Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai Fluorocarbon Line Review

[fishballer06]

Recently, Daiwa released their newest high end fluorocarbon, the J-Fluoro Samurai. I throw mostly all fluorocarbon so I naturally had to buy a spool to try it out. For reference, my normal go to fluorocarbons are P-Line Tactical and Sunline Sniper & Shooter. I also use Seaguar Tatsu as well when I can get a deal on it.

First Impressions
The line I purchased was the 16lb version. One thing that immediately stood out to me was how smooth and supple the line felt. I also noticed that the diameter of the line is thinner than my usual lines that I use (pound for pound). Good impressions to have right out of the gate. Other things to note about the packaging that were a nice touch.

• 220 yard spool rather than the standard 200.
• There is a firm, but flexible, plastic sleeve that wraps around the spool inside the packaging to keep the line from unraveling after you've used it.
• There is a sticker on the line at the halfway point of the spool. This lets you know how much line you've used and have left.

All that being said, I spooled up two of my reels before hitting the water. These reels being a Shimano Bantam and a Shimano Metanium. I had about 10-15 yards of line left after filling these two reels up.

On The Water
I had my Bantam mounted on a Dobyns Chamption 734c and was throwing a 3.3" Keitech on a 1/4oz jighead. My Metanium was mounted on a Dobyns Extreme 704c and was throwing a Zoom Super Hog on a 3/16oz Texas rig. I tied these baits on using a San Diego Jam knot and they cinched down tight with no issues on the first pull through.

The very first thing I noticed with this line was the casting distance. WOW  I felt like I was getting 25-40 feet extra over my normal lines. This could be attributed to the smoothness and the smaller line diameter I assume. I quickly realized that I had to tighten my spool tension knob a hair and turn my external braking dial up one number. Once I got that dialed in, this line was super manageable to cast and the distance I was getting was phenomenal.

I threw the swimbait around thick weed lines and caught 3 fish on the outside edges of it. All of these fish never came off as I fought them back to shore through the thick weeds. I had great hook penetration through the top of the mouth on all of those fish, which impressed me considering I was hooking up at the end of long casts.

Once I worked my way to some deeper, rockier water, I started dragging the Texas rig around. I ended up catching 4 fishing doing this and I experienced the same hookup results. Great hook penetration through very boney parts of the mouth. The line was very sensitive and I had no issues feeling whether I was in grass, rocks, mud, sand, or whenever I had a bite. Despite dragging the bait through a very rock bottom, I never got any knicks in my line or felt the need to retie. My knot held tight and I was very impressed.

Final Thoughts
My first outing with this line was very impressive. I'm curious to spend more time with this line and learn more of its nuances. The casting distance, handling, knot strength, and suppleness were all very top notch. So far, I would have no problem recommending this line to anyone. Even though it may be sacreligious to put Daiwa line on a Shimano reel, they worked like a match made in heaven.

[Smallie_Stalker]

Excellent review Seth!

Thanks for taking the time to put it together for us.

Sent from my One Plus 9 Pro 5G using Tapatalk

[FlatsNBay]

Great review!

Sent from my moto e5 play using Tapatalk

[fishballer06]

Thanks guys.

I posted this review on a few other websites and some guys were complaining about the price. So with that, I'll say this. Fluorocarbon is one of those things where you get what you pay for. If the performance doesn't do it for you with this line, over say compared to Vanish or Red Label, then the nice touches to the product packaging should.