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Spooling Up With Braid

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Spooling Up With Braid Empty Spooling Up With Braid

Post  Andy Macfarlane Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:31 pm

Unlike monofilament that stretches significantly, braid has virtually no stretch.

When you spool up with monofilament, it tightens onto the spool. If you put braid directly on your reel (especially smooth barrels spools) you run the risk of the whole ball of line spinning on the reel – especially if the reel gets wet.

To avoid slippage, use one of the following methods:

1) Use a hole or knob on the spool if there is one.
2) Leave enough monofilament on the reel to cover the bottom of the spool or fill your spool, leaving enough room for approximately 100 yards of braid. 100 yards will cover most pike fishing applications. You'll only require more if you're into drifter fishing or long-range casting.
3) Put a piece of insulating tape on the empty spool. This gives the braid something to 'bite' into.

15lb mono has a similar diameter to 50lb braid and because there is no advantage in using lighter braid, I'd suggest you use 50lb as a minimum. Naturally, there is no fish in any UK freshwater that will break you off using braid that heavy but as I've said, lighter braid offers no distinct advantage, you'll be able to straighten hooks in the event of a snag, the braid will stand up to more abuse from weed, snags, rocks or abrasive surfaces, it'll have a longer life-expectancy and it's simply easier to work with. You'll also appreciate the increase in successful hook-ups. Expect your hook-up ratio to soar. I've been using the same braid for around 5 years and once I'm sure it's seen better days, I'll take it off and reverse it, giving me another few years of use. Braid seems expensive initially but once you've had a few seasons of use from it, you'll realise just how much money you've saved.
If you have a spare spool for your reel, simply wind on 100 yards of braid and attach some 15lb mono using a Uni to Uni knot. Now fill your spool upto the brim*. Now take the spool off and put an empty spool onto your reel. Now wind all your line onto the empty spool, which now means your braid is on top of the mono.
Once you've filled your spool, it's wise to wind that line on as evenly and under tension. You could use a wet cloth but I prefer to take my rod and reel to an empty field. I tie the end of my braid to something solid, like a fence-post and then walk all my line off. Once my reel is empty, I hold my rod upright, put a decent bend in it and then wind all my line back on, under tension, as evenly as possible. This helps fill your spool evenly, prevents your line bedding into the layers underneath, helps to prevent wind-knots and birdnests, assists casting and basically allows for a nice even line-lay.

*If you've wound your line back on under pressure, there should be about a 1/4" of space between the line and the lip of the spool.

When you use your braid for the first time, clip a weight on and have a few casts, beginning at short range, increasing as you go with each cast. This will allow the line to flow off the spool and wind back on at working pressure. Don't go for the long chuck straight away or it could be the last with that batch. Braid tangles are notorious for staying knotted so be gentle at first. Once you are happy that the line is casting and retrieving without causing any problems, tackle up and start fishing.
Andy Macfarlane
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Post  Slidze Mon Oct 27, 2008 5:18 pm

Some excellent advice here mate....thanks Wink

I'll try this for sure with my next load of braid bounce
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Post  Lefty Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:39 pm

Thanx very much for that Andy.

As per usual, very good advice from the poachmeister. cheers
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Post  Chumley Warner Wed Feb 04, 2009 11:51 pm

Just got one of my retired reels out and drilled two 1mm holes in the the aluminium spool to tie braid to to stop slipping. Had it out twice and had no bother.

Have I been stupid and is the spool gonna crack? It seems ok but thats me thinking and my thinkings let me down on more than one occasion Very Happy
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Post  Andy Macfarlane Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:36 am

Chumley Warner wrote:Just got one of my retired reels out and drilled two 1mm holes in the the aluminium spool to tie braid to to stop slipping. Had it out twice and had no bother.

Have I been stupid and is the spool gonna crack? It seems ok but thats me thinking and my thinkings let me down on more than one occasion Very Happy

Had you asked how to spool up with braid first, you might have saved a lot of braid, a spool and the melting of the ice-caps, which will be your fault for being so presumptuous. Next time ask. There's a nice Chumley.... tongue

.....Regards.....Andy...... geek
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Post  Lefty Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:39 am

I've often thought of drilling the spool.

Obviously you would have to countersink the holes and make sure there is no swarf etc hanging around. This is not a problem on the outer face of the spool but would be a little bit more difficult for the inside edge of the spool.

As long as you don't put the holes too close to each other, I don't think your spool would crack.
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Post  Chumley Warner Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:42 am

The holes are about 20mm apart and the swarf has been removed from the spool but not my fingers Very Happy

A couple of mates do it and have done for years with no bother, but they are numptys so I thought Id check on here...after I did it oddly enough. Ill let you know if it goes down the pan.

Cheers lads Very Happy
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Post  Andy Macfarlane Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:44 pm

Think about this for a second. Braid is expensive...yes? What's your likely best cast? How much braid do you actually need on your spool?
I normally split a 300 yard spool of braid 3 ways (thats 100 yards each for the slow-witted) and back each spool with mono, therefore, saving me a lot of dough. Do you think you'll ever actually cast to the end of your line? I would think not.
Even if you're into ballooning or drifting, you only need 150 yards of braid on your spool, again, backed with mono.
I think you should have left the spool alone, filled the reel with backing and then put as much braid as required onto your spool and then you could have filled your other reels too.

.....Regards....Andy..... geek
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Post  esoxjeff Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:23 pm

Lefty CW
remove swarf with a de-burr unit, they are so cheap and clean holes up brill.
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