Welcome Home...THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY

Thisis something that has always puzzled me.  Now i know there are times, especially in the case of deep sea fishing where you really can't have too much line but when it comes to fresh water pan fishing how much line do you really need?

It  seems to me that 210 yards of line is way more line than I have ever needed to spool out.  I doubt I've ever used more than 200 feet!   What is the point of having three times more line than you'll ever need?

Does having your reel filled to capacity actually lessen the possibility of the line fraying, snagging, snarling, or breaking or is it just more money in the pockets of the tackle companies?

How often do you replace your lines?  I've been told it should be changed every season but I've gone for years using the same line with no problem

I know there are all sorts of factors to consider, specifically what type of line and what type of reel and where you fish and how often the rod is used but I'm still posing the question, how much line is too much line?

I'd love to read accounts of people losing a fish because they ran out of line.  Most often I lose a fish because the line breaks when I'm landing it, not when the line is spooled out until I ran out of line.  I've never had a reel spool all they way out while fishing.

Views: 103

Replies to This Discussion

Tobias

Good series of questions for thought.

I've only been "spooled" once in over 60 years....can you see tarpon on a bass rig? Wrong gear for wrong fish of course, but was very exciting for a short time. He snuck up on me when I was stalking a big red - had to give it a go you know.

I use my bass gear all the time in skinny salt water and rarely use anything over 12# test line except for leader material. Looking at around 120 yrds of line on most bait casters. Just like the challenge. Have landed/released numerous bull reds in the 30+ range as well as even bigger black drum and a couple of very large 50+ gars with this gear. It's more about knowing your drag system and knowing the fighting characteristics of your target fish. That and some lucky boat handling.

On high quality spinning reels you can usually get low yardage spare spools that hold half the line (bigger spindle or core) or just get a spare and add several layers of tape before tying on you line - Pop taught me to do this on the old Mitchell 300's. I think most of your reel mfgrs just follow what they know and have always done, trying to cover a wide range of bases for their product.......plus line is relatively cheap in the overall scheme of things. There's also the "break-off" factor to consider, if you fish where there is a lot of structure - rocks, brush, oysters, etc. You really don't want to be respooling every time you turn around. That and reels perform much better when filled to designed capacity.

Like you said all kinds of factors to consider (that's why cane poles are so cool - no worries).

Back when I fished tournaments I respooled roughly every other month. Now just when the line feels stiff. However I respool for saltwater every trip (once or twice a year). Losing a big fish due to negligence just makes me nuts, yeah I'm pretty fanatical about checking knots and strip checking my lines before I start fishing (but that's just me).

Carl,

OMG can I see you trying to get that tarpon on a bass rig LOL

Tobias,

99% of my fishing has been saltwater for larger fish.  We respooled annually and still not the entire amount.  Some of those large Penn Reels hold 350 plus yards.  We used a technique called backing.  We would have the last 100 yards saved when the old line was taken off and it would become the backing for the new line, spliced into the new line.  We could do this for a 2 year period..IF we were diligent and always clear water  washed the line after every days use.  The time it took to do the wash was worth the $ saved.  When your talking about 6-8 reels with that much 50# and 80# mono.

The fresh water gear may be done the same way.  We had the reels spooled before moving to Ga and time will tell but I still think we will use the backing technique beyond the 50 yard point.

Believe it or not I managed to stay connected to the tarp for almost 15 min. Very intense, learned a good lesson about putting a float on the ol' anchor line. Hunting for that got us calmed down a bit afterward.

Used to do the backing trick before I started fishing tournaments, but most bass gear just doesn't require that much line and definitely not that heavy. Doubt one could get 50 yds of 80# on a little Shimano bait caster, much less get it to spool off well.

Can sure see using the heavy stuff on that bull dolphin you posted earlier. Yowsa!

Rofl Carl.  I also wouldn't want to take on the dolphin with the 4# test on the trout rod!

I have never lost a fish to too little line but I've lost a lot to frayed, dried out line.

My spinning reel holds 250 yds of 12# but I load only 200--balances better.  At the end of the season there is less then 100 yds left on the spool.  I remove the frayed etc, part every once in a while, depending on how rough we're fishing. If there is lots of rocks or sunken trees or thick weeds it gets changed more often but in calm, clear water I may go a whole day without snipping off more then a foot or so from around the swivel.

RSS

White River Knives

Visit Lee' s Cutlery

KNIFE AUCTIONS

KNIFE MAGAZINE!!!

tsaknives.com

JSR Sports!

Click to visit

© 2024   Created by Jan Carter.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service