Best All Purpose Fishing Line, Compared: Mono, Copolymer, Fluoro and Braid

Our verdict

All Purpose Fishing Line Top Picks

No one line wins every job, so this guide picks by type: three monofilaments, two copolymers, two fluorocarbons and two braids, each a line our sources tested or use for general fishing. Each link opens the exact test, colour and spool we name. More in our fishing gear guides.

Compare the picks

Compare the 9 All Purpose Fishing Lines

Diameters and break strengths are the makers’ figures; none names a test standard, and Yo-Zuri states its rating “does not constitute a guarantee or warranty of actual performance.”

Which Line Type Is the Most Versatile?

OutdoorGearLab, which scored eight lines on strength, casting, memory, versatility and knots, gave its highest versatility scores to monofilament: 10 for Trilene Big Game and 8 for Trilene XL, against 7 for Vanish and Tatsu fluorocarbon and 6.5 for Stealth and x9 braid. Posters in the r/FishingForBeginners thread that ranks for this search mostly agree: “Mono is decent at almost everything.”

Monofilament and copolymer

Mono stretches, which forgives a hurried knot. OutdoorGearLab scored Trilene XL a little above its fluorocarbons for knots because “the Trilene XL has a bit of stretch in it that makes it easier for beginners to tie knots that are less likely to break.” The cost is feel: the same test found Big Game had the most stretch of the lines it fished. Copolymers blend materials; Yo-Zuri, for example, describes Hybrid as “Co-polymer consisting of fluorocarbon and nylon.”

Fluorocarbon

Fluorocarbon sinks and is hard for fish to see. OutdoorGearLab found its fluorocarbons scored lower for versatility “because they can require a bit more care and attention for optimal casting and knot tying.” One beginner-thread poster adds: “A hook length of flouro can often be beneficial if the fish are being shy.”

Braid

Braid is thin for its strength and barely stretches. OutdoorGearLab marked braid down for versatility “because they’re more visible to line-shy fish and require specific knots that won’t come loose.” Learn a Palomar from our easy fishing knots; see braided vs mono fishing line. A poster in the thread put it this way: “So if you’re fishing from the shore pick braid and base the thickness on the size of the fish youre expecting to encounter.”

Best all around fishing line weight

For mono, the answers in the ranking thread cluster between 4 and 10 lb: “For panfish and small bass, I would just keep it simple with 4-8lb mono.” Others answered 6-8 lb, and in an r/Fishing_Gear thread on an all-round mono rod, posters answered 6, 8 and 10 lb. For braid, one beginner-thread poster suggests “10-15lb braid.” We link 6 to 10 lb mono, copolymer and fluorocarbon and 10 lb braid. Check your rod’s printed line rating first, as one poster warns.

How We Picked These Lines

What each line had to show

• A line type and pound test our sources use for general fishing.
• The maker’s test, spool length, material and colour for the linked spool, and the maker’s diameter or “not published.”
• In stock on Amazon, new, when checked, from Amazon, the brand or a named seller.

Sources and how independent they are

Sources and how independent they are

OutdoorGearLab fished eight lines at 6 to 10 lb; seven of them are here, though it does not name spool lengths, and it fished Trilene XL at 6 lb (we link 8 lb) and Tatsu at 8 lb (we link 10 lb). Tackle Tour lab-measured Yo-Zuri Hybrid (undated). Trout and Steelhead is a guide’s own list. Owner reports come from four Reddit threads (one, two, three, four).

Shared picks with our other line guides: Seaguar Tatsu appears on the 8 lb, 200 yd spool in our fishing lines for bass; SpiderWire Stealth 10 lb Moss Green, 125 yd is in our braided line reviews; Trilene Big Game appears on heavier tests in the bass guide and our saltwater line guide, and Berkley x9 in the saltwater guide. Winter and fly lines are separate jobs: see ice fishing lines and weight forward fly lines.

All Purpose Fishing Lines: Detailed Reviews

Picks: Berkley Trilene XL, Sufix Elite, Berkley Trilene Big Game, Yo-Zuri Hybrid, KastKing FluoroKote, Berkley Vanish, Seaguar Tatsu, SpiderWire Stealth, Berkley x9.

Berkley Trilene XL, Supple All-Round Mono

Evidence: Independently reviewed, same series. OutdoorGearLab: 6 lb Clear Blue Fluorescent, spool not stated.

