two main issues. There is nothing worse than being unable to control how line comes off your reel or to see sections of line that have been compromised during a fishing session (especially in the middle of it).

However, I am putting the cart before the horse. Why use straight-through fluorocarbon line?

Fluorocarbon line is virtually invisible in the water and doesn’t leave a line shadow for fish to be spooked by. If you are fishing clear water, pressured fishing locations or require stealth in your presentations then straight-through fluorocarbon can be a clear advantage.

Tournament bream anglers use straight-through fluorocarbon a lot when using hardbody and surface lures for this reason. Fluorocarbon line also has a little bit of stretch, much less than monofilament line, but much more (that’s what it feels like) than a braid/leader set up. For those of us that are used to the braid/leader set up, this means a fraction more time for a treble hook to find its mark and then a bit of cushioning to keep it there when fish jump or shake their heads, without

The author is super impressed with the Pro FC spinning fluorocarbon from Tokuryo. He has had none of the issues that had haunted him using this type of line in the past. cushioning with sensitivity and invisibility have been the driving factor for this.

Two outing over the Christmas break to Yens Bay and Anglers Reach casting lures from the bank was a great initial test of the Pro FC. Lots of casts using different weighted lures, against the wind, with the wind, dealing with rocks, timber and weed. Most importantly also tangling with

more than my fair share of trout as well.

The outcomes I took away from these two outings were: straight-through fluorocarbon will out fish a braid/leader set up on trout (15:1 on this trip). After two solid outings there was no sign of the line memory or fatigue issues I had previously experienced using other straight-through fluorocarbon lines, and that the Pro FC has very good abrasion resistance. One of

the better brown trout had me wrapped around all sorts of debris before coming to shore (it really should have won its freedom). The 4.5lb Pro FC had the signs that it had rubbed against rocks and had been wrapped around a tree, but it didn’t give, leaving me a very happy camper. Finally, I am very happy to continue using it, which definitely wasn’t the case with the previous lines I had tried.

I didn’t leave the testing process there though. The bream in my local can be fickle at times and although I have had some success on hardbodies in the past,

plastics have always been my best option. Two outings have proved to me that I need to have a hardbody outfit on hand and that bream residing on shallow open water flats are more likely to eat a lure attached to straight-through fluorocarbon line than one using a braid/leader combination. The same can be said around structure as well.

Tokuryo Finesse Game X4 braid and Fluorocarbon 100% leader

Finesse Game X4, as the name suggests, is a 4 carrier PE braid. 4 carrier braids are renown for being affordable, very fine in diameter, better suited to finesse forms of fishing, and in situations where abrasion resistance isn’t the most important factor. Add to that great castability and excellent bite detection and you have the perfect PE line to get to know and understand the positives that these lines (braids) offer anglers.

Tokuryo Finesse Game X4 is a great example of exactly that. A well made, affordable PE braided line which, when matched with the appropriate Tokuryo Fluorocarbon 100% leader material, has you set to get out dabbling in the world of lure and soft plastic fishing.

Like the Pro FC, the Fluorocarbon 100% leader is a supple 100% fluorocarbon material available in seven breaking strains and comes in 50m spools. Again, like the Pro FC (due to the suppleness of the line) it allows you to tie great knots, either leader to braid or to your favourite lure or jighead.

I was given a spool of the 8.8lb P.E. 0.6 (hi-vis yellow) to try out. Perfect to either leader down (breaking strain) to target bream, whiting and the like, or to leader up and focus on flathead, bass, squid etc. This is one of the advantages of a fine diameter braid.

As much as I did manage to target and catch many of these species and found the combination of the two products to be excellent. The Fluorocarbon 100% leader offers not only great knot strength, but good abrasion resistance too. On numerous occasions I had bream venture to the wrong side of bridge pylons and back, and yet still finding their way into my net. The leaders may have been shredded, but they didn’t break (not all of them anyway).

The author has been using the 12lb Tokuryo Casting Pro braid on a medium outfit to cast lipless crankbaits. The extra casting distance and depth on retrieve the ultra thin Casting Pro offers is gold or bronze in this case.

Line like the Tokuryo Finesse Game X 4 combined with a Fluorocarbon 100% leader offer many different fishing options. Catching squid is just one of them.

