I used the Varivas 2.3 lb ester line for the first time a couple weeks ago on my annual Maine smallmouth bass trip.

Quailtail - I would recommend flipping the bail or at least putting your hand on the spool as soon as your lure hits the water. That will prevent coils from coming off the reel even if you fill the spool to the same level you'd do with nylon mono.
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For the life of me I cannot understand why people have breakage issues. I caught numerous 14-17" smallies with it and the only time my line broke was when I got snagged and I had to break it on purpose. I was using trout rods (both Area and Native) rather than ajing or mebaru rods, and my drag was set about the same as I'd have it with a 2.5 lb nylon line (I don't have a scale to measure the drag setting). I used a 3-turn surgeons knot to attach the ester to 4X (5.1lb) nylon tippet for abrasion resistance. Obviously, I wasn't putting a lot of pressure on the fish with an Area trout rod, but the line certainly didn't seem to me to be any more susceptible to breakage than a nylon line.

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