Leftover Braid

[Goose52]

20 hours ago, OkobojiEagle said:

Always interesting to read of anglers short changing the line they put on their 200.00 reels and 200.00 rods throwing 1000.00 worth of lures from their 40,000.00 boats to save a few dollars...  I'm fortunate enough to fish waters where 50lb Musky, 40lb Drum, Carp & Catfish, as well as, 7lb Smallmouth have been caught and I've been totally spooled of line on a couple of occasions; so I prefer having my line of choice spooled all the way to the arbor without knots or "cheaper" line.

 

oe 

 

I think the key word here is "cheaper line".

 

As I mentioned above, I start with a full spool of flouro or braid but eventually, due to trimbacks or whatever, I will be adding backing. I'm not going to throw away $10 or $15 dollars worth of mainline after some trimbacks. The key is to of course use a good knot, but also "good enough" backing in the event that you think you have a chance to connect with a fish much larger/heavier/stronger than your targeted species. OTOH, some folks fish places where it's unlikely to catch anything very large so the quality of the backing is of less importance - it's just basically a filler, or perhaps you could call it an "arbor" to keep your adequate (for purpose) amount of mainline at the top of the reel spool.

 

For me, I occasionally connect with something larger than LMB so I do give thought to my backing. Nowadays, I tend to use 15lb Big Game under whatever mainline I have (or, as I mentioned above, I might have braid as the backing).  I have found that in my, mostly open, water that 15 BG is adequate for those unexpected "collateral catches".

 

In the past, I even used lighter backing...but it was relatively good line.  These were caught the same day on 10 lb mainline with 12 lb backing - seemed to work ...

 

 

 

 

[BrackishBassin]

1 hour ago, OkobojiEagle said:

 

OK... Be sure and write me how it goes after you hook a 30lb musky with 6lb Fireline tied on, or even a 10lb walleye.

 

Education is seldom free.

oe

 

Like I said, it's got close to 100% breaking strength of the line you're using. So, you're saying that without the FG knot to a leader that 6lb Fireline is going to do the trick when you hook up with the fish you mentioned? 

 

Lightest line I currently use for bass is the 15lb braid mainline with a 12lb leader. I think it'd do just fine. I've caught plenty of rockfish, carp, red drum, and flounder with the same rod, reel, and line. Never had an issue. Are they the species you're talking about? Nope. Are they in the same size category? Definitely. And like I said, never had an issue.