Berkley NanoFil – Review
I’ve now been using Berkley NanoFil line exclusively for all my lure fishing since it came out in 2011, so I think is fair to say I’ve tested it long enough to give it a review!
So what is it?
To quote Berkley
“Not a mono, fluoro or braid — The Next Generation in Fishing Line! Our longest casting line! Spinning reel anglers will experience exceptional casting distance and accuracy allowing them to cover more water and catch more fish. Made with 100% Dyneema®, the World’s Strongest Fiber, it has an incredibly high strength/diameter ratio, creating our thinnest line per lb test.”
So what does that translate to in the real world?
Berkley NanoFil is a multi stranded line where the filaments have been molecularly bonded into a single filament which in theory creates a line which is stronger than braid with ease of handling characteristics of mono. The result is a smooth long casting line which is quiet definitely a Mar-mite product, you will either love it or hate it!
The haters will tell you how difficult it is to tie an effective knot in it! First let me say its certainly true that NanoFil’s is unforgiving when it comes to knots, if you use the wrong ones or are a bit slap dash then you will lose tackle. In the first few weeks of use I lost quite a bit of end tackle due to knot failures at the leader. So much so I nearly binned it and went back to braid, I’m glad I stuck with it.
Second on the haters hit list is the line strength, just do a quick search on the web and I’m sure you will find critiques on line strength going into great technical detail re testing methods, diameters etc all I can add to that is I’ve been using the 12.65kg line all this time and not felt short of line strength fishing over lots of rough stuff. I’ve pulled to break and freed a lure by straightening the hook on a Megabass Gateride, yes I know the trebles on Gateride’s aren’t great but it certainly shows that good line and knot strength can be achieved with care.
So lets deal with the knots issues first a look at Berkley’s recommendations. For terminal tackle they recommend the ‘nanofil’ knot ( aka double palomar) which is really easy to tie and works very well in my experience. In fact I now regularly use a single Palomar with no issues.
The Palomar knot
For leaders Berkely recommend the double Albright which is a bit trickier to get right but will stop you throwing end tackle to the horizon trailing a little tail of fluorocarbon.
The Daiwa Sokkou Knot Tool
Rather than struggle with this or any other knot I use the Sokkou Knot tool to tie my leaders to NanoFil. It is easy to use and makes a strong tidy knot in a very short time. See here for a more indepth explanation of how it works!
This little tool makes short work of tying NanoFil to fluoro click on this photo for a more indepth explanation of how it works.
For all knots to work properly with NanoFil I would add 2 recommendations.
1. Lubricate the line with saliva before pulling the knot tight
2. Pull the knot tight slowly.
Failing to do either or both creates too much friction which seems to damage the structure of the line and can cause failures! If you are still unsure then a bit of superglue will lock everything in place.
So if you have got this far you might be thinking why bother with all the hassle?
First it casts a long way, I’m not talking about a little bit further than braid, it casts a lot further. I’ve not measured it but my first casts using it simply blew me away they were so smooth and long. Of course I’m used to its distance now but it’s still super smooth. You might find the end of the line gets a bit wooly with some of the filaments fraying but it does not seem to affect casting distance or strength.
NanoFil has zero stretch so you can feel everything that’s going on down at the business end with startlingly clarity! It also has very little memory which makes it easy to handle.
Wind Knots
Now for the unexpected bonus no wind knots! I’m often fishing straight into the wind and perhaps less careful than I should be when handling my line so I used to get a fair few wind knots, which seemed to occur at the most inopportune moments. Since using NanoFil wind knots are a thing of the past for me and it handles so well I’ve given up hand flipping the bale arm and mending the line on my reel after a cast I just cast and wind when the lure hits the water.
Recently Berkely have added new colours to its range, low and high viz.
Berkley NanoFil low viz showing colour vaiation
I have tried the low viz version and found that the colour degrades pretty quickly into stripes along the line which I’m not sure is by design or a fault. Either way it bothered me so I’m sticking to the original clear mist version for now!
Berkley NanoFil clear mist 125m – loaded on Quantum Catalyst pTi 2500 reel
It comes in 125m and 270m lengths. I get the 125m as I find it loads nicely on my 2500 reel. You do not need to hold back when loading line on a spool as you do with braid which gives a side benefit of reducing the friction as the line runs off the spool which results in yet more distance in your cast!
So it’s cheaper than the braid I was using before NanoFil (Varvivas avani) casts further, seems to be just as strong and lasts much longer as I don’t have to throw away big tangles of it.
Worth putting up with the knot hassles? I think so but, others might not.
Strong, low memory so easy to work with, Casts a long way and no wind knots!
