Many would be forgiven for thinking that Amnesia came about through carp fishing evolution, so widespread is its use among today’s carp angling fraternity, but its history goes back much further, to the 1960’s, when it was originally conceived as a ‘shooting line’ for fly anglers, allowing them to cast far greater distances than had previously been achieved thanks to its thin diameter which cut guide friction on casting.
Sunset, the American manufactures, developed a way to produce monofilament line without ‘memory’, the term used to describe how line has a tendency to return to its original coiled position on the spool once cast. Increased memory means it wants to coil more, reduced memory means it wants to coil less. And as such, with the manufacturer claiming it had no memory at all, it became known as Amnesia – forty years later and it’s still the number one choice for many anglers, and it’s used extensively across all disciplines; fly, coarse, carp, and sea angling.
As a carp leader (a length attached between mainline and rig) it is fantastic. If you want to achieve big distances, a leader helps absorb the energy on the cast and reduces the chances of cracking-off when giving it the big one, and it’s just as effective when used as a snag leader. For years I used Kryston Quicksilver as a snag-leader and found it to be one of the best leader materials I’ve ever used, but in some instances I had a feeling it might have been responsible for spooking a few fish, mainly down to its colour in gin-clear water. Over the last few years I’ve used Amnesia more and more, particularly when targeting spooky fish in snaggy waters, and my results have been fantastic. I tend to use the clear Amnesia, thinking that its refractive qualities better suit my needs, however, friends using the black variant seem to do just as well.
As well as making for an effective leader material, it can also be used for making hooklinks. I’ve been using various Amnesia combi and stiff rig presentations for years and overall, have been very impressed with results, both in terms of breaking strains attained on tension meter tests, and of course, fish banked.
Amnesia comes on 70 yard spools and is available in various breaking strains from 15 to 40lb (clear or black). RRP is between £1.99 and £4.99 a spool dependant on breaking strain. Available from most tackle shops, but be careful as I’ve noticed some fly fishing specialists tend to charge a little more for the same product.
I will single out praise for Tackle Traders who managed to get some out to me at extremely short notice when I realised I had non left for my recent Birch Grove trip. Their customer service was excellent and they bent over backwards to help me out, so thanks guys!
Julian Grattidge
October 2006
