A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
dombern34 wrote:the backing will limit the braid from slipping on the spool keeping the braid from digging down into the spool. another good thing about backing is you can stretch a average 150/200 yard spool over a couple of reels. i would use some cheap mono like Cajun line to back my reels.
This is good advice. It might take 500 yards of braid to fill a big spinning reel, and it's kind of a waste since most of that will never touch the water. And I've actually had to retrofit mono backing to a couple braid-spooled reels that started to slip after a year or so.
another thing to save some pennies, when that braid gets old and faded out, reel that old braid onto another reel without any braid and all that braid next the backing will be brand new.
fireant21 wrote:I always tie mono straight to lure with a loop knot on topwater. I don't like how the flouro tends to sink and make walking the dog more sluggish with a leader. I have to retie a couple times during say a early summer morning, but that is the nature of a loop knot anyhow.
Gotcha. I assumed you were fishing braided mainline. Sometimes I forget straight mono is still an option...
I usually use 15 pound braid on the whole spool and it fills it up nice using the tape off the box to keep the line from slipping and tie 15 or 20 pound vanish mono line for my leader to my lures.
Redbelly wrote:How would mono leader with braided line work for topwater?
Works great! I use 10lb Power Pro with cheap mono backing tied with a blood knot to 12-15lb mono. I don't use fluro because of the lack of stretch in the line. When throwing topwater with braid I have found that a 5ft section of regular mono acts as a shock leader for hard head shakes. Plus it allows a little abrasion resistance when fishing around structure. I have always found the lighter the better on both counts, line and leader. For what it's worth, I like the red Power Pro, especially because it turns pink after a while.
Mister Mullet wrote:Prove it to yourself. Take a clear glass of water and dip a piece of each. See which one disappears. Use a quality brand of flourocarbon.
I did. Did not get a bite. They seem to not bite very well in my glass.
Mister Mullet wrote:Prove it to yourself. Take a clear glass of water and dip a piece of each. See which one disappears. Use a quality brand of flourocarbon.
I did. Did not get a bite. They seem to not bite very well in my glass.
I just took a trip to St.Marks and the two guys fishing with me were using mono and I used braid with a fluorocarbon leader and we were all using the same jig heads and same gulps fishing the same spot out of the same boat and we caught 15 trout I caught 12 of them and they caught 3 so I'm sold on using fluorocarbon leaders on all my rigs.
[quote="mpa_72001"]I usually use 15 pound braid on the whole spool and it fills it up nice using the tape off the box to keep the line from slipping.
I also fill my reel completely with braid. After the first year or so, I pull all the line off, tie the used end to the reel and rewind onto the spool. Now I have new line! The next change out, I cut one third of the line off the end, pull all the line off the reel and tie the used one third to the reel and first used line that was tied to the reel. Now I'm fishing with the middle of the line .
This works for me!
I have hung fish that has taken 2/3 or more of my line off the reel. I feel better having all one kind of line on the reel.
I've not had a slippage problem or line that has dug in.
sometimes tried and true is still the best.