Knots must be sound as the inherent slipperiness of NanoFil can cause problems
Great alternative to braid and much cheaper in the long run as you don't lose line to wind knots
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A nice review, thanks. I’ve used this on one rod for a couple of years now. The fact that I am still using it says it all and I wonder if some odf the guys who have slagged it off on various forums have actually used it. Casts well, (but not as well as Gliss), and despite what has been written elsewhere it appears to have decent abrasion resistance. Knots have not been an issue but I have found it can “fluff” a little over time where you hold it to cast. This appears worse with the lower strains. . Better than some braids and perhaps worse than others in that it doesn’t have the suppleness of top end 8 strands. Probably more accurate to say it is different to braid. A good and reliable hard lure, casting jig braid. A bit too springy for weightless soft plastics on a light rod.
Glad to here your long term experience with NanoFil is similar to mine. What knots do you use for leaders and terminal tackle.
I’ve no tried Gliss but I know Sean has and all is not bliss with Gliss!
Sorry for the delay in replying. I tie the Nanofil to a fluoro leader. I have found the Albright, Double grinner and FG knot all fine. Take a bit of care with enough turns, wetting and when tightening down and all is fine. I’ve not found I have had to double the line but imagine this may be the case with lower breaking strains.
I would be interested to read a genuine review of Gliss. It lacks abrasion resistance but is so thin I expected nothing else. It would be madness to use it over shallow rough ground or fishing for wrasse. I would not use high end 8 strands in this situation either and have a spool of Suffix 832 for these conditions! I will use it where I want a bit of finesse or where I want that extra bit of distance. When I retie leaders I will also cut off a few feet of the mainline behind the leader which will be weakened due to twist. I do this with all lines. Different horses for different courses I guess but so far it works for me in the situations I use it in. I don’t think it has any great advantage over something like YGK 8 Upgrade except it is much, much cheaper!! I think all lines are a compromise between diameter and abrasion resistance among other factors. No one line will do it all if you fish in a variety of situations.
Unfortunately all I can say about GLiss, is that it works well for abouy 6 hours of fishing. After that it completely changes its characteristics and becomes the worst line I have ever used for wind knots.
Gliss update: I have had no real issues with the Gliss I purchased initially, certainly no problems with wind knots. No issues with fluffing or breaking well below the stated strain. I used it for all of last year on one of my rods. It had a reasonable amount of use but did not get used every time I went – certainly a minimum of 50 hours through the year. I have recently reversed it as I do with all lines after a year. For snag free fishing it appeared to be the “dogs”. In fact initially I was so impressed that after I had been using it for a couple of weeks I purchased another spool which remained in the cupboard as a spare. I put this on another reel recently and have had a couple of early season go outs. Quite frankly, although it looked the same it was like a different line and showed signs of fluffing and fraying after a couple of short trips. I am not even sure what had caused this. It broke easily in the affected areas. Further tests at home showed it frayed much more easily than the other spool. Quality control??????? Manufacturing process????? Not so impressed and confidence taken a dent. New line has been replaced and wait to see how reversed line performs. Two lines, same 8kg bs, bought at around about the same time but which, on the face of it appear to perform quite differently.
Dave
Your second experience corresponds to Sean’s initial one! As you say it looks like it might be a quality control issue, I’m interested in how you tested the line at home for frayability.
Also you have replaced the second line but with what? I’m still using clear mist nanofil with no issues!
Hi Adrian,
Yes, disappointing as the first lot seemed ok for clear ground and cast well. I’ve replaced it with YGK G Soul Upgrade which I use anyway. I’ve now got some nagging doubts in my mind over the original Gliss in same BS – will it let me down with a decent fish on etc? I have also picked up a spool of Suffix Pro 8 after seeing some a mate bought. It’s competitively priced so not a major outlay. Some long term usage will show if its up to the job.
I tested fraying of the Gliss by tying a one kg weight, (litre milk container full of water), on it and pulling at right angles over the end of some old worktop!!!! Hardly scientific but it told me what I wanted to know.
Still more than happy with nanofil for all hard lure work and if I’m honest it would also be ok for most soft plastic stuff – it seems to have stood the test of time and looking back, it seems odd that it got such a bad press in some quarters originally and appears to have been forgotten. I still see it as a perfectly viable option to braid.
Thanks for giving your feedback Dave. It all helps people make educated decisions. Without a doubt there was an issue with the first batch of Nanofil that entered the UK. However that was soon fixed. One of the main reasons it had bad press was that it was berated by armchair anglers from many forums, particularly the lure forum. None of them had even used Nanaofil, but were happy to run it down. One of the many reasons I have no faith in most forums.