Lightest Line for Use With Baitcasters.

[papajoe222]

I am slowly and reluctantly, switching over to finesse tactics. I have both baitcasters capable of casting lightweight offerings and a couple of rods to use, but I'm hesitant to use line that's too thin. I currently have 10lb. test mono on one of my Sols and the same test fluorocarbon spooled on my Alphas. 

How much thinner do you think I can go without concerns over the line digging into itself?

[bulldog1935]

Jun Sonada at Japan Tackle recommends PE#1.0 hard coat as the thinnest line for baitcasters (equivalent diameter is 22-lb in X-braid and 10-lb in Sufix 832). 

 

Don Iovino recommends 5-lb Maxima Ultragreen for smallest mono (about the same diameter as PE#1). 

 

A 2-mm-deep spool holds about 80 yds of the lines listed above. 

 

That said, I fish down to PE#0.8 with no problems. 

 

10- and 12-lb Tatsu fish well on the stock Daiwa SV spool, and you can swap that with 20-lb 832 braid. 

The shallow braid-specific spools will cast half the weight 30% farther, and line dig is much less of an issue. 

[Jig Man]

I have one BC setup designated for Ned rigs.  It is spooled with Yozuri hybrid #6 line.  Before I switched to Yozuri I used Seaguar Red fluorocarbon line in 6#.  This is the third or fourth year for this setup.

 

I have never had it “dig into” itself.

[georgeyew]

I have used 6lb line on my baitcaster before without many issues. I just have to be sure that after catching a nice sized fish, I check the line to make sure it did not dig in before making the next cast. I also do that when I have to pull free from a snag. With the 6lb line, I typically have the drag set pretty loose so the line digging in is not usually a problem.

[J Francho]

10# Tatsu is about as low as I go.  Braid, no less than 40# Smackdown, but usually spool up with 50#.

[T-Billy]

I've run 8# XT and 20# 832 without issue.

[FishTank]

I am currently using 8lb FC on my Steez CT.  No issues at all.  I could probably go down to 6lb without any concerns.

 

[Bankbeater]

I have 10# on a SLX-150.  I'm pretty sure that rig could handle 8# without any issues.

[ATA]

10lb Tatsu for fluorocarbon

30lb Braided line I have and no digging to itself.

[jbrew73]

I’ve used .009” diameter line without issues and would not hesitate to try lower if needed. 

[new2BC4bass]

I use a lot of 8# mono or co-polymer on my Medium & ML casting rods.  Big Game, AN40, Siege, XT.  Never had a problem with it digging in.  I put some 6# Excalibur on a Pixy, but think I only made it out once with the reel so far.  I'm using 10# (cheap) braid (4# mono equivalent) on an Airy Red, but haven't put much pressure on it yet.  It's mounted on a Light power rod.

[QED]

I've successfully used down to 4lb mono on BFS casting gear but eventually settled on 6-8lb test mono based upon practical considerations.

[PressuredFishing]

5 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

I am slowly and reluctantly, switching over to finesse tactics. I have both baitcasters capable of casting lightweight offerings and a couple of rods to use, but I'm hesitant to use line that's too thin. I currently have 10lb. test mono on one of my Sols and the same test fluorocarbon spooled on my Alphas. 

How much thinner do you think I can go without concerns over the line digging into itself?

. I throw 30 feet of 2lb on my bfs reel for flipping creeks for trout, and 6lb for my bfs reels for bass. As for normal reels, in my experience only braid digs itself into the spool, floro and coplymer is fine as well as mono. Even a size 100 reel you can use 2lb line, my question though would be why for bass?  On baitcasters for bass in the 150 size range I use 8lb minimum for jerkbaits, you can use lighter I just don't see the point. You will have more problems with line getting stuck in between the sideplate and spool than line digging into itself. Personally if I may ask why are you using a baitcaster for lighter line? Bfs is fun but personally the drags on spinning reels imo are smoother and hooking into 5+ pound fish out here in socal is common, so backreeling is also a big plus.  Have found my bfs combos have niche applications, primarily for trout and tiny pencil walking baits for bass (when needing a fast gear ratio)

3 minutes ago, QED said:

I've successfully used down to 4lb mono on BFS casting gear but eventually settled on 6-8lb test mono based upon practical considerations.

Two pound is fishable but I only do it on my curado bfs because the tolerances of the spool and frame are good (only 2lb for trout)

[papajoe222]

4 hours ago, PressuredFishing said:

my question though would be why for bass?  On baitcasters for bass in the 150 size range I use 8lb minimum for jerkbaits, you can use lighter I just don't see the point. You will have more problems with line getting stuck in between the sideplate and spool than line digging into itself. Personally if I may ask why are you using a baitcaster for lighter line?

