[Lee Jelf]

I have been worried for a while about the amount of braid I have on my reel.

I use Shimano Technium 4000FB's with 30lb (0.28mm, 14kg) Power Pro Hi-Vis Yellow braid. I have mono (15lb) backing, with just enough to cover the spool and have covered this with a thin layer of electrical insulation tape with a short piece of mono sticking out which is tied to the braid. I have the spool filled to around 2mm of the top lip of the spool.

I have just roped the mrs into holding the end of my line whilst I walked down the back lane with my rod and reel and measured how much braid I actually have on the reel, it came to 75yds.

Although I haven't had any troubles in the past, I have recently been thinking about using my reels for a bit of light gear Gilthead Breaming and this led me to wonder if I had enough line on my spool. Obviously know that I know that I only have 75yds, I am worried if a big fish would spool me out, especially if hooked right at the start of the retrieve, straight after the cast.

So, I wondered how much do you consider is enough, or even what is the minimum length of braid that you think you need when plugging?

If 75 yds isn't enough, what do you think I have done wrong, is 30lb braid to wide for a 4000 sized spool?

Thanks for any help you may be able to give me.

 

[Ben Field]

Surprised you've only got 75 on there Lee. I'd have thought with just a shallow mono backing that just covers the spool, then a single layer of tape, you should be able to get twice as much braid on there? Not too sure what to suggest really?

I'd be quite happy with 100, but like you say, 75 must be feeling a bit short. Can imagine you can almost start to see the ape with a long cast with wind dragging extra line off?

 

[Tim Griffin]

Lee I have the Shimano Exage 4000 and 2500 and managed to get a full 150 yard spool of .23 Power Pro on with mono backing. Are the spools that much smaller on the Technium? For general bass fishing I recokn 100 yards is enough as I rarely cast more than 60 yards (wind behind!).

 

[Bagpuss]

Lee
Have you got the match (coarse) angler's spool on there???
The smaller match spool usually only holds about 80 yards of braid.

 

[Lee Jelf]

Lee
Have you got the match (coarse) angler's spool on there???
The smaller match spool usually only holds about 80 yards of braid.

Not sure, how would I tell?

All 4 of my spools are the same size and all have the following written on them:

"Line Cap. (=) (lb.-yds.) 8-240 - 10-200 12-160"

I am going to strip one of the spools and measure how much braid only I can get on now, to see if it is the mono backing and tape that is the problem. I will report back my findings.

 

[Ben Field]

For reference Lee, 30LB PP should be about the same diameter as 8lb mono, so according to your spool you should get about 240yds on it. You do have the normal spools looking at the measurements. The Match spools usually come on the 3000 size.

 

[Bagpuss]

That's the bigger spool.
Not sure what you are doing wrong as I get 300 yards of 20lb fireline on my spools that are that size.

 

[Lee Jelf]

Well that experiment didn't go exactly as planned, as turns out I only had 60yds of spare Power Pro on the spool, however when winding this on the bare spool, it has only taken about 50% of the room. So looks like my backing may have been the problem.

I am thinking about joining this new 60yds with the existing 75yds, would this be ok to do and if so what know would you suggest for splicing the two lines together? Uni to Uni? Improved Albright?

Cheers for all the help.

 

[Tim Murphy]

I like this knot for braid to braid. Best first trying it in the warmth and good light in the kitchen though. I've used uni to uni before but found it bloody fiddly with light braid, might be ok with heavier line though.

 

[Lee Jelf]

Thanks, joined the two pieces together until i can get hold of some 0.23mm Power Pro or my free braid and Angel Kiss come through from Sea Angler magazine, which ever is first.

Thanks for all you help guys.

 

[Tim Murphy]

Lee, AGM you might find it cheaper on weebay but Allan does a right good service.

 

[Peter Smith]

Putting too much braid on a spool can give big problems when you get snagged, the line will bite into the rest of the line on the spool killing your next cast.

I found that not putting too much braid on the real often saves me lures, 'How so?' I hear you ask, well ... I fish opposite a big reed bed and my Patchiko's love nothing more than believing thay are some kind of ugly bird, soon as I cast they head for Canada but once the line emptys off the spool it brings the patchinko's back to reality, they land 2 feet away from the reeds enablling them to fly another day and denying Mr Fish my hard earned cash. :-D

 

[Matt W]

how much is enough?

lee, heres a couple of things to consider;
i had the same dilemma when i filled my reel. you could tie the braid to the backing the same way you"d tie a flouro-leader on, it might not be perfect but it could save you from losing a biggy by getting spooled.
it does look nice and neat putting tape over your backing before you put your braid on, but what point does it serve?
Modern reels with"aero" shaped spools hold a much greater percentage of their capacity nearer the spool lip and by under filling them slightly as we do when spinning with braid,you can greatly reduce the overall capacity, just a few millimeters more "depth"of braid could be 20-30 mtrs of braid on the spool.
The easy way to understand this is, take 100 mtrs of line off of a spool that is filled to the lip and ity looks like almost nothing has gone, take another 100mtrs off a your nearly empty!
hope this makes sense.
slighty off thread -ive been using whiplash crystal and it seems brilliant but is there an issue with it that ive not found yet? as nobody else seems to b using it!
any recommendations please.

 

[Peter Smith]

I have been using whiplash crystal for 2 seasons now, never had any problems with it apart from it's restance to gravity, it takes forever to lay on the water, using it you will now what I mean.

Just remembered one BIG down fall that is stopping me fishing atm, after 6 soild days of casting/retrieving lures the braid has cut into my finger, on my last cast this afternoon I had blood coming out of the cut, I tried using a different finger to hold/release the line but my aiming was crap so I gave up.

 

[Tim Griffin]

I used Whiplash crystal last year to great effect. Sadly I was down to about 60 yards left due to various snags which is why I changed for this year to PowerPro. Better price than I could get for WHiplash Crystal...