Time to reline the rigs

[Bassun]

Hey guys -- so, it's coming on spring, and I've neglected my line for a couple of seasons, actually 3 I think, so it's time to pull it all off and put fresh on.  My heavy gear has 50 or 65lb braid strait to the spool, that's still in good shape, I think I will probably flip it and just leave it alone.  (pull off and wind on old first on the spool if that didn't make sense)  But my basic gear needs fresh line.  Most of my gear is spooled with Ande Premium 10 lb.  And I have been please as always with it.  Even old, I've not had any issues.  But I am thinking of making a big change this year.  I am going to mix braid in for my small stuff.

 

Here is my current plan, just curious if anyone has any thoughts.

 

For most of my bass rigs:

Mono backing, to fill the spool about 2/3rds or so.  Ande Ghost in 12 lb.

Braid on top of that.  Kastking Fortis in 15lb (.14mm just shy of Ande 2lb diamater!) Yellow Submarine color.

Then leader off with Tatsu Flurocarbon in 10lb.

 

For my ultralights:

Kastking Fortis in 15lb Yellow Submarine, strait to the spool.  (may tape or arbor knot if I can get a little bite)

Leader off with Tatsu Flurocarbon in 4lb.  That spool should last a VERY long time lol.

 

I kind of feel like saving the money with the Ghost and Kastking on the back pays for the ultra premium Tatsu for the leaders, lol.  Ande, I know is solid.  Love the stuff.  Kastking, I've never used, but all I've read has been very positive and the new Fortis is supposed to stop the line fade.  I've never used Tatsu before, but I figure if I like Berkley Vanish, then I should love Tatsu lol.  I know I will have a big jump in diameters, but I would rather have that vs going with a mono sized braid, or braid sized mono.  I'll just have to accept the knot will be there.

 

Any thoughts?

[Bassun]

Since Ghost is only available in 12 - 50 I may just go with Premium instead in 10lb. 

[IgotWood]

To be honest, I use the cheapest mono I can find to fill the spool. I fill it up about half way with mono, and top it off with about 75yds of braid. I don't need anymore than that. I generally fish within 30yds of my kayak, and I haven't yet been into a bass that took 50yds of drag from me. That said...I still have plenty of line left to get through the day if I hang up or get a backlash and have to lose some line. This also allows me to fill my reel twice a year with one 150yd spool of my favorite braid, which is quite pricy. I personally wouldn't get too hung up on the mono. It's only there to prevent your braid from biting into itself. 10-15lb mono from the bargain bin for me.

[Sam]

Bassun, I just removed all mono and flouro line off my reels this past Wednesday, February 1st. I usually do it over the holidays but got lazy.

 

I left the braid on the reels.

 

I use Gamma line. Found it to be excellent and many of the pros use it. But I also use Ande and  it is a good line.

 

Taking one reel to Wayne Knabe in Powhatan, VA, next week for servicing.

 

It is imperative that we all remove and replace all flouro and mono on our reels within three days before we hit the water. I was fishing a tournament on Lake Chesdin a number of years ago with a guy named Robert and Robert lost a beautiful young lady and his only RICO when his line popped a the boat. He then looked at me and said, "I guess I should have changed my line from last year."

 

Live and learn.

[Beckie Gaskill]

I agree that mono and fluorocarbon need to be changed out quite often. In years that I fish a lot of tournaments, I might not even keep my mono a full year. As far as braid - mono backing is a great idea and keeps costs down.  I spool up 2/3 or so with KastKing mono (which I use for my mono set ups and I've never had a problem with it). But then, on my bait casters, I never go smaller than 50 pound, and I usually spool 65. I use Fortis, too, which I think is a really good line, and not very pricey - I switched from PowerPro and I don't see a noticeable difference (other than price). The reason I don't go any smaller on my bait cast set-ups is it cuts down on the line cutting into itself on the spool. With 15-lb., if you get snagged on something and try to jerk it free, the line diameter is so small that it will cut into itself.

For my spinning set-ups, I use braid with no backing. I tie the braid right to the spool and secure it with a little piece of electrical tape. The tape stops any slipping that might be happening. I use 15-pound on the spinning reels because they don't lend themselves to the line cutting into itself due to the way it comes off the spool. 

I keep my braid for two years, but on my reels that I use heavily I will wind it off one reel onto another so it's "backwards" on the new reel, if that makes sense.  I think that is what you were saying you were doing with some of yours, anyway.

When I use a fluoro leader, I use FluoroKote, which is also a KastKing product. I am not a huge fan of fluoro as far as spooling just that on a reel, but I do use it for leader material. They also have a regular fluorocarbon now, rather being coated with fluoro - I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I would imagine it is as good a product as the rest. 

[J Francho]

For perspective, I have 6# Tatsu on a spinning reel that is now 3 seasons old, as part of a long term test.  The 5 season old 6# InvisX will be replaced with the Finesse fluorocarbon, since I'm satisfied with the InvisX result.  It doesn't need changing, but I want to try the new line.  Fluoro does not degrade like mono.  I don't recommend that any push it this far, but just wanted to chime in results on a couple of specific line brands.

[cottny27]

I usually fish my fluoro for a couple seasons, but I don't probably fish as much as most of you.  

[Fishes in trees]

For me, fluorocarbon lines only get changed when necessary, generally that means when I've broken off enough times that the spool is a little low.  I've switched over to 50 size reels for all my jig/soft plastic stuff.  It isn't unusual to go a couple of years before a reel needs changing.   The line longevity is one of the things that make fluorocarbon a little more affordable.  Same with braid - change it when I need to- which isn't often.  Currently I use Seaguar Abrazx - because a couple of years ago I got a great deal on a large spool of 10 and 15 and 20 lb test and I'm no where close to using that up yet.

 

I still use mono for spinnerbaits/chatterbaits/square bills.   I use whatever 17 or 20 lb line is on sale at Walmart during their early spring close outs.   I think that 17 or 20 lb Ironsilk is good reaction bait line.   Stren Dura-Tuf (or whatever they are calling it now) is good reaction bait line.     I haven't tried every line out there, but I have tried many of them.   The only ones I won't use any more are Big Game and P-line.   I had random unexplainable breakage issues with Big Game and I found P-line to have more manageability issues than I wanted to deal with.