OutdoorGearLab wrote: “When it’s time to spool up a reel for general-purpose, do-everything fishing, the line we turn to most often is the versatile Berkley Trilene XL monofilament.” It found low memory for a mono but “limited abrasion resistance.” A poster with “35+ years” of fishing still has it on some rods. Berkley says the current formula has “20% greater knot strength and over 50% greater wet strength” than before.

XL or Big Game? XL is the suppler, smoother-casting mono in OutdoorGearLab’s scores; Big Game resisted rocks better but had more stretch and memory.

Specs (linked: 8 lb Clear, 330 yd)

• Type: monofilament, nylon
• Diameter: 0.010 in (Berkley; Amazon listing agrees)
• Price tier: $

Sufix Elite, Spinning-Reel Mono

Evidence: No independent test; owner reports. r/Fishing_Gear: test not stated.

The Trout and Steelhead guide writes: “This is my favorite all-around mono line for trout and steelhead fishing with spinning reels.” On r/Fishing_Gear, one poster ranks it just behind Sunline: “Suffix elite is a close 2nd.” Another: “I like Sufix Siege and Elite mono. Both are very strong and smooth to cast.”

Elite or Trilene XL? Both are budget-tier spinning monos; XL has OutdoorGearLab’s test, Elite the guide’s and posters’ preference.

Specs (linked: 10 lb Clear, 330 yd)

• Type: monofilament, nylon (Amazon listing; its “Braided” line-type field is wrong)
• Diameter: 0.012 in (Sufix)
• Price tier: $

Berkley Trilene Big Game, Abrasion-Resistant Mono

Evidence: Independently reviewed, same series. OutdoorGearLab: 10 lb Clear, spool not stated.

OutdoorGearLab tested the 10 lb Clear: “With its equally impressive performance in both fresh and saltwater, as well as its versatility for various fishing styles and species, it’s hard to go far wrong with it.” Its caveats: the most stretch of the lines it fished, “Prone to memory coils” and “Not very supple.” On r/Fishing_Gear, one poster calls it “my gold standard.”

Specs (linked: 10 lb Clear, 1500 yd)

• Type: monofilament, nylon
• Diameter: 0.012 in (Berkley; Amazon listing agrees)
• Price tier: $

Yo-Zuri Hybrid, Nylon-Fluoro Copolymer

Evidence: Independently reviewed, exact model. Tackle Tour: 10 lb, spool not stated.

Tackle Tour: “Yozuri Hybrid 10lb test line had an average diameter of 0.305mm in our lab (manufacturer specification is 0.308mm) and tested with an average tensile strength of 13.4 pounds.” It liked it for finesse and jigs but noted “latent memory at about 10lb test and above,” found it “not as good against abrasion as I had thought,” and rated it “More expensive than the average copoly and nylon mono.” It also reports Hybrid lasting up to two seasons on its reels; see how long fishing line lasts. Yo-Zuri says it “molecularly bonds nylon and fluorocarbon during extrusion.”

Hybrid or FluoroKote? Hybrid has a lab test at our 10 lb and a published diameter; FluoroKote is the lighter 6 lb with a fluorocarbon coating and no diameter.

Specs (linked: 10 lb Clear, 600 yd)

• Type: copolymer of fluorocarbon and nylon (Yo-Zuri)
• Diameter: 0.012 in / 0.308 mm (Yo-Zuri)
• Price tier: $

KastKing FluoroKote, Fluoro-Coated Copolymer

Evidence: Independently reviewed, same series. OutdoorGearLab: 6 lb, spool not stated.

KastKing calls it “a premium combination of fluorocarbon and co-polymer.” OutdoorGearLab scored it 9 for knots and wrote: “The KastKing FluoroKote fits the low memory bill, too.” Its comparison table disagrees on memory, listing “Low sensitivity, stretchy, memory” as cons. Sold on Amazon by KastKing’s own storefront at the time of writing.

Specs (linked: 6 lb Clear, 300 yd)

• Type: fluorocarbon-coated copolymer (KastKing)
• Diameter: not published by KastKing
• Price tier: $$

Berkley Vanish, Entry Fluorocarbon

Evidence: Independently reviewed, same series. OutdoorGearLab: 8 lb Clear, spool not stated.

