Line question.

[SBCregal]

I just bought myself a new baitcast setup and I have a question about what line to spool it up with. I bought the pete maina baitcast from BPS as a combo to use for pike and the very occasional musky attempts. The rod is the 7' MH rod rated for line 15-30lbs. In the manual for the reel there was a chart with line strengths/amount the spool held and it had info only for lines that were 14, 17 and 20lbs in strength. What lb test line should I be spooling this combo with? will there be problems with using a smaller diameter line? I bought a spool of 50lb powerpro that I wanted to use and its listed as being equivalent to 12lb mono. Should I use a heavier powerpro? Will it cause problems like more birdsnests or anything (I'll be picking through enough of those)

 

Ryan

[muskeybugged]

No problem's, I have the same set up with the same line also 50lb. I don't have the low profile reel if that is what you bought. Thumb it and you'll be fine.

[CLofchik]

Whatever line you choose (instead of PowerPro try to find Tuf-Line, same spectra braid as PP but 1/3 cheaper), strip off a little over a casts distance and lay some electrical tape over the spool, it will cut down how bad your birdsnests will be.

[Garry2Rs]

I recommend 80 pound test braid in what ever brand you like best.

When you throw a birds nest with a Musky size bait 50 and 65 will snap in the air, but 80 will hold.

[SBCregal]

thanks guys. I think i'll use the line I have bought.

 

as far as capacity goes, should i put on as much line as the reel can take, or is there any other general rule? the spool is 150yrds I think, but the reel would hold more than that, is that enough??

[ld17]

if it's a round baitcaster it should hold more than 150yrs. I would get a 12lbs mono backing say 100yrs worth and then the last 150 with the power pro. You don't want to over spool your reel it will just cause problems. I would leave about 1/8 th to 1/16 of space before the top of the spool.

[SBCregal]

yeah, I understand that overspooling it will cause problems, but what about not putting on more than the 150 yrds than comes with the spool. basically im not so sure how confident I am in tying a knot to join the two

I do have a spool of 12lb mono around...which is the same diameter. In looking around, people seem to use a uni to uni knot to attach two pieces of line....guess i gotta get practising.

 

ryan

[Blake]

You need to put some mono backing on the reel first or the Power Pro (any braid for that matter) will slip on the spool. If you don't want to tie lines together and go all Power Pro on the spool make sure you tape the line onto the spool well to prevent slippage.

[Garry2Rs]

Don't fill the last 1/8 of an inch of the spool, but you want it as close to that as possible or you might have problems casting.

Don't worry about the knot that joins the lines. You can find pictures of how to tie a Double Uni, Blood knot, Double Surgeon's or just use any other knot you know how to tie.

If you have 150 yards of Power pro, and use it all, that's 450 feet...The knot will be buried under 449.5 feet of Power pro.

The best casters around have a hard time throwing over 100 feet, you will never see the knot again.

As far as backing is concerned I use cheap 20 pound mono from Walmart or CTC. The larger diameter line fills the spool faster, and if I ever did hit it I wouldn't be worried about being broken off. I only use 50 or 60 yards (about 150 - 180 feet ) of Braid on my reels. That way I get a couple of re-spools or can spool two reels out of one spool of Power Pro, Tuff-line, Fireline, Stealth or what have you.

I told you that that 50 pound braid is too light for baits of over one ounce, but you do whatever you want. If you start with floating baits you will be able to recover most of them...HAHAHA!

[SBCregal]

thanks for all the info guys