Braid, Flourocarbon, Spectra...

[Cbad Mike]

Pretty complete there Jeff.


Janine,
I think you will be pretty good to go if you follow Jeff's post.
I use 65# braid and my top shots are always 30# of mono but different lengths.
I'll start with maybe 20-25 feet and then cut it shorter as it gets scuffed and cloudy.
If you haven't spooled braid on your reels before, search the older posts to see the way different guys are doing it. I personally first spool 50 or so yards of 30# mono then Uni to Uni it to 300 yards of braid then Uni to Uni my 30# top shot.
You can learn more than you could ever want to by doing a search here on BWE to read the older posts on the subject.

I hope this helps some and I'll see ya OTW soon.

Mike

[janines.fishtales@cox.net]

Ok. That does help. Why the mono first on the spool? So you don't use as much braid? Also, you like mono and not floro carbon for your leader.
What's all the hoopla about floro anyway?

Janine

[Cbad Mike]

Originally Posted by janines.fishtales@cox.net

Ok. That does help. Why the mono first on the spool? So you don't use as much braid? Also, you like mono and not floro carbon for your leader.
What's all the hoopla about floro anyway?

Janine

I use mono because I guess I always have and it's always worked fine for me. As for why I spool it first, before the braid, two reasons... First, I spool 300 yards of braid and it looks but more importantly, it feels like the spool is only half or less full. Second, the mono underneath gives the braid a nice bed to grab on to.

Mike

[vincentek9]

for open face reels, i use 300yd of 65# spectra backing. the type of target fish determines on how much top shot to put. (YT on a kayak i do 20yd... halibut or threshers i go straight spectra). if you want to cast... you might want to uni-uni enough topshot so when you cast... the knot doesnt interefere with your guides (i put around 150yd of topshot for casting yoyo irons).

[janines.fishtales@cox.net]

Wow. Thanks all, for all the info. I think I know what to buy now, but I also think I'm still using mono for some applications. So whats a "top shot"? Is it a fancy way to say leader line or is it different?

Janine

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by janines.fishtales@cox.net

Wow. Thanks all, for all the info. I think I know what to buy now, but I also think I'm still using mono for some applications. So whats a "top shot"? Is it a fancy way to say leader line or is it different? Janine

Topshot is just another name for a leader.

Old school leaders were like Big Game leaders. Wire or heavy mono under 20 ft set up for abrasion resistance. Bite leaders under two feet were wire for toothy critters attached with something like a swivel. Then there were tippets small piece of less visible line like on the end of flylines.

Then long range fisherman started using wind-on leaders for big game where the leader could be reeled in through the guides, and get the fish to the gaff without a leaderman. Wind ons also allowed for much longer leaders in general.

Then came spectra.

Initially people were not sure how well spectra would fish. They first used it as backing and filled the reel with mono over the spectra on top, a top shot, often a hundred yards or more.

Over time though as people learned to fish spectra the topshots become shorter, and shorter. now they are pretty much the same as a wind-on leader, but unlike wind-on leaders which are heavier then the line test, topsots are generally lighter test then the spectra mainline.

Back in 2000 when I started playing with 8ft 30lbs topshots with 35lbs Izor spectra on a tld5 for local tuna people thought I was crazy, because the only guys using those kind of topshots were the long range crowd fishing for cow tuna. It worked though, here's one of the tuna I got back then on that rigging. Check out the TLD5 and that Izor (White line that I dyed blue) behind me.

Now small lever drags, spectra and topshots are common, but it took people a while and companies like Avet to figure out the merits of spectra and exactly what you could do with it.

Shimano completely missed the boat.

They were already making the TLD5 and TLD10 which would of been ideal for the new spectra market with a frame and drag upgrade but discontinued them right as Avet was designing their first spectra capable small reels like the Avet SX. So Avet ended up getting into the market before they did. They just didn't see it coming. You'd expect that from a company like Penn but not Shimano. Probably the biggest mistake in the tackle industry in the last 20 years.... ha ha.

[Deamon]

I need a hat like that...