TRILENE BIG GAME vs Fairplay Floating Fly Fishing Line: which is safer?
BERKLEY TRILENE BIG GAME is the clear pick. Cortland Fairplay Floating Fly Fishing Line carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Our pick
Berkley
TRILENE BIG GAME
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
LikelyUV degradation and embrittlement
PossibleMicroplastic release during use
Cortland
Fairplay Floating Fly Fishing Line
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
PossibleCoating leachables (non-PFAS)
PossibleMicroplastic shedding from degraded coating
PossibleSkin and eye contact with coating during handling
Where these two actually differ
- We flag UV degradation and embrittlement and Microplastic release during use on the Berkley and not on the Cortland.
- We flag Coating leachables (non-PFAS), Microplastic shedding from degraded coating and Skin and eye contact with coating during handling on the Cortland and not on the Berkley.
- The Berkley is monofilament nylon fishing line where the Cortland is Floating fly line with unspecified waterproof/buoyancy coating, which is most of the difference in these two grades.
- The gap is 45 points, wide enough that this is not a close call, and the Berkley is the one to buy.
- We are less certain about the Cortland grade, at 35% confidence against 72%, because it discloses less.
Both products run through the same public rubric: materials, coatings, brand disclosure, lab findings, and recalls, plus a beyond-PFAS hazard analysis. Grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests. How grades work →
More fishing line: see the full ranking