OutdoorGearLab: “The Berkley Vanish Fluorocarbon fended off scratchy rocks remarkably well and occasionally outperformed its 8-lb rating in our strength break tests on our lab bench.” It credits Vanish with bites from pressured cutthroat trout, but it “gained spool memory” on a spinning reel within two weeks.

Vanish or Tatsu? Both are fluorocarbon; Vanish is the 8 lb, mid-range tier, Tatsu the 10 lb, premium tier that OutdoorGearLab found easier to cast (it fished both at 8 lb).

Specs (linked: 8 lb Clear, 250 yd)

• Type: 100% fluorocarbon (Berkley)
• Diameter: 0.010 in (Berkley; Amazon listing agrees)
• Price tier: $$

Seaguar Tatsu, Double-Structure Fluoro

Evidence: Independently reviewed, same series. OutdoorGearLab: 8 lb, spool not stated; we link 10 lb, 200 yd.

OutdoorGearLab: “The premium Seaguar Tatsu 100% Fluorocarbon proved to be one of the best casting fluorocarbon lines we’ve fished with, remaining reasonably supple even after spending time sitting on the reel between fishing trips.” Its cons: “Expensive, doesn’t cast as well as braided lines.” Seaguar calls it “the world’s only double-structure fluorocarbon mainline.” At the time of writing this spool was sold on Amazon by a third-party seller, SUPER DEALS!, and shipped from Amazon’s warehouse.

Specs (linked: 10 lb Clear, 200 yd)

• Type: 100% fluorocarbon, double structure (Seaguar)
• Diameter: 0.010 in / 0.260 mm (Seaguar)
• Price tier: $$$

SpiderWire Stealth, Dyneema Braid

Evidence: Independently reviewed, same series. OutdoorGearLab: 10 lb Moss Green, spool not stated.

OutdoorGearLab: “The diameter of 10-lb test Stealth Braid, for instance, is roughly equivalent to many 4-lb monofilament lines.” It praised the casting but lists “Harder to cut with nippers” and “Requires special knots due to slickness.”

Stealth or x9? Both are 10 lb braid in the same $$ tier; Stealth costs a little less, while x9 measured thinner (0.12 mm against 0.20 mm) in OutdoorGearLab’s test.

Specs (linked: 10 lb Moss Green, 125 yd)

• Type: braid, Dyneema PE microfiber, fluoropolymer treated (SpiderWire)
• Diameter: not published by SpiderWire
• Price tier: $$

Berkley x9, Nine-Strand Braid

Evidence: Independently reviewed, same series. OutdoorGearLab: 10 lb, colour and spool not stated.

OutdoorGearLab: “At just 0.12mm thick in 10-lb test, it’s far thinner than SpiderWire Stealth, which was 0.20mm in 10-lb test.” It also writes that “if the X9 didn’t cost so much, it would be the line we’d recommend for most people,” and found it “so limp that it was sometimes annoying to feed through the eyes of hooks.”

Specs (linked: 10 lb Low-Vis Green, 164 yd)

• Type: braid, 9 strands of PE fiber (Berkley)
• Diameter: 0.005 in (Berkley; Amazon listing agrees)
• Price tier: $$

Frequently Asked Questions

A 10 lb braid and a 10 lb mono carry the same rated test; the difference is diameter. Berkley lists 10 lb Trilene Big Game at 0.012 in and 10 lb x9 braid at 0.005 in, and OutdoorGearLab found 10 lb Stealth braid about as thin as “many 4-lb monofilament lines.” Mono stretches more.

For one spinning reel that does most jobs, the posters we read lean to 6 to 10 lb mono such as Trilene XL or Sufix Elite.

For bass around cover, Trilene Big Game or Yo-Zuri Hybrid at 10 lb fits the tests posters name; one poster suggests “6-10 for smallmouth.” For technique-by-technique bass lines, see our fishing lines for bass.

The bottom line

Final Verdict

For one easy line, Berkley Trilene XL (check price) is the mono OutdoorGearLab reaches for, and Berkley Trilene Big Game (check price) the tougher mono it scored highest for versatility. Sufix Elite (check price) is the guide’s spinning mono. Yo-Zuri Hybrid (check price) and KastKing FluoroKote (check price) are copolymers with some fluorocarbon feel. Berkley Vanish (check price) is the mid-range fluorocarbon and Seaguar Tatsu (check price) the premium one for clear water. For distance, SpiderWire Stealth (check price) is the cheaper braid and Berkley x9 (check price) the thinner one.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.