FACT BOX Product Line Classes P.E. Rating Diameter(mm) Spool size(m)

PRO FC 3.7lb, 4.5lb, 6.8lb, 9.2lb 0.8-2.0 0.161 - 0.257 150

Fluorocarbon

Fluorocarbon 3.7lb, 5.7lb, 6.8lb, 9.2lb, 0.8-6.0 0.16 - 0.418 50 100% 11.6lb, 15.5lb, 19.8lb

Finesse Game 5.9lb, 8.8lb, 10.1lb, 15.4lb 0.3- 2.5 0.09 - 0.26 150 X 4 25.3lb, 29.9lb

Finesse Game 29.9lb, 49.9lb, 79.9lb 2.5-8.0 0.26 - 0.48 300

X 4

Casting PRO 8 10lb, 12lb, 15lb, 18lb, 25lb 0.4-1.5 0.05 - 0.16 150/300

NB: Finesse Game X 4 is available in three colours – dark green, pink and hi-vis yellow Finesse line options are just as effective for anglers using bait as they are for lure anglers. The author with a nice catch of King George whiting.

Continued over

What I do want to mention is the advantages lines like the Tokuryo Finesse Game lines offer in a bait fishing situation. Bite detection is the most obvious, however fine diameter lines also mean you can fish deeper water using less weight, meaning you have a better chance of catching fish. A perfect example of this happened in

Bream and finesse fishing go hand in hand. Here a Strike Pro Enticer 2inch finesse grub in motor oil colour was the undoing of this fish. The line and leader were 8.8lb Tokuryo Finesse 4 X and 3.7lb Tokuryo Fluorocarbon 100%.

Port Vincent in South Australia. The target species was King George whiting and even though we were only fishing in 25-30ft of water, the current meant bigger sinkers were required (2-3oz). Not so much the case for me (1oz) and luckily or inevitably many of the fish fell to the lighter outfit (3:1 ratio). To double down on the effectiveness of using this Tokuryo lines combination. Once the whiting had stopped biting, we moved to shallower water to focus on garfish and tommy ruff (Australian herring). While most anglers will fish with a float rig drifting it down a berley trail, I prefer to use a single long shank hook with the smallest possible spilt shot above it and drift it down the berley trail. In this case, all I did was remove the Senshi whiting rig tied onto my leader, replaced it with the said rig and was happily catching gar and tommies (plus a few KGW as a bonus) in minutes. So, this so-called finesse set up is just as effective for bait anglers as it is for those who use lures.

Tokuryo Casting Pro 8 carrier braid

Last, but certainly not least, is the Tokuryo Casting Pro premium 8 carrier braid. Tokuryo Line Labs have a dual braiding technic during the construction process that produces ultra thin, very strong, super castable PE lines. When I say ultra thin, check out the diameters, 0.16mm for 25lb braid – wow! In this case, finer diameters (heavier breaking strains) means better castability and add a special coating (SI treatment) and with the right outfit even smaller lures

Another beautiful Lake Eucumbene brown trout caught using the Tokuryo 4.5lb Pro FC spinning fluorocarbon. can be cast using heavier lines. This certainly proved to be the case. Although the fish didn’t join the party, I took a medium outfit to Canberra with me specifically to fish small/medium hardbody lures for golden perch and possibly Murray cod. High water levels meant the fish were hard to find, but it didn’t stop me trying. Fine line diameters aren’t only beneficial when bait fishing in deeper water. This fish was caught on a plastic in 35 feet of water using a 1/6oz jighead. The author would normally use 3/8oz – 1/2oz in this depth of water.

Back in Brisbane this same outfit has become my favourite to use when throwing lipless crankbaits. They cast a mile, travel a little deeper on the retrieve (thanks to the finer diameter line) and can be deadly when fished across large flats or behind them, they were destined to succeed. I could see this while putting them to the test. All the key features you are looking for are covered. Each line lays on your spool beautifully. They all provide excellent castability and each produces

A light spin outfit spooled with Tokuryo Pro FC is now a permanent fixture in the author’s boat.

along weed edges. The Tokuryo Casting Pro braid is still a work in progress for me, the prime time for this type of fishing kicks in about the same time that this issue comes out and again around September/October. Having said that, there are plenty of fishing options out there, that having a finesse line that packs a punch, would be suitable for.

Final thoughts

There is justifiably a lot of hype around the Tokuryo Line Lab fishing lines. Using quality Japanese components and having so much research and development strong neat knots and when used in combination, complement each other. For fine diameter lines I found their abrasion resistance to be very good, however keep in mind I was not using them in situations where keeping fish out of heavy cover was my first priority. In short, they tick a lot of boxes. To check out the full range of Tokuryo Line Lab products go to www.jurofishing.com or check them out at your local tackle store. - Peter Jung