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[Will_CARP]

 Question, is 6lb trilene adequate for pinks in the lower Fraser?

[Brian]

Lots of guys fishing for 12# springs on a 6# leader

[typhoon]

No. Going that light is inadequate for any river with flow and is unnecessary.
You will either leave a lot of hooks in fish or unnecessarily stress the fish. We need to protect the wild coho especially.

[brood dude]

i use 15 or 20 on my pins and 15 on bait casters. get them in quick and put them back quick, it's a much better way of doing business .

[Rodney]

Main line selection is quite different when fishing in rivers and estuaries (Lower/Tidal Fraser). Heavier main line is usually required for river salmon fishing due to the swift current. Estuaries lack the river current, so your main line poundage can be reduced a bit. I've used 6lb test Maxima Ultragreen for pink salmon in the Tidal Fraser. While I could always land the fish, I found that it was pretty stressful on the line, reel and also the fish. The line had quite a bit of abrasion after numerous fights too. After a few trips testing it, I have since been using 8lb test Maxima Ultragreen for all spincasting for salmon in the Tidal Fraser. Also, I've found Trilene to be much weaker than Maxima when comparing the same labelled line strength.

[Will_CARP]

 Thanks guys, going to use heavier poundage now.

[DionJL]

Note that Maxima rates their line at minimum breaking strength where as other lines are rated at average breaking strength.

[Rodney]

Note that Maxima rates their line at minimum breaking strength where as other lines are rated at average breaking strength.

Yes that is what I was trying to say. Also, I meant to say that Trilene is a terrible line from the times when I used it. They break quite easily at times when I expected them not to.

Lighter line is usually used to increase your lure casting distance. I find that 10lb test Maxima is not that great for casting the lures that I use down in the Tidal Fraser. 8lb test seems to have worked out for me, by allowing me to make the distance desired and handle just about all the fish that I encounter.

[FlyFishin Magician]

Good points gentlemen.  I learned that the hard way.  Many years ago I found 6 lb trilene to be too weak for the pinks - whereas 6 lb maxima ultragreen works fine.  I've also landed 8+ pound coho on 6 lb maxima.  My usual river fly leader is 8 lb maxima, but I will go down to 6 when the water clears and fish get spooky.  I'll even use 6 lb fluorocarbon for the spooky hoes.  But I digress - I would not recommend using 6 lb trilene for the pinks from my experience.  They either break off - or you'll play the fish out too long.

[typhoon]

When I used to fish gear I used 8lb Trilene XT for casting with a spinning rod/reel.
The XT is stronger and stiffer than the XL and has much less tendency to birdsnest while still allowing long casts.
I also found it to be stronger than Maxima for the same diameter.

[Will_CARP]

 Thanks for the replies everyone; I spooled 6lbs trilene xl a week ago for some light spincasting and although it casted better than the old 8lb maxima it snapped pretty easy on a snag making me wonder about its strength.  I may go out and buy new 8lb maxima but is there a line that cast better than maxima ultra green?  I still have a spool of trilene XL 8lb test but kind of lack confidence in it now to hold my precious lures   See you all on the lower river.

[DionJL]

Trilene XL is eXtra Limp, and Trilene XT is eXtra Tough.

I personally use Maxima 6lb for my spinning reels and for leaders when float fishing. It has an average breaking strength closer to 8lbs, and if you can keep 8lbs of pressure on a fish you'll land it quite quickly.