 

Truth be told, I dislike spinning gear, mainly because of the wrist and shoulder discomfort I experience holding them in my right hand for any length of time.  I've actually built a casting rod using a ML spinning blank. Many of the finesse baits I will be using are castable with that combo and lighter line in the 6lb. range won't deaden the action of some of them the way 10lb. does. For some baits like hair jigs and 4in. straight tail worms, line diameter doesn't matter much. 

[WRB]

.008 minimum diameter* is the smallest I have used without any issues. The issue is line getting behind the spool.

Tom

* 5# Max UG is .008D

 

[Bluebasser86]

I fish 20lb braid on a few of my baitcasters with no issues. 10lb is the lightest I go with monos for standard fishing but I've used 8lb before. 

[islandbass]

I’ve never heard of line dig for lines that weren’t braid so I don’t think it’s an issue to be concerned about. 
 

8# mono is the thinnest I’ve gone on a bc reel and without a single issue. 

Haven’t tried 6# but I imagine that would be fine too.

[ike8120]

I am using 6# 13xFinesse by Kastking on my BFS reel. Super thin braid.

[roadwarrior]

19 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

How much thinner do you think I can go without concerns over the line digging into itself?

 

Shimano Conquest BFS

Tatsu #6

 

[PressuredFishing]

15 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Truth be told, I dislike spinning gear, mainly because of the wrist and shoulder discomfort I experience holding them in my right hand for any length of time.  I've actually built a casting rod using a ML spinning blank. Many of the finesse baits I will be using are castable with that combo and lighter line in the 6lb. range won't deaden the action of some of them the way 10lb. does. For some baits like hair jigs and 4in. straight tail worms, line diameter doesn't matter much. 

Bfs sounds to be doing very good for you then, that's cool, what reel you using? One thing I will say is while I don't use my bfs much for lake bass, it's KILLER for burning small baits because of the gear ratio, more importantly, I love it for the rivers because 0 line twist, my line on a spinning reel river fishing lasts one day.

[WRB]

8 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

 

Shimano Conquest BFS

Tatsu #6

 

6# Tatsu is .008D?

[roadwarrior]

Seaguar is introducing #4 Tatsu, but I don't have any yet. Looking forward

to replacing #6 with #4 on several rigs.

 

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

Seaguar is introducing #4 Tatsu, but I don't have any yet. Looking forward

to replacing #6 with #4 on several rigs.

Now if they'd just bring the price down for us budget anglers.

[papajoe222]

Thanks for all the replies.

I don't know how it happened to this thread, but I'm not asking about light line for a BFS reel, I don't own one,I'm asking about a standard 100 size baitcaster. I understand that I can add a shallow, skeleton spool to a reel, but I don't plan on throwing trout sized baits.

[bulldog1935]

you don't have to throw trout-sized baits with a shallow (BFS) spool, and you can plug one into just about any Daiwa, Shimano, or Abu. 

But you can wind really small diameter line, and have just the right capacity. 

This is my inshore ML reel, loaded with 120 yds 27-lb X-braid (PE#1.2). 

The line is the same diameter as 5-lb mono. 

The reel is a Zillion 1000. 

While the stock Daiwa SV Boost spool will throw the loaded 1/8 oz jighead, this lower mass set-up will throw it 50% farther. 

The reason is you use less brake to get the same braking result, and more of your cast goes into casting. 

This reel set-up is still capable of throwing 1 oz (limited by spool bearings) without making another adjustment to the reel (though the rod's not rated that high). 

 

On the "standard 100-size" baitcaster spool, you can throw the same small diameter line by stacking the spool.  You use larger diameter mono for backing - fill backing up to about 3-5 mm remaining, tie a good thin joint, and finish winding your smaller working line. 

The reason to stack is to keep the mass of the loaded spool lower than winding 250+ yards of thin line. 

On my deep-spool Super Duty's, I use 20- or 25-lb mono for backing, 25 or 20 yards, and finish with 20-lb 832. 

If you don't want to stack, you're good to about 8- or 10-lb mono/fluoro, or 20-lb Sufix 832 braid. Much smaller, and you're back up to that 200+ yards to fill the spool. 

 

Here's the calculator to determine spool capacity for different line diameters

 

this one is for stacking line

 

If you want to give us context, tell us what reel you're trying to fill - someone may have